Sumo Fan Magazine

Yokozuna Comparisons
Joe Kuroda
SFM’s historian, JK, wraps his two-part article on the greatest of the tsuna wearers

Amateur Sumo's Global Aspirations
Courtesy: International Sumo Federation
What exactly is it and furthermore, what does it do? The ISF explain themselves and their purpose in existing

Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
Man or myth? Sumo's first yokozuna comes under the spotlight

Heya Peek
Barbara Ann Klein
Tokitsukaze-beya and its famous find themselves the target of Barbara's peek into life inside the heya

SFM Interview
Mark Buckton
Featuring interviews with amateur sumo's European Sumo Union General Secretary and the President of the newly founded Irish Sumo Federation

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
Would chanko exist without sumo? What is chanko anyway? Find out in Sumo 101

Photo Bonanza
See the Haru
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

Haru Basho Review
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Haru Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila covers the lower division goings on like nobody else around

Natsu Basho Forecast
Mark Buckton
Mark Buckton glances back to look forward in his ones to look out for come May

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Our man Mikko takes us on a tour of his chosen kimarite

Sumo in Print
Mark Buckton
Our gaming thread takes a break for April so we can look at the Spanish language book on the sport not long since released

Kokugi Connections
Todd Lambert
Todd’s bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites today

Fan Debate
Facilitator – Lon Howard
April's man VS monkey debate covers the issue of reducing the number of honbasho

SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson
Sit back and enjoy the offerings

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that
made you a sumo fan? Thierry Perran lets us in on his reasons for loving this sport

Readers’ Letters
See what some
See what our featured letter is for this issue

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

discounting the first two makuuchi showings if the second was followed by at least six consecutive juryo or below outings. Where both of these occurred, the string would always start with the third makuuchi appearance.

Finally comes the stickiest wicket: With all ranks below ozeki, a makekoshi usually – not always, but usually – results in demotion, and so it can be said with near certitude that for these rikishi, every rank ever held was earned on the dohyo. Not so for yokozuna and ozeki – for many yokozuna have retained their rank for basho on end without ever stepping on the dohyo. Some of these yokozuna have been criticized for not retiring ‘on time’. It's not for me to judge them but for this particular study, it does provide them an undeserved advantage. To a lesser extent, the ozeki have had similar license due to the extinct kosho and still-practiced kadoban system. It seems blatantly unfair to those yokozuna and ozeki who had few if any of these ‘unearned’ appearances on their record to be equated with those others whose careers are littered with them; so, ideally, there should be a way to smooth the unequal treatment that results from this. That is the reason for the special manner in which the HMRs are

determined for yokozuna and ozeki appearances. A minimum level of performance is set for them: for yokozuna, it is 10 wins, and for ozeki, it is 8 wins. If a yokozuna or ozeki did not meet this standard in any basho, that basho is simply eliminated from the count – e.g., if the rikishi's string contains 50 basho with seven such sub-par performances, the string now contains only 43 basho. The ranks they held during those basho are simply ignored – for this study those basho never existed at all. By measuring all yokozuna and ozeki with the same device, the disparate treatment is eliminated.

(Comprehensive rules are set forth more precisely in the Eternal Banzuke – Rules section.)

The Eternal Banzuke is not intended to be a consummate review, but is intended to provide an alternative means of quantifying the careers of historical rikishi, to be used as an aid in evaluating their careers. For example, most observers probably view Kaio's career more favorably than Chiyotaikai's because he had more yusho and more brushes with yokozuna than did Chiyo. But Chiyotaikai's quicker study as a sekitori and his longevity as an ozeki should count for

something as well. This quality of his is revealed by both men's rankings on the Eternal Banzuke. I do wonder how the careers of the more recently retired yokozuna and ozeki will stack up against those further back in time, but we shall proceed here as we currently do with Elevator Ride: just start going back in time and take each rikishi as they come along. I can't say how long it will take to get back to the 1950s and beyond, but I'm looking forward to seeing the Banzuke develop with each future issue. As with Elevator Ride, because this is a new and unexplored configuration, the rules are still under review and any comments or suggestions are certainly welcomed. When both projects are mature, we'll go back and see if there is any perceived correlation between a rikishi's HMR and his elevator tendencies. I think there is a small one, but I've been surprised too many times already, so I'll just let it happen and then decide. As mentioned above, the Eternal Banzuke shown here is just for illustration purposes because it only has the active rikishi on it. The first official version will appear in June. See you then!

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