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SFM’s historian, JK, wraps his two-part article on the greatest of the tsuna wearers
What exactly is it and furthermore, what does it do? The ISF explain themselves and their purpose in existing
Man or myth? Sumo's first yokozuna comes under the spotlight
Tokitsukaze-beya and its famous find themselves the target of Barbara's peek into life inside the heya
Featuring interviews with amateur sumo's European Sumo Union General Secretary and the President of the newly founded Irish Sumo Federation
Would chanko exist without sumo? What is chanko anyway? Find out in Sumo 101
Basho through the eyes of the fans in the seats as SFM gives the mantle of photographer(s) for this basho to Barbara & Gerald Patten. And don't miss our all-Mongolian Bonanza supplied by our Editor, Barbara Ann Klein
Lon gives us his Haru Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results
Mikko Mattila covers the lower division goings on like nobody else around
Mark Buckton glances back to look forward in his ones to look out for come May
Our man Mikko takes us on a tour of his chosen kimarite
Our gaming thread takes a break for April so we can look at the Spanish language book on the sport not long since released
Todd’s bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites today
April's man VS monkey debate covers the issue of reducing the number of honbasho
Sit back and enjoy the offerings
made you a sumo fan? Thierry Perran lets us in on his reasons for loving this sport
See what our featured letter is for this issue
Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.
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banzuke is continually subject to change, as each new banzuke is published. Asashoryu, for example, was ranked at Yw until the Kyushu banzuke put his total Ye appearances at exactly 50% of his total appearances. Also note that Chiyotaikai is the only one of the current ozeki who is actually an ozeki on the Eternal Banzuke. This is because he rose to that rank faster than Kaio or Tochiazuma and has been there longer. When the retired rikishi's rankings are determined, those rankings are permanent of course. As we go on, we'll surely find that many ozeki and possibly some yokozuna will be sekiwake or komusubi on the Eternal Banzuke.
When more than one rikishi hold the same rank, the tiebreaker determines the order in which they appear. To figure it, just determine which rikishi has the most total appearances at or above the HMR. See the Rules section for a detailed description of the tiebreaker criteria.
Each rikishi's tiebreaker number is listed to their left or right, depending on whether they are East or West. For example, Tosanoumi has 32 total appearances at M2 or
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higher, while Dejima has only 26. Hayateumi and Jumonji both have 18 total appearances at M11 or higher, but Hayateumi wins the next tiebreaker because he has 17 basho at M10 or higher while Jumonji has only 16. (Hayateumi was still active when I did this study and I left him there so the 2nd tiebreaker could be illustrated).
So, conceptually, the Eternal Banzuke can accommodate every rikishi who ever lived. Practically, that's not going to happen because my staff doesn't extend beyond my own two arms and legs, the jonidan banzuke from 1910 might be hard to come by, and some perspective might be lost by the time you get down to line 10,421 on a spreadsheet. So, as with the Elevator Ride project, we're only going to be concerned with a makuuchi Eternal Banzuke. Even with that, when enough people get on, it may have to be cut off at some rank above M17. We'll just have to see.
The fact that the Banzuke will only be for makuuchi men presents the first real bugaboo since not all makuuchi rikishi enter and stay there until they retire. Many famous rikishi fell back to juryo multiple times until they ‘stuck’, so one must
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ask if only the makuuchi appearances should be counted, or are all appearances (including juryo and makushita, etc.) after the first makuuchi appearance included? It seems only logical that each rikishi's career used for the study should be a string of unbroken basho – otherwise you're really not studying a career performance – you're just cherry-picking someone's highest ranks. Then, you have to decide on a reasonable and equitable starting point. Just picking the first makuuchi appearance for everyone is simple enough and represented the ‘cleanest’ approach, but instead, I gave in to some (for me) glaring inequities apparent when noting that some rikishi made one or maybe two makuuchi showings, then disappeared into juryo and even makushita for a few years before resurfacing in makuuchi and having a long career there. It seemed unfair to include those several years of juryo and makushita showings in the count because they were in no way ‘established’ in makuuchi during that time. So a compromise was reached by discounting the first makuuchi appearance if it was followed by at least three consecutive juryo or below outings, and
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