Sumo Fan Magazine

Brothers in Sumo –
part two
Brian Lewin
Brothers still active on the dohyo get their turn

Yokozuna Comparisons
Joe Kuroda
SFM’s most eminent historian, JK, has a crack at the impossible and tries to see who was the greatest of the tsuna wearers

Rikishi of Old
John Gunning
Takanobori – former sekiwake, former NHK man and all ’round gent

Heya Peek
Barbara Ann Klein
Kitanoumi-beya, Kitazakura, mirrors & photo bonanza

SFM Interview
John Gunning
Kazuyoshi Yoshikawa (son of the late sekiwake Takanobori) on life in sumo way back when

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
Behind every good man there stands a good woman – read and ye shall see. A departure from our regular 101 feature

Photo Bonanza
See the Hatsu Basho
plus much more through the lens of our photographers

Hatsu Basho Review
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Hatsu Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila covers lower division goings on in detail

Haru Basho Forecast
Pierre Wohlleben & Mark Buckton
Pierre predicts the Haru Basho banzuke while Mark highlights the ones to look out for in Osaka

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Mikko takes us on a tour of his chosen kimarite

Minusha
John McTague
John’s unique bimonthly view of sumo news from outside the dohyo and in the restaurants!

Online Gaming
Alexander Nitschke
SFM’s own Alexander Nitschke covers the long running Hoshitori Game

Kokugi Connections
Todd Lambert
Todd’s bimonthly focus on 3 of the most interesting sumo sites today

Fan Debate
Feb's debate sees
a pair of Kiwis exchanging opinions on the honbasho going on the road

SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson
In the third of our cartoon bonanzas, sit back and enjoy BL’s offerings and put a caption to ST’s pic to win yourselves a banzuke

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that
made you a sumo fan? A unique perspective from a sightless reader.

Readers’ Letters
See what some SFM
readers had to say since our last issue

Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.

Elevator Rules

1.	A rikishi must have a string of at least 30 consecutive qualifying makuuchi basho in order to be listed in the Ranking.
2.	A string begins with the first makuuchi appearance.
3.	String Continuation: Must stay in makuuchi, with the following exceptions: A single (one basho) subsequent juryo appearance is permitted without condition.
	After that, single (one at a time) juryo appearances are allowed only if they are preceded by at least ten consecutive makuuchi appearances – if not, the string is broken.
	Two consecutive juryo appearances are allowed only if they are both preceded and followed by at least 15 consecutive makuuchi appearances – if not, the string is broken.
	If three or more consecutive juryo or below appearances are recorded, the string is broken.
	When a string is broken, a new one begins with the next makuuchi appearance.
4.	A string ends with its last makuuchi appearance.
5.	If a rikishi never accumulates a string of at least 30 consecutive qualifying basho in makuuchi under these rules, he will never be listed in the Ranking at all.
6.	If an active rikishi who has already qualified to be listed in the Ranking has his string broken, he is transferred to the Elevator Retired List and his EI is considered permanent, unless he were to subsequently accumulate a string of 30 or more additional consecutive qualifying basho, in which case the string having the highest EI would be considered his official data. Upon actual retirement, his EI is considered permanent.
7.	All sanyaku ranks other than East are considered West, e.g., S2e, S2w are both counted as Sw. (∗)
8.	When transiting to and from juryo, a rikishi is credited with zero banzuke spots moved, regardless of how many actual spots were moved, and no credit is given for a change of direction.
9.	If a rikishi retained his rank under the kosho system with a record of 0-0-15, that basho is excluded from the count since the rikishi did not ‘earn’ the zero that would have been used in the calculation.
(∗) Note: Trying to be exact in accounting for more than two spots for each sanyaku rank (in the cases where that occurred) required a system in which sometimes produced nonsensical outcomes further down the banzuke, such as rikishi going from M6e to M7e, yet being credited with a 0 or a 1 count in spots moved, even though two spots were actually moved.

Current Elevator Ranking:

(Fully Qualified Rikishi Only)

RIKISHI MOQ AFQ CEI

1 Takanofuji 11.00 0.9355 10.29

2 Itai 11.80 0.8200 9.68

3 Mainoumi 10.62 0.8214 8.72

4 Koboyama 10.22 0.8250 8.43

5 Daitetsu 10.13 0.7586 7.69

6 Daijuyama 10.06 0.7581 7.63

7 Jingaku 9.47 0.7955 7.53

8 Higonoumi 10.46 0.7143 7.47

9 Takamisugi 10.08 0.7292 7.35

10 Toryu 8.32 0.8500 7.07

11 Kirinji 10.23 0.6867 7.02

12 Kotofuji 10.29 0.6765 6.96

13 Daishoho 10.03 0.6774 6.80

14 Kasugafuji 8.88 0.7619 6.77

15 Kyokudozan 8.40 0.8043 6.76

16 Tagaryu 9.42 0.6905 6.50

17 Kyokushuzan 9.59 0.6727 6.45

18 Ozutsu 8.19 0.7500 6.15

19 Hamanoshima 9.14 0.6429 5.88

20 Kotoinazuma 8.19 0.7143 5.85

Active rikishi in bold.