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SOS - Shinjinrui on Sumo |
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Chris Gould
Chris sinks his teeth into how sumo can go about pulling in the younger
fans - currently so noticeable by their absence. The first of a
three-part series.
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Sumo World Championships |
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Mark Buckton
Mark Buckton reports from Sakai near Osaka, site of the latest Sumo World Championships.
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Rikishi of Old |
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Joe Kuroda
Joe Kuroda finishes off his look at former yokozuna Minanogawa.
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Sumo 101 / Eric Evaluates |
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Eric Blair
Eric expains sumo fan terminology - with the inevitable twist - for
those just getting into the sport and still subject to the know it alls.
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Age stands still for no man |
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Joe Kuroda
Former ozeki Kiyokuni will retire in November under the compulsory '65
and you are out' rule. JK takes a look at this quiet earth mover.
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Feel the Sumo |
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Eduardo de Paz
Read and feel the renowned Leonishiki's passion for all things sumo at his first live event.
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SFM Interview |
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Mark Buckton
Mark interviews Colin Carroll - again - Irish star of Sakai.
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Photo Bonanza |
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See the Aki Basho bonanza as well as the largest collection of pics you
are likely to see on the Sumo World Championships earlier in October.
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Aki Basho Summary |
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Lon Howard
Lon wraps the September Aki Basho and throws in some henka sighting results for good measure.
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Lower Division Rikishi |
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Mikko Mattila
The lower divisions, their members and results get the once over thanks to Mikko's eye of things 'beneath the curtain'.
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Kimarite Focus |
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Mikko Mattila
Mikko's latest clarification of several of the sport's plethora of kimarite.
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Amateur Angles |
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Howard Gilbert
Howard Gilbert - manager of New Zealand's amateur sumo team takes a look at the approaching Russians.
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Kokugi Konnections |
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Todd Lambert
Click on Todd's bimonthly focus on three of the best sumo sites online.
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Fan Debate |
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Facilitator - Lon Howard
Jesse Lake and Rich Pardoe hammer out their differences on a current furor - promotion criteria.
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SFM Cartoons |
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Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson
In this issue's cartoon bonanza, sit back and enjoy Benny Loh's
offerings and put a caption to Stephen Thompson's picture to win
yourselves a banzuke.
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Sumo Odds ’n’ Ends |
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SFM's interactive elements including Henka Sightings, Elevator Rikishi and Eternal Banzuke!
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Readers' Letters |
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See what our readers had to say since we last hit your screens.
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Sumo Quiz |
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The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.
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one
point telegraphing a long- distance harite that missed badly. Now out
of his element, Asashoryu leaned far forward while pushing Chiyo out
and was dragged face down as the ozeki wrapped his fingers in the
yokozuna’s mage. After a mono-ii, the shimpan upheld the gyoji’s
decision for Chiyotaikai, apparently concluding that Asashoryu would
have gone down without the mage being pulled, or that the mage wasn’t
actually tugged on…who knows? Despite any praise Chiyotaikai
might have received for getting the yokozuna ‘out of his game’, for
most it was a match that was better soon forgotten.
Conversely, the Asashoryu - Hakuho match on senshuraku was a
jewel that could have been unforgettable, if only something had been on
the line. In this case though, the only possible story line was
that the yokozuna had yet to defeat Hakuho this year. True to
form, despite his languid exhibitions so far in the basho, Hakuho was
pumped against the yokozuna and gave him all he could handle.
After a mighty struggle, Asashoryu drove the ozeki to the edge but was
twisted sideways as they fell together outside the tawara. A good
case could have been made whichever way the gumbai went, but it had to
go somewhere and it went in Asashoryu’s direction. I wasn’t alone
in thinking “tori-naoshi,” but of course, a re-match first requires a
mono-ii, and mysteriously, the five shimpan remained frozen in place,
as if they had all heard the oyakata whisper, “Let’s just all go home!”
Post-basho,
it was revealed that Hakuho had bruised his right knee joint on day 1,
and although an MRI showed no ligament damage, he reportedly will not
do serious
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keiko until he arrives in Kyushu; anyway it’s back
to square one as far as a tsunatori run is concerned. For
Miyabiyama, it’s uncertain on which
Miyabiyama
square his ozeki campaign belongs, as there were rumblings that 12 wins
in Kyushu might be enough for promotion. That seems way out there
to me – if a 34-win, three-basho run wasn’t enough last time, then why
would 31 wins do it this time, especially if Kaio survives kadoban?
For Kaio, the intai rumors are in full bloom again, as he showed
nothing in his six bouts before his weak back sent him on kyujo.
His sleepy, half-charging, reaching-in tachiai gave his opponents early
control of his matches, and he couldn’t move around well after
that. After some rest, I wouldn’t bet against him on his Kyushu
home turf,
Ozeki Kaio
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but it does look bad this time. Kotooshu showed
signs that his injured knee may be mending, but he also lost some
matches badly to lesser opponents, so hopefully, the injury isn’t
already partially chronic. Chiyotaikai gave us his usual fast
start and slow fade, while Tochiazuma did the reverse, justly gathering
kudos for just finishing the basho after limping to an 0-3 start.
There were two major injuries as well. The former sekiwake
strong-boy M14 Wakanosato declared kyujo just before shonichi, and the
ozeki hopeful M1 Baruto collapsed, with a possibly severe knee injury
on day 10 against Miyabiyama, to finish 4-7-4. After having gone
kyujo during Nagoya after re-injuring his knee, Wakanosato resumed
keiko in the week prior to the Aki basho, but did so poorly that his
oyakata pulled him out, so he will, as in 2000, return to juryo.
Now at age 30, his prospects of ever returning to sanyaku are fading to
black. With Baruto, at this writing there have been conflicting
reports on whether he has suffered knee ligament damage or just has a
sprain, so we’ll have to wait that one out. Even before that
injury though, he was struggling with the joi-jin he had faced.
It seemed that instead of trying to avoid his burliness at the tachiai,
they had learned to just put a good lick on him instead, and then take
advantage of his inexperience to drive him out. We hope that he
has discovered the hard way that a good tachiai can be the key to
success
With all the unfulfilled hopes coming out of the basho, it must be
pointed out that Kaio was the only sanyaku rikishi that failed to
achieve kachi-koshi. With that, the question now is whether
an additional sanyaku spot might be
Next
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