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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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yusho-equivalents,
other times it’s two yusho-equivalents wrapped around a 12-3. At
the end of the day, it’s going to boil down to whatever the people on
the committee want. And with that, there’s no way to prevent
favoritism, racism, or just the fact that some of the members happen to
be in a bad mood on post-basho meeting day from becoming a part of the
equation.
Here’s what the current system has given us so far. We have
yokozuna like Futahaguro, without a yusho to his name – and Onokuni,
with just two; yet there are two rikishi who weren’t promoted despite
winning five yusho (one being promoted later in his career). Of
the last 20 yokozuna, there have been three promoted with mere 12-3
records in the first basho of their yokozuna runs, and one who was
promoted after only a 12-3 basho. We have rikishi promoted after
two basho with a total of only 23 wins, while numerous rikishi were
denied promotion despite winning as many as 26 and 27 What a
mess! What happened to consistency?
For now, I have one last point. I love the feeling of suspense
that comes before important matches. A part of the excitement is
lost in knowing that what happens in the ring is second to what happens
in the council room. Instead of watching our favorite rikishi in
a career-defining match on senshuraku clinch a promotion with a
powerful uwatenage with the crowd roaring and the air overflowing with
flying zabuton, we are forced to wait it out until ol’ Uchidate and
crew make up their minds. Where’s the fun in that?
RP: In the Nagano Winter Olympics, you saw a perfect
example of how uniquely sumo is identified with the Land of the Rising
Sun. As sumo is such a
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symbol
of Japan, we should recognize that their highest ranking rikishi
represent more than simply the best performers on the dohyo, that they
are ambassadors for Japan and its culture. As such ambassadors,
the ozeki and yokozuna can and should be held to a higher standard - a
standard that represents more than just a cold-hearted calculation of
wins.
These two top ranks are special in another way, in that they are not
relinquished easily. For most rikishi, the promotion criterion is
clearly defined: Win more matches than you lose, and you go up –
lose more than you win, and you go down. But for ozeki, it takes
two consecutive make-koshi to cause demotion, and even then they gain
re-promotion with 10 wins in the next basho – a nice hard criterion if
there ever was one. Yokozuna are never demoted. These
special privileges are yet another reason why promotion to these
exalted ranks cannot rely on hard promotion criteria that is
unyielding.
Consensus building is such an imbued trait in Japanese business and
society, it is perfectly natural to seek opinions from a variety of
backgrounds in evaluating whether or not a rikishi has the qualities
necessary to be an ambassador for one of its most conspicuous
adornments. In fact, I applaud the NSK for going beyond what is
normally perceived as a very insular world to gain the opinions of
others when considering rikishi for promotions.
Of course, like any system, it’s not perfect. Humans can and do
make mistakes, and Futahaguro can be discussed as such. But
humans also learn and adjust, and promotion to yokozuna was a lot more
difficult after Futahaguro, as Onokuni found out soon after. He
was denied promotion after a zensho yusho /
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12-3
jun-yusho. Ironically, hard promotion criteria would have
probably accelerated his promotion to yokozuna, so how would that have
helped?
Hard promotion criteria could not and would not be permanent. At
its worst, numerous automatic promotions would overflow the top of the
banzuke, similar to many fantasy sumo games. With this, the
criteria would have to be tightened, or in the case of few or no ozeki
/ yokozuna, it would be relaxed – all in an effort to keep the banzuke
balanced. There is no doubt that this would happen. So how
is that different from what we have now? It’s not. In the
end, hard criteria will be anything but firm.
You ask, “Where’s the consistency?” It sure won’t be found in
hard criteria. Is every 14-1 the same? Is M12 Kotonishiki’s
14-1 yusho in Kyushu ’98 equivalent to sekiwake Miyabiyama’s 14-1
jun-yusho in Natsu ’06? Hardly! A different caliber of
opponent was faced by each. Even for sanyaku, the presence or
absence of other rikishi shades the results. One sekiwake posts
14-1 when the ozeki/yokozuna are injured or absent, while another
sekiwake has the same record when they are all healthy. Hard
criteria paint the world black and white while reality has many shades
of gray that cannot be ignored.
The current system didn’t curb any of my enthusiasm on senshuraku in
Nagoya. To be fair though, I hadn’t even considered Miyabiyama as
a promotion candidate as I still remember his previous performance
ranked as ozeki. But I still knew both pride and promotion were
on the line for Hakuho as he mounted the dohyo to face Asashoryu.
I think everyone else was as excited as I was when he seemingly
clinched
Next
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