Amateur Sumo – the sport as it should be
Mark Buckton
Sakai World Sumo Champs – not all about winning

Las Vegas Koen
Joe Kuroda
Our man reports from the fight capital of the world

Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
A look at a rikishi of yesterday with Kotozakura – our man for October

Heya Peek
John Gunning
John’s early morning dash to Azumazeki-beya & report on TKOTU

SFM Interview
Katrina Watts sits down with SFM’s Mark Buckton to discuss amateur sumo

Photo Bonanza
SFM’s best yet – Aki Basho/ Las Vegas / Amateur World Champs / Azumazeki-beya visit – seen nowhere else

Aki Basho Review
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Aki Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results, and his take on the tournament while ‘gem’ of the basho takes a break

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila returns to cover lower division ups and downs

Kyushu Basho Forecast
Pierre Wohlleben & Mark Buckton
Pierre predicts the Kyushu Basho banzuke while Mark previews the ones to watch next time out

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
Discovers and explains amasumo & ozumo variations

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Mikko once again walks us through his chosen kimarite

Minusha
John McTague
John’s unique bimonthly view of news from outside the dohyo

Online Gaming
Zenjimoto of ‘game fame’ covers some of the very best sumo games around – his own!

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

Fan Debate
Is the limit on foreign rikishi fair? See what our debaters had to say

SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh
In the first of our cartoon bonanzas, sit back and chuckle at Benny Loh’s offerings

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that made you a sumo fan? Gernobono tells all

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

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

  for Kyushu – if so he will probably get at least a temporary come-uppance. For now though, his future once again appears bright.

The biggest disappointment of the basho has to be Roho’s 8-7 record from a M10 position despite showing no lingering effects from the ankle injury that forced him off the dohyo in Nagoya. Both he and Kokkai seem to be in search of an identity they can rely on. Kokkai’s 5-10 outing at M2 means they’ll be within whispering distance of each other on the Kyushu banzuke.

Beyond the above, there were really no more ‘stories’ from this basho because everyone else gave us pretty much what we expected based on the rank they held. Some things of note, however, were sekiwake Wakanosato’s hamstring injury on day 6, which put him on the kyujo list and probably off the sanyaku list, too, with 4-3-8; and Ama’s nearly seven minute victory over Tokitenku on day 14, giving him his kachikoshi,
followed up by his day 15 henka win over Kotoshogiku, denying the latter his own kachikoshi. After reading into that what you will, it must be noted that Ama has apparently been listening to those like me who have opined that his big-man tachiai was a ticket to a career in the mid-to-lower maegashira environs, because he threw out more than a couple of ‘change-ups’ this time. New komusubi Futeno took his 5-10 licks and Hakuho’s 9-6 will move him back into that spot.

Some mild pluses were the 7-8 showings of M5 Aminishiki and M6 Tokitenku. On the mild minus side was M5 Takamisakari at 5-10, while M9 Tamaasuka was bitten hard by a sophomore jinx at 4-11. M5 Kaiho’s absence will throw him into juryo along with M14 Tokitsuumi (4-11) and Tochinonada (7-8). In what could have been his final basho, Kotonowaka was able to secure an 8-7 kachikoshi at M13.

For the Upset Of The Basho, I have to go with Aminishiki’s 		kinboshi ambush of Asashoryu on day 11 for it’s pure shock value. Just before it came up on my VCR tape I told my wife, “This is gonna take about two seconds.” Thankfully she kept calm, having watched it alone on the Fuji TV news an hour earlier. The yokozuna’s second loss made Kotooshu’s zensho to that date look rock solid and started whispers of an ‘Aki Jinx’ for the yokozuna. The only real jinx going right now though belongs to any other yusho pretender. Asashoryu’s 14th title ties Wajima for 5th place on the all time list; and with only five losses so far this year he can break Kitanoumi’s all-time record of 82 wins in a calendar year with 13 more wins in Kyushu. It might be time to start scouring the record books to find a record somewhere he possibly won’t hold when all is said and done. That’s the news from Aki and here’s hoping we’ll have some more senshuraku suspense in Kyushu!

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