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 Ride

by Lon Howard

also more likely to move in the same direction for two or more consecutive basho. Since ‘elevator-ology’ is still a developing field, it may be premature to say, but in sizing up the numbers for the current rikishi, it seems unlikely for any of them to crack the all-time top ten, especially since there are at least 40 or 50 more years of history left to study.

In looking at numero uno – Takanofuji – I’m tempted to offer that his numbers make it nearly mathematically impossible for him to be overtaken. His AFQ of .9355 means that in the 31 basho in which he could have reversed direction – he did so 29 times. That’s nearly 100 per cent of the time! But I thought the same about Mainoumi and I didn’t have to go too much further back to find I was very mistaken. So we shall see.

For now I’m left to ponder the striking gap between the elevator tendencies of today’s rikishi and those from 10-20 years ago. I have a theory, but I’m going to wait until April before I throw it out, and in the meantime I’d like to hear what you think might be behind it. Is this just coincidence – a natural

Next

In December’s issue, the Elevator Rikishi study had gone back to include rikishi who had last appeared in makuuchi around 1992. Since then, I have only been able to get back about four more years, but – oh – what changes have occurred! In the first installment in October, we only looked at the active men and saw that Kyokushuzan was the unparalleled king of the elevator hill – and due to his relative lead over Hokutoriki in 2nd place, we surmised that he may be the all-time leader. That theory was soundly debunked in December when Mainoumi and six followers all surged ahead as more and more retired rikishi were examined. This time, after going back only four more additional years, one concrete truth has emerged – when compared to rikishi of yore, today’s so-called elevator rikishi are a pitiful crowd in terms of their propensity to propel themselves up and down the makuuchi banzuke. Below is a current list of the top ten elevator men, both retired and active. The active list includes not only those who have the necessary 30 basho for

permanent ranking, but also those that have at least 15 basho as of this time. A quick recap of terms:

MOQ (Move On Quotient): Average number of banzuke spots moved per basho
AFQ (About Face Quotient): Percentage of time rikishi changed direction on the banzuke
EI (Elevator Index): MOQ x AFQ: Actual measure of rikishi’s elevator factor
Elevator Retired List: Still active but EI frozen because qualifying string has been broken

Note: Elevator Index (EI) was formerly called the Combined Elevator Index (CEI).

With the exception of Higonoumi and Takamisugi, all of the top ten retired men so far retired in the late 80s and early 90s, with Higo being the only one who retired after 1995. So it appears that there is something about the makeup of the modern rikishi which makes them less susceptible to large movements up and down the banzuke, and