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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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Lower Division Rikishi
text by Mikko Mattila
photos by Barbara Ann Klein
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the Nagoya basho, he dropped all
the way to Ms28 and yet, wasn’t able to collect enough wins to stop the
dive. He had a 3-4 in Nagoya and an aggregate 10-18 record in makushita
for 2006 thus far. He is still only 30 years of age, but a quite unique
example of a clearly weakened rikishi.
Takahama, the former Hamanishiki, with seven basho in
makuuchi, and 18 in juryo, is the second in line when it comes to
experience in the salaried ranks. He was successful as an amateur at
the same time as Kotomitsuki, Takamisakari, and Hayateumi, but has been
in makushita for almost two years now, and, unfortunately, is not
showing any real sign of ever making it back.
Takahama
Towanoyama (29 years of
age, 12 juryo basho) tore his patella tendon in 2004 while in juryo,
and was absent for a whole year before his reappearance on the dohyo.
On the morning of his makuuchi debut in March 2002, he suffered an
injury to his knee. He lost his match by default and never got close to
makuuchi
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Lack of access to makushita bouts necessitated that I look for a new
viewpoint for this issue’s column. Thus, the article is divided into
three parts. The first part covers ex-sekitori level rikishi and their
recent performance in the lower divisions; the second part sums up the
recent success of ten of the youngest 18- and 19-year-olds within a
group comprising the 200 highest ranked lower division rikishi
(makushita 1 - sandanme 40) as they appeared in the May 2006 banzuke;
and lastly, there is a brief summary of the Nagoya basho results for
the four lower divisions.
Injury, illness, and loss of confidence or desire can all tremendously
affect a rikishi’s development curve or hasten the process of decline.
One particularly interesting sub-set in the lower divisions is the
group of men who were formerly in the makuuchi or juryo division. In
this chapter, we’ll look at 15 former sekitori who competed in makushita or sandanme in the recent Nagoya basho. In addition
to these 15, there are 2-3 active rikishi, who because of only having
had one or two brief visits to juryo, are excluded from the discussion. So what goes on in a rikishi’s mind when he
languishes in makushita after many tournaments in juryo or even in
makuuchi? A glimmering hope to find a way back once more, or just a
matter of necessity or
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lifestyle to hang on even without a real salary
and diminished ability on the dohyo?
Chiyotenzan
There is a rikishi in makushita who has just suffered a
losing record for the fourth consecutive basho in that division, but
who has 22 makuuchi basho, 26 juryo basho, two fighting spirit prizes,
an outstanding performance prize, a juryo yusho, a ginboshi (a win
against an ozeki while at a maegashira rank), and three kinboshi (wins
against a yokozuna while at a maegashira rank) on his resume. Some
years ago, Chiyotenzan was diagnosed with diabetes, which evidently
contributed to his decline, but for
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