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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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again.
Recently, he did sneak up from jonidan to makushita and, in Nagoya,
achieved a 4-3 record at Ms50. Tamaasuka (23, 3 makuuchi, 5 juryo
basho) won the makushita yusho in Aki 2004 and went through juryo in
four basho, making his makuuchi debut in the 2005 Nagoya basho. Sadly,
he severely broke his already injured ankle during the 2005 Kyushu
basho. Unable to compete in Hatsu 2006 , he fell to makushita
level. However, he has now had three winning records at high makushita
and is slowly on his way back to juryo. A 4-3 kachi-koshi at Ms4 will
take him very close to juryo and every basho-lull should help to
promote his ankle’s strength. He is definitely a talented rikishi
with fruitful years to come - unless he drifts onto the
“Wakakirin-path”.
Speaking of which, Wakakirin (22, 4 juryo basho) is a living example
Wakakirin
of
the debilitating effects of an ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) injury.
He hasn’t been able to gain back his “pushing-style” sumo strength and
looks rather hapless compared to the vigorous and challenging sumo he
exhibited as a 20-year-old juryo debutant in Aki 2004 (10-5 at J13).
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He
injured his knee after the 2005 Hatsu basho, but on his way back,
clinched a surprising 7-0 yusho in Aki that year (although avoiding all
the best makushita rikishi due to his low rank). He managed to eke out
4-3
in
Kyushu 2005 and returned to juryo, but has since been backpedaling with
4-11, 2-5, and 2-5 preceding this year’s Nagoya basho, where he turned
the tide again with a 5-2 record.
Kaido (29, 11 juryo basho) resembles his famous stablemate Kaio a
lot,
both in sumo style (right hand outside grip, kotenage, tottari) -
and injury burden. Kaido limping around the stadium was a common sight
in juryo, having had several acute injuries and problems with
his legs. He was considered to be quite a prospect when he joined
ozumo, but never fully flourished. He spent the time from Aki 2003 to
Haru 2005 in juryo - sometimes healthy, looking like one of the
strongest juryo rikishi,; other times, just hobbling along. Since then,
his nagging injuries have sunk him deep into makushita. A small-scale
comeback seems to be in progress lately and he has jumped from Ms31 in
Hatsu 2006 to Ms11 in the 2006 Nagoya basho with his narrow
kachi-koshi. He might still compete in juryo if his battered body holds
up.
Although Sadogatake-beya has Kotooshu, Kotomitsuki and Kotoshogiku in
makuuchi, it has no juryo rikishi. Instead, there are three former
juryo rikishi – all of whom made their juryo debuts at advanced (for
sumo) ages. Kotokanyu (40, 11 juryo basho, debut in juryo at 29 years
of age), Kotonomine (33, 4 juryo basho, debut in juryo at 29), and
Kotokasuga (28, 5 juryo basho, debut in juryo at 27) all appear to be
somewhat lacklustre these days. Kotonomine suffered a devastating 1-6
losing record at Ms46 in
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Nagoya and will drop to sandanme, while the
40-year-old wonder, Kotokanyu, couldn’t do
much better at Ms25 with his
2-5 record. Only Kotokasuga had a winning record, but he was still in
juryo as recently as Hatsu 2006 and has since spun into a freefall,
down to Ms37 where a 4-3 doesn’t warrant a big hooray. It is doubtful
that any of them will return again to juryo, even though Kotokanyu had
been written off a number of times over the past ten years. He
certainly is the ironman of sumo, having joined as a mere 15-year-old
-- 25 years of sumo life and sumo training with a relatively light
weight body and he reached Ms1 only two years ago.
Wakatenro (28, 6 juryo basho) was last seen in juryo in the 2004 Hatsu
basho and never really got close after that. He received a motivating
stablemate when Wakanoho joined Magaki-beya, but he still hasn’t been
able to surge up to the juryo promotion-zone and was brusquely left
behind by the youngster. Wakatenro enjoyed a fine 6-1 record in the
Natsu basho, but at Ms15 the caliber of his foes grew and he finished
the Nagoya basho with a 3-4 record. Maikaze (29, 3 juryo basho)
spent the entire time between Natsu 2004 and Nagoya 2005 languishing
within Ms5 and J10, with an aggregate record of 38-42 in those five
makushita and three juryo basho. What is more, he never had a winning
record in juryo. Injuries made life difficult for him, too, and in Haru
2006 he couldn’t even get a winning record at sandanme rank. In the
2006 Natsu basho, Maikaze bounced back strongly with a clean 7-0
sandanme yusho, and held his own reasonably well at Ms18 in Nagoya, finishing with a narrow 3-4 losing record.
If one would ask for three facts about Gokenzan (33, 11 juryo
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