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| Attention to Akeni
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Carolyn Todd
SFM's newest addition to the writing staff takes an
in-depth look at akeni, their history and production techniques
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| Rikishi of Old
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Joe Kuroda
Joe Kuroda slides former yokozuna Minanogawa under his SFM microscope |
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| Eric Evaluates
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Eric Blair
Eric's wit scythes through the SML and makes clear his opinion of where the future lies for online sumo forums. |
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Eternal Banzuke Phase II
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Lon Howard
Stats, equations and mathematics all lead to a list of sumo's most prolific up and downers
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Heya Peek
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Mark Buckton
Mihogaseki, former home of Estonian sekitori Baruto is toured (and peeked at) by SFM's Editor-in-Chief
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Nagoya Basho Summary
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Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Nagoya basho summary, along with the henka sightings results
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Lower Division Rikishi
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Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila casts his watchful eye over lower division goings on in makushita and below.
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Aki Ones to Watch
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Carolyn Todd
Carolyn takes over the job of rikishi job performance prediction for SFM as she looks at those to keep an eye on come September |
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Kimarite Focus
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Mikko Mattila
Our man Mikko's latest trio of kimarite get thrown about the SFM literary dohyo |
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Amateur Angles
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Howard Gilbert
Howard returns with the second of his columns on the amateur sumo scene.
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Sumo Game
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| SFM's very own quiz comes in for a bit of self scrutiny by our secretive man of questions. We'll call him 'X'. |
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Sumo in Print
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Barbara Ann Klein
SFM’s Editor reviews “The Little Yokozuna”, a book for “young” (and older) adults
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| Kokugi Connections
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Todd Lambert
Check out Todd's bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites
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Fan Debate
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Facilitator - Lon Howard
Keri Sibley and Eduardo de Paz ponder the concept of ‘to pay or not to pay’ makushita salaries
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SFM Cartoons
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Stephen Thompson
Sit back and enjoy the offerings of one of sumo's premier artists |
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Lets Hear From You
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| What was it that made you a sumo fan? SFM’s own Todd Lambert details his path into sumofandom
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| Sumo Quiz |
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke. |
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After
the bamboo is sliced into strips using a hegibocho (peeling
knife), it is smoothed with a curved kezuribocho (planing knife).
He had used the hegibocho in the photo from when he was 12 until
10 years ago, |
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papers referring to famous/prominent people and
we spent a while looking through them hoping for scandal.
(Unfortunately, these official papers are no longer available because they have
to be shredded for
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writing style. The akeni is then finished in lengths of unpainted bamboo to create a
decorative edge and when the lid is placed on the box, it is fastened with hemp, ready for presentation with a new kesho mawashi.
The akeni
currently in Mr. W’s workshop waiting to be painted are for the gyoji
Jonosuke Kimura. He still “stands barefoot on the dohyo”, i.e. he’s
below juryo level, but he’s being promoted.
Mr. W is
informed about promotions before the official announcement so that
sponsors have time to order akeni (apparently they make a calculated
guess…).
However,
sponsors and rikishi sometimes expect a promotion that doesn’t happen
so they can’t use the akeni. I mentioned Shimoda as a recent example of
non-promotion and Mr. W’s eyes twinkled as he failed to stifle a laugh.
I guess those akeni are stashed away somewhere hoping for future
service. Sometimes a wrestler is promoted, demoted and then promoted
again, but can only use his akeni during brighter sekitori times, and
sometimes sponsors order akeni and kesho mawashi for encouragement, a
significant investment that must often be wasted.
Mr. W is extremely proud of his work for some of the most famous
sekitori and has many photographs of finished akeni with the kesho
Next
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so about 50 years. It’s worn in the area where it’s used
the most and his hands are bent into the shape of the knife handle.
The bamboo strips are then woven into a basket, the production step
that his father used to perform. This basket is then fixed to a tsuga-
or toga- wood (a type of Japanese hemlock) frame for support.
Mrs. W takes over here and fixes mosquito net to the edge of the woven
bamboo for strength. The whole basket is then covered in washi,
Japanese paper, also for strength. They use old paper from the Meiji
era (1868-1912), which is thick and very high quality. The paper is
actually old official documents – birth registrations, divorce papers,
marriage certificates etc., bought through a broker.
Apparently
you can sometimes find
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confidentiality.) The paper is then fixed to the
woven bamboo using glue made from boiled taro potato starch from New
Guinea. The starch is mixed with sour persimmon extract, which gives a
red tinge, to protect against rot and moths. The surface of the box is
not yet smooth, and the paper is attached to akeni in two layers for
added strength. The glue brush is made from rice stems bound with hemp,
and is homemade. A bamboo comb is used to smooth the glue and washi
into the grooves of the bamboo weave, which can still be seen clearly
through the paper. The corners of the box are reinforced with metal so
that even if tsukebito throw them around or sekitori use them as a
handy seat, they’ll last for at least 10 years. The frame is then
lacquered in black and the sides painted in Mr. W’s own green and
vermilion colours. The sekitori’s shikona is painted from right to
left, following the traditional Japanese |
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