Sumo Fan Magazine

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.	elevator a bit of the way, rising about 6 ranks on his 9-6 record, while Kisenosato earns a huge promotion with his 12-3. Depending on how Kyushu basho goes, both might get plenty of chances to mingle with the top-rankers, not to mention their first shot at the yokozuna. Three crowd favorites, in Takamisakari, Kyokushuzan and Kotonowaka, will mix it up from the mid-maegashira ranks this time. Kotonowaka has been rumored to be retiring at some point during or after Kyushu basho as he is in line to succeed Sadogatake-oyakata when he turns 65 next month, but I, for one, hope that another solution has been found and Kotonowaka gets to continue his amazing career for a while longer. A name change is also in the cards for late bloomer Ishide who has reportedly changed his shikona to Shunketsu. There has been a bit of a question mark about whether the change was announced in time for the making of the banzuke, but our very own John Gunning has confirmed that Ishide will, in fact, appear on the dohyo as Shunketsu in November, so that's what I'm listing him as in my banzuke guess. I've always been a fan of guys who blossom late in their careers, so good luck to the now-former Ishide and may the name change help	propel him further up the banzuke. The juryo yusho quickly turned into a foregone conclusion last basho, as Toyonoshima ran away with a 14-1 victory and should find himself at his career-highest rank, perhaps even in single digits. Finding the other promotion candidates was a bit of a chore this time as only three other rikishi among the top ten juryo managed to get kachi-koshi, and the results further down were not particularly promotion-worthy either. With at least five rikishi with demotable records, the odd man out (not that he's going to complain) is probably Tochinonada who ought to stay as a maegashira despite going 7-8 with only half a rank to spare. Still, Kasugano-beya is probably conflicted about the results of the Aki basho, considering that Tochisakae did push the down button and drops to juryo for the second time this year, while Tochinohana at last returns to makuuchi after a three-year odyssey that sent him all the way down to makushita 30. Their stable-mate Kasuganishiki also booked himself a return trip to makuuchi after a three-basho absence, completing an eventful September for Kasugano-beya.	Bittersweet feelings may also be filling Tokitsukaze-beya, the stable of the current juryo yusho winner, where veteran Tokitsuumi finds himself back in juryo thanks to a 4-11 in makuuchi after winning the juryo competition himself back in July. Then again, the eight sekitori in those two stables might be getting used to it, having combined for a whopping 10 promotions and 8 demotions this year, just around one-third of all 26 changes of rank. The two Kasugano/Tokitsukaze rikishi who will be this basho's juryo representatives (Tochisakae and Tokitsuumi) must be considered strong favorites for the juryo yusho, although the Estonian wunderkind Baruto ought to give them a run for their money. Ranking around J5 this time, he'll be meeting top juryo opposition for most of the basho, perhaps giving us a better chance to judge his potential after he easily dominated the lower part of juryo and stormed to 12 wins last time out. The remainder of juryo is the usual hodgepodge of aging veterans and hopeful newcomers. Deserving of special attention among the latter are Yoshikaze, who battled Next Home