Attention to Akeni Carolyn Todd SFM's newest addition to the writing staff takes an in-depth look at akeni, their history and production techniques Rikishi of Old Joe Kuroda Joe Kuroda slides former yokozuna Minanogawa under his SFM microscope Eric Evaluates Eric Blair Eric's wit scythes through the SML and makes clear his opinion of where the future lies for online sumo forums. Eternal Banzuke Phase II Lon Howard Stats, equations and mathematics all lead to a list of sumo's most prolific up and downers Matta-Henka: Another View Lon Howard A row that will never be fully decided but Lon gives his impressions on it all the same Heya Peek Mark Buckton Mihogaseki, former home of Estonian sekitori Baruto is toured (and peeked at) by SFM's Editor-in-Chief SFM Interview Mark Buckton Mark interviews shin-komusubi Kokkai Photo Bonanza See the Nagoya basho and Akeni photo bonanzas Nagoya Basho Summary Lon Howard Lon gives us his Nagoya basho summary, along with the henka sightings results Lower Division Rikishi Mikko Mattila Mikko Mattila casts his watchful eye over lower division goings on in makushita and below. Aki Ones to Watch 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 Kimarite Focus Mikko Mattila Our man Mikko's latest trio of kimarite get thrown about the SFM literary dohyo Amateur Angles Howard Gilbert Howard returns with the second of his columns on the amateur sumo scene. Sumo Game SFM's very own quiz comes in for a bit of self scrutiny by our secretive man of questions. We'll call him 'X'. Sumo in Print Barbara Ann Klein SFM’s Editor reviews “The Little Yokozuna”, a book for “young” (and older) adults Kokugi Connections Todd Lambert Check out Todd's bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites Fan Debate Facilitator - Lon Howard Keri Sibley and Eduardo de Paz  ponder the concept of ‘to pay or not to pay’ makushita salaries SFM Cartoons Stephen Thompson Sit back and enjoy the offerings of one of sumo's premier artists Lets Hear From You What was it that made you a sumo fan? SFM’s own Todd Lambert details his path into sumofandom Readers' Letters See what our readers had to say since we last went out Sumo Quiz The Quizmaster Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.

Nagoya Basho Summary text by Lon Howard photos by Barbara Ann Klein

basho in Aki.    In Miyabiyama’s case, even though he exceeded the three basho/33 win target, he had no real shot once Hakuho was held back, because there have never been six ozeki at one time. Naturally unstated by the NSK, they weren’t about to break new ground for someone who had already been promoted to ozeki once ‘by mistake’, unless there were overwhelming credentials, so it was easy to cite an ‘insufficient content’ in Miyabiyama’s sumo and his four first-week losses.  And, uh, his 10 wins did include a fusen-sho, which, though not officially considered, did cloud the overwhelming imagery necessary in this case.  But…if he achieves 11 wins at Aki and Hakuho flubs his tsunatori try, there will be six ozeki on the Kyushu banzuke – barring an intai – like it or not.  Both Hakuho and Miyabiyama deserve kudos for digging out of their early basho holes to breathe life back into their promotion runs.  Without that, there would have been little to maintain interest after ozeki Tochiazuma and Chiyotaikai ran themselves out of contention by day 11.  Both men shot to 8-1 and faded just as fast, with ‘Zuma posting 8-7 and Chiyo, 9-6.  Both did finish the basho, despite suffering left knee injuries on that dark 11th day.  In Tochiazuma’s case, it apparently was a repeat of Next

Two years from now, the Nagoya basho of 2006 will be mostly remembered for things that happened off the dohyo.  Yokozuna Asashoryu’s 17th of 25 yusho (a wild guess here) won’t trigger much for anyone and neither will an infrequent kachi-koshi by a shin-komusubi.  We might’ve recalled everyone thinking “Hello Yokozuna” for ozeki Hakuho as he crushed the yokozuna on senshuraku, except for the pronouncement a few moments later that he was headed for Heartbreak Hotel instead of Tsuna Tower.  Since Asashoryu had cinched the yusho the day before, Hakuho’s zensho-denying deed was deemed a non-event by the shimpan group, who said no meeting would be called to discuss a promotion.  And since that left the number of residents at Ozeki Inn unchanged at 5, the resurgent sekiwake, Miyabiyama, was left still looking through the windows there, despite racking up 34 wins in the last three basho.   Probably mindful of senshuraku interest, the Rijicho’s day 14 prattle had not ruled out a double promotion at tourney’s end if both men finished with wins.

Neither Hakuho nor Miyabiyama disappointed the full house on the final day, ending with 13-2 and 10-5 respectively; but the decision not to promote either of them had clearly been made on some prior date.  Yet, there were plausible reasons for waiting in each of their cases, so there needn’t be any grousing about cabals in smoke-filled rooms.  The shimpan’s displeasure that Hakuho let the yokozuna pull away from him early in the basho is firm ground in itself, and in addition, it’s been 19 years since an ozeki has been promoted without meeting the ‘two consecutive yusho’ standard.  The last was Onokuni in 1987, and that promotion is now considered to have been a disaster (although for promotions prior to that, meeting the standard was the exception, not the rule).   Finally, this is only Hakuho’s second basho as ozeki, and further, he has only one yusho to his credit.  So to sum it up, with neither the second yusho nor a kettei-sen, it was felt his ozeki credits were still lacking.  As was the case with Tochiazuma in Natsu, he will have a second tsunatori