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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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his
short stature and alligator arms make it difficult to play mawashi
games with the big boys. Also, he’s not burly or explosive
enough to push them around unless he gets the jump at the tachiai,
which is hard for him because his foes know they don’t have to worry
about the henka (can’t believe I just said that). Finally, he’s a
favorite target of those who do henka. He still has much to
overcome.
Two of the other biggest thuds to be heard were from M1 Kyokushuzan
(3-12) and M2 Hakurozan(2-13). Hakurozan’s rank was a bit
too high
Hakurozan
Also qualifying as a major disappointment was Futeno’s listless
6-9. So far this year, he’s
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recorded 9-6 at M7/M8, and 6-9 at
M4/5, which suggests that he’s literally going nowhere, either up or
down. Quite a letdown for a new hope who had broken through with
21 wins in the two middle basho last year. Hokutoriki
has been logging major banzuke elevator miles lately but I thought he
might not have too much up- or down-side at M7…wrong again!
Unfortunately, I get the feeling that his 4-11 record may be the result
of even the bottom of makuuchi becoming aware of his sumo, as he lost 6
of the 8 bouts to those ranked below him. One more ride like this
and he’ll be in juryo by November.
M3 Kakizoe’s4-11, following a 6-9 at M1 in May, portends his days as
Kakizoe
an upper maegashira man to be behind him. He’s now headed for his
lowest rank since he was a shin-nyu-maku.
Another crowd-deflator was M4 Ama’s 6-9 showing, following
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his
bounce-back from the komusubi wall in May. Confidence may be hard
for Ama to find if he doesn’t turn it around in September.
After reaching his best rank of M7 in March, M11 Kasugao has
accelerated into a free-fall within the top division, with outings of
7, 6, and now only 5 wins. He can now be called a certified
enigma - someone with size, technique and
experience, but without many ways to win. My guess for Aki is
that he will avoid juryo and take the lowest makuuchi spot. M9
Yoshikaze’s modest run up the banzuke is now over. His 6-9
mark will send him back down the banzuke along with Kasugao.
Takamisakari’s fall down the banzuke will continue. Starting in
November at
Takamisakari
M9, he posted 7-8 three straight times followed by one 8-7,
and wondrously found
himself one rank
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