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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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career in the world of professional sumo. The other
Mongolian in the “youngest top ten” list is Kagamio (18), who competed
at a career-high rank at Sd4. Unfortunately, the opposition was too
strong and he collapsed with a 1-6 record. Kokkai’s younger brother
Tsukasaumi (19) has also had his share of injuries, missing a few days
during the Natsu basho, then sitting out the entire Nagoya basho. Until
now he had had steady progress on the banzuke with a streak of winning records, but instead of making
his makushita debut, he will have to start over at the bottom of
sandanme in September.
Sasaki
Naruto-beya’s Sasaki (19) is a tall
and lanky rikishi who has been gaining experience in mid-sandanme for a
few basho now. In Nagoya, he had another record close to 50-50 -- his
fourth in a row in sandanme with either a 3-4 or 4-3 finish. Yutsukasa
(19) is Tsukasaumi’s stablemate and was also
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at a career high Sd31 in
Nagoya, but lacked sharpness, finishing with a 3-4 make-koshi.
Kagemaru (19) is the shortest of the top ten youngest group with his
stubby 165cm (approx. 5’5”) stature. Weighing around 150kg (331 lbs.),
he is a bit of a Takekaze-type and notched up a fine 4-3 record at
Sd39, which was his career high rank.
Makushita was all about Shiraishi. During his ascension to juryo, he
usually blasted everyone away, but then, a streak of injuries and
medical problems plagued his
progress. Now back in makushita, he has had a couple of 5-2s and hit
the jackpot in Nagoya with a strong 7-0 yusho -
a well-earnedyusho, too, beating Kageyama and Hakkaku-beya’s
outstanding 21-year-old new bull, Hokutokuni on the way.
In sandanme the high ranker ex-makushita Kaishoryu and Mongolian
Daitensho led the force of ex-makushita rikishi, while newcomers with
no prior makushita appearances were left out of the yusho race. Daitensho
was as high as Ms14 in the Hatsu basho, but then, injured himself and
dropped down to Sd53. Kaishoryu
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has been similarly handicapped. But in
Nagoya, both had well-recovered, and had a 7-0 play-off which went to
Daitensho. Upcoming prospects Takunishiki, Morioka, Gagamaru and
Masuhikari all had winning records, but none of them managed to achieve
6-1 kachi-koshi.
In the jonidan division, the biggest favourite was unbeaten Sakaizawa
(23) with his forward-going sumo. He had only to beat Matsutani in the
play-off to secure a second consecutive yusho since his debut. It
was not be, however, as Matsutani (22) had his revenge against both of
the rikishi he lost to in the Natsu basho. First he beat Toshinoshin,
injuring the Georgian in the process, and then shocked Sakaizawa with
an uwatenage in the play-off. Many other college rikishi finished with
6-1.
The jonokuchi yusho race was uninspiring absent any hyped newcomers.
Kokonoe-beya was well represented with Omiyamoto taking the yusho. New
entrant Sawada did well with a 6-1 winning record.
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