<DATE> Contents

Attention to Akeni
Carolyn Todd
SFM's newest addition to the writing staff takes an in-depth look at akeni, their history and production techniques
Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
Joe Kuroda slides former yokozuna Minanogawa under his SFM microscope
Eric Evaluates
Eric Blair
Eric's wit scythes through the SML and makes clear his opinion of where the future lies for online sumo forums.
Eternal Banzuke Phase II
Lon Howard
Stats, equations and mathematics all lead to a list of sumo's most prolific up and downers
Matta-Henka: Another View
Lon Howard
A row that will never be fully decided but Lon gives his impressions on it all the same
Heya Peek
Mark Buckton
Mihogaseki, former home of Estonian sekitori Baruto is toured (and peeked at) by SFM's Editor-in-Chief
SFM Interview
Mark Buckton
Mark interviews shin-komusubi Kokkai
Photo Bonanza
See the Nagoya basho and Akeni photo bonanzas
Nagoya Basho Summary
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Nagoya basho summary, along with the henka sightings results
Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila casts his watchful eye over lower division goings on in makushita and below.
Aki Ones to Watch
Carolyn Todd
Carolyn takes over the job of rikishi job performance prediction for SFM as she looks at those to keep an eye on come September
Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Our man Mikko's latest trio of kimarite get thrown about the SFM literary dohyo
Amateur Angles
Howard Gilbert
Howard returns with the second of his columns on the amateur sumo scene.
Sumo Game
SFM's very own quiz comes in for a bit of self scrutiny by our secretive man of questions. We'll call him 'X'.
Sumo in Print
Barbara Ann Klein
SFM’s Editor reviews “The Little Yokozuna”, a book for “young” (and older) adults
Kokugi Connections
Todd Lambert
Check out Todd's bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites
Fan Debate
Facilitator - Lon Howard
Keri Sibley and Eduardo de Paz  ponder the concept of ‘to pay or not to pay’ makushita salaries
SFM Cartoons
Stephen Thompson
Sit back and enjoy the offerings of one of sumo's premier artists
Lets Hear From You
What was it that made you a sumo fan? SFM’s own Todd Lambert details his path into sumofandom
Readers' Letters
See what our readers had to say since we last went out
Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.


  the injury that forced his withdrawal just one basho ago, and with Chiyo, possibly a new one. 

As in May, ozeki Kotooshu again spliced together wins on the final two days to eke out his 8-7 kachi-koshi.


Kotooshu
   
Having avoided kadoban now for the third consecutive time following his nasty knee injury just before the Haru basho, we wonder again if he will finally take a basho off to give both his knee and his injured ankle time to heal.  By soldiering through basho after basho, he risks making those injuries chronic, and if that happens, he’ll muddle along and eventually reside at the end of the Dejima Trail.   I don’t know what Dejima could have done about the injuries that ended his own ozeki run, but Kotooshu at least still has some options.  I hope he uses them. 
Ozeki Kaio, though no longer a yusho challenger, continues to thumb

 
Kaio
    
his nose at those of us who wrote him off during the Haru basho.  He can still beat up on the non-sanyaku guys and win enough of the other bouts to get to 9-6, as he did this time.  Maybe he’s learned how to protect his ailing back better as time goes on – I don’t know – but still you have to think his days are numbered.
  
If you’ve been counting, you see that none of the five ozeki is kadoban for Aki.  Given the recent past, who would have believed that?  Except for Hakuho, their records aren’t exactly points of light, but it beats tossing the kadoban bag back and forth.
  
That rare shin-komusubi kachi-koshi  mentioned above was posted by the maturing young gun Kisenosato, who upset two ozeki while going through the first-week meatgrinder, and then defeated everyone else below him except for the upstart Baruto on


senshuraku.  This is significant because a clear majority of rikishi posting a kachi-koshi as a shin-sanyaku have gone on to ozeki. 

Most impressive was how thoroughly he overmatched those junior opponents in the second week.  His 8-7 mark still won’t promote him because both sekiwake – Miyabiyama and Kotomitsuki – booked their own kachi-koshi.


Kisenosato

When he enters Aki, for the second straight basho, Miyabiyama will carry a two basho-24 win mark with him, and one would guess the ‘target’ for ozeki promotion is again 11 wins, although it’s possible that the misty ‘content’ of his sumo could work for him this time if he only gets 10.  That seems unlikely though, as his sumo is never pretty, even when it’s good.  As for the other sekiwake,
 
Next