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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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to
have the qualifying strings begin with the first makuuchi appearance
and end with the last. With these adjustments, here is the
Eternal Banzuke, as it exists at this early stage. Keep in mind
that the active rikishi are still subject to shuffling up and down, as
each new ozumo banzuke is published, and since each new issue of SFM is
published on that very day every two months, the EB you see will always
be one banzuke behind real time.
Aside
from Chiyonofuji and Kotogaume, one note of interest is that nine
yokozuna have been studied so far and only four of them actually show
up at that rank on the Banzuke. One of them, Asahifuji, is a
sekiwake here, and appears below both Chiyotaikai and Kaio. This
kind of outcome is to be expected, as not all yokozuna chronicles make
impressive reading.
Kirishima’s novel career was spotlighted last time, but will be re-visited here to note that – |
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at
M6e – he will undoubtedly remain the lowest ranked ex-ozeki on the
Banzuke. Daiju hasn’t been done yet but even though he was the
only ex-ozeki to fight in juryo, I doubt he’ll go that far down.
One question I’m curious to see answered as the Banzuke unfolds is how
many ozeki and ex-ozeki will actually show up at that rank.
Chiyotaikai has a real shot. Right now though, I haven’t taken
names from any banzuke before 1991 Natsu, so there is a long way to
go. For that matter, now that we know (I think we know) that it’s
no longer business as usual for Asashoryu, it’s not a given that he’ll
stay at Ye.
Kyokutenho at M3w is a mild surprise, with a reputation as one with no
sanyaku staying power, but yet, sitting atop erstwhile sanyaku
stalwarts such as Tochinowaka and Kotogaume. But as the numbers
don’t lie (having re-checked them), I now have to regard him more
highly than before. On the other hand, I looked at Aminishiki at
M9e and thought that might be a tad low, but after double-checking
there too, I found that’s right where he belongs.
Chiyotenzan is a kind of Eternal Banzuke ticking time bomb, in that |
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his
current ranking of M9e is based on his last makuuchi appearance in Haru
2004. But as he still toils on, currently at ms28, there remains
the slimmest sliver of a chance that a new renaissance might bounce him
back up to makuuchi. If that happened, it would (1) add perhaps
as many as 20 additional juryo and below showings into the count, and
probably, (2) throw him off the Eternal Banzuke completely. He
could be given an asterisk, but if the rules aren’t changed for
Chiyonofuji, they assuredly won’t be changed for Chiyotenzan.
Even at this early stage, most of the spots on the Eternal Banzuke are
already occupied by at least one rikishi. To recap, if there is
only one rikishi at a particular rank, the tie-breaker data for that
rikishi isn’t displayed because it isn’t relevant unless there is
another rikishi’s data to compare it to. Hopefully, between now
and August, I will experience less real life and more fantasy life, and
will be able to add more rikishi to the Banzuke than was possible this
time around.
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