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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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Their protest, however,
had neither the substance nor the weight of the Tenryu group as their
complaints were rather frivolous. The Minanogawa group formed their own
organization, separate from the Tenryu group, but later, both factions
joined together to stage sumo tournaments with a new set of rules.
These tournaments had five-, seven-, and even 10-round matches as in
boxing. This type of competition gave Minanogawa more endurance and
enabled him to sharpen his techniques significantly. After one year of
such tournaments, Minanogawa gained so much strength that sumo fans
became eager to see him face the best that the Kyokai could offer. They
did not have to wait very long as Minanogawa and a number of other
rikishi soon resolved their differences and agreed to return to the
Kyokai.
In the January 1933 basho, 12 rikishi rejoined the Kyokai and were
placed on the banzuke equivalent to makuuchi but without any individual
ranking. Their ranking was simply called “besseki” (meaning “separate
seeds”). Of the returning twelve, Nadanohana, lost all 11 bouts while
another, Takanohana, did not compete at all, and they both left the
Kyokai after the basho. The standout was Minanogawa, who went on to
beat the Kyokai’s top stars, the two ozeki, Shimizugawa and
Musashiyama, and yokozuna Tamanishiki. Those who had remained
with the
Kyokai during the rikishi strike wanted desperately to preserve their
pride by beating each of the deserters, and especially, to spoil
Minanogawa’s chance of winning
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the yusho. Minanogawa survived the
challenge and took the yusho with an 11-0 record. After this basho, Minanogawa changed his second name to Tozo, which suggested more gritty power.
The next basho, as west komusubi, Minanogawa finished with 8 wins and 3
losses. Then, as west sekiwake at the January 1934 basho he
achieved a 9-2 kachi-koshi to win his second yusho. Minanogawa
was quickly promoted to ozeki for the following basho. He
suffered a makekoshi in his ozeki debut, but compiled an aggregate 17 -
5 over the next two basho. The January 1936 basho was crucial for
Minanogawa. His chief rival, Musashiyama of Dewanoumi ichimon,
had been promoted to yokozuna the previous basho with a 9-2 record, the
two losses coming from him and yokozuna Tamanishiki.
Musashiyama’s promotion was totally unexpected and many sumo fans could
not see its merit. In reality, Musashiyama’s promotion had been
orchestrated by Takasago oyakata who belonged to a rival ichimon. This
was an extremely clever tactic by Takasago oyakata, obligating
Dewanoumi oyakata to return a favor at a future date. And that
to-be-named-later favor turned out to be Minanogawa. At the
January 1936 basho, Minanogawa lost to Futabayama on day 5 and to
Tamanishiki on senshuraku (the last day) to finish 9 -2 losses at east
ozeki. Yokozuna Taminishiki went undefeated to win the yusho. This
scenario had exactly the same set of circumstances as Musashiyama’s
promotion the previous basho and, as a result, in two consecutive
basho, Ozumo witnessed the birth of two of the weakest yokozuna in the
history of the sport.
(To be continued) |
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Born on:
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September 17, 1903
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| Born at: |
Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Real Name: |
Tomojiro (Kyojiro) Minanogawa |
| Shikona: |
Minanogawa => Asashio => Minanogawa |
Heya:
|
Takasago => Sadogatake => Takasago => Sadogatake
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Dohyo debut:
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January 1924 |
| Juryo debut: |
January 1927
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| Makuuchi debut: |
January 1928 |
| Last basho: |
January 1942
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| Highest rank: |
Yokozuna |
| Makuuchi basho: |
35
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| Makuuchi record: |
247 wins, 136 losses, 1 draw, 33 kyujo
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| Winning percentage: |
0.645
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Yusho:
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2
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| Height: |
195 cm (6”5”)
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| Weight: |
146 kg (322 lbs)
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| Favorite techniques: |
Hidari (left)-yotsu, kotenage
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Toshiyori name: |
Minanogawa (resigned from the Kyokai in June 1945) |
Died:
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January 20, 1971 in the Tokyo suburb of Musashimurayama City. |
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