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Brothers still active on the dohyo get their turn
SFM’s most eminent historian, JK, has a crack at the impossible and tries to see who was the greatest of the tsuna wearers
Takanobori – former sekiwake, former NHK man and all ’round gent
Kitanoumi-beya, Kitazakura, mirrors & photo bonanza
Kazuyoshi Yoshikawa (son of the late sekiwake Takanobori) on life in sumo way back when
Behind every good man there stands a good woman – read and ye shall see. A departure from our regular 101 feature
plus much more through the lens of our photographers
Lon gives us his Hatsu Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results
Mikko Mattila covers lower division goings on in detail
Pierre predicts the Haru Basho banzuke while Mark highlights the ones to look out for in Osaka
Mikko takes us on a tour of his chosen kimarite
John’s unique bimonthly view of sumo news from outside the dohyo and in the restaurants!
SFM’s own Alexander Nitschke covers the long running Hoshitori Game
Todd’s bimonthly focus on 3 of the most interesting sumo sites today
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
made you a sumo fan? A unique perspective from a sightless reader.
readers had to say since our last issue
Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.
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should the henka fail, or maybe thinks his last henka was too recent – but the results of our fan voting seem to suggest that if a rikishi, without any question, does a ‘full-bore’ henka, he’s going to win almost all of the time. At this point, I’ll just say it looks interesting and possibly provocative, but way too soon to make that call. If a full two years of data continue to support this, I’ll lean toward making that call, and if it’s backed up by five years of data, I’ll lean over and write it in stone. So far, Hokutoriki is the poster child for this thesis since his validated henkas have attracted far more yes votes than any other rikishi, and he has won all four of those bouts. Perhaps we could name the full-bore henka after him, maybe call it the ‘Slicky-Riki’ or some whatever name.
I suspect there are arcane nuances to the henka that are at
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play under the radar in our study. For example I’ve seen cases where a rikishi wanted to henka but was slow getting it going and was pushed out or down before the henka was even evident. These would certainly lower the win rate if they were counted as henkas. There are probably others as well, and this is why many more basho need to be studied before making any definite calls.
During the study’s four basho period, 47 makuuchi rikishi have come under scrutiny and so far, 20 of them have not henka’d at all. It’s no surprise that this list includes Takamisakari, Iwakiyama, Tamanoshima, Wakanosato and Tochinonada, but it may come as a small shock to find names like Kokkai and Tochiazuma there too – just remember the study didn’t begin until Nagoya.
I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to cast
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your votes. I know it does take a little more time out of your day to do it, so it’s highly appreciated. Since the number of votes on each nominated bout varies wildly, it seems you’ve taken the wording of the Henka Nominations posted on Sumo Forum and Sumo Mailing List to heart: “Vote yea or nay…. If you have an opinion…” Since there is no such thing as GAPH – Generally Accepted Principles of Henka – we decided to give no guidelines as to what a henka is – or isn’t – and leave it entirely up to you to decide; and if you honestly have no opinion, it is probably better not to vote at all than to throw something up there just for the sake of it. A higher vote count would be nice, but it is more important to make it as valid a study as possible. Thanks again to all who voted, and who do their part to dissect the henka.
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