| Nagoya Nears Eric Blair |
 |
| Rikishi of Old Joe Kuroda |
|
| Heya Peek Barbara Ann Klein |
|
| SFM Interview Mark Buckton |
|
| Sumo 101 Barbara Ann Klein |
|
| Photo Bonanza See the Natsu |
|
| Natsu Basho Summary Lon Howard |
|
| Lower Division Rikishi Mikko Mattila |
|
| Nagoya Ones to Watch Mark Buckton |
|
| Kimarite Focus Mikko Mattila |
|
| Amateur Angles Howard Gilbert |
|
| Sumo Game Bruce Rae |
|
| Sumo in Print Barbara Ann Klein |
|
| Kokugi Connections Todd Lambert |
|
| Fan Debate Facilitator – Lon Howard |
|
| SFM Cartoons Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson |
| Let’s Hear From You What was it that |
|
| Readers’ Letters |
|
Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.
The First One
A brief reminder concerning the yokozuna/ozeki deduction: A rikishi's place on the EB is derived from all of the banzuke rankings throughout his career. Except for the ranks of yokozuna and ozeki, almost all (certainly above 99 per cent) of those rankings were directly earned as a result of what they did on the dohyo during the previous basho, but there has been disparate treatment of historical yokozuna and ozeki because some yokozuna were allowed to be absent or underperforming for many basho – retaining their rank throughout – while others had relatively few of those absences. The same is true for ozeki since some had many kadoban basho and some had very few, and ozeki who were active during the period where kosho was allowed would have a definite advantage on the EB. A rule mandating the same minimum level of performance for all yokozuna and ozeki eliminates this inequity, and that's why any basho in which 10 or 8 wins, respectively, are not attained is simply eliminated from the count.
It has also now come to mind that – in addition to the ozeki – men below that rank would also be treated disparately due to kosho and so, starting with the August issue of SFM, all basho in which a rank has been retained due to kosho, including
Next
To recap briefly, a rikishi's place on the Banzuke is based on his highest median rank (HMR), which is the highest rank he actually held at least 50% of the time.
The Eternal Banzuke should always be viewed with this caveat in mind: It doesn't show that one rikishi was stronger or better than another. There are numerous lists and systems for evaluating the careers of historical rikishi and each one of them has a different story to tell about the men. With this one, since the banzuke positions of all rikishi over the span of their individual careers are written in hard rock, they have their own unique stories to tell, and what they tell us is where these men spent the majority of their careers – and it does so more or less ‘at a glance.’ For example, fans new to sumo right now know of Tamakasuga as a
On perhaps a more relevant level for most fans, Akebono resides at West Yokozuna, one notch above Takanohana II, a genuine all-time great. This is because Takanohana, having entered makuuchi at age 17, required 28 additional basho to reach yokozuna, while Akebono was a more physically mature 21-year-old shin-nyu-maku who needed only 15 more basho to don the tsuna. The yokozuna/ozeki deduction (less than 10/8 wins in a basho) also aided Akebono because he only had 9 basho at Ye/Yw deducted, while Takanohana had 16 of those.
Also, as indicated last time, Chiyotaikai outranks Kaio and even ex-yokozuna Wakanohana III on the EB because of his more
