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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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12
wins) or Wakanohana I (12 wins/13 wins), nor promoted Kashiwado (11
wins/12 wins). Were these also weak yokozuna? The truth is
that, at promotion time, we do the best we can with the knowledge we
have at the time. If hindsight shows we could have done better,
we change the criterion. And if the criterion changes, how is
that any different than what we have now?
And “hard criteria” only adds to the murkiness. Now that a
given outcome will absolutely assure one’s promotion or non-promotion,
would the torikumi-makers – as a basho winds down – feel pressured to
give promotion candidates easier or harder matches, depending on the
desired outcome? Or even worse, would the temptation for yaocho
be even greater? These pointed questions – already asked anyway –
would become even more pointed; and they further illustrate that hard
criteria will not guarantee higher standards due to the wide and
wondrous ocean of minutiae that goes into a basho and its operation.
Even if the three ‘weak’ yokozuna you have mentioned above had never
been promoted, one must realize that any group of stars will always
have their ‘worst’ stars. Removing Futahaguro, Onokuni and
Wakanohana would have only resulted in a smaller list – a list which
would have its own yokozuna that would be considered weak by
comparison. With that, we’d surely be discussing now how we could
have eliminated them! In this sense, hard criteria would give us
the same outcome, only with a different cast of characters.
The mention of a precious few promotions that might not have been
deserved is not a compelling argument to me. What would be far
more compelling would be a list of
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rikishi
passed over for promotion as a result of an inconsistent system.
The fact that there are a scant few of these questionable promotions
tells me that the current system is working just fine and need not be
replaced.
Our discussion began by referring to criteria for both ozeki and
yokozuna promotion. I haven’t brought out any examples on the
ozeki side because my role here is to respond to arguments for change,
and no ozeki examples have been presented yet. I’m curious
if you have any thoughts on how that criterion should be changed.
JL: In response to your question, ozeki promotion is
just as haphazard nowadays as yokozuna promotion. We have several
cases of rikishi being promoted without making the unwritten criterion
of 33 wins over three basho while ranked in or just below sanyaku,
while at the same time having many rikishi denied after achieving or
even surpassing that standard. What good is this?
I'd like to point out that hard promotion criteria would not have
denied yokozuna promotion to the three rikishi you mentioned above –
Kashiwado, Wakanohana I and Taiho. Kashiwado would have been
promoted in 1967 after winning 13 in Natsu and 14 in Osaka.
Wakanohana’s promotion would only have been delayed four basho as he
was able to win 27 over Nagoya-Aki in 1958. Taiho's career was so
spectacular that even the stingiest rules would not have denied him
promotion. As we can see, deserving rikishi aren't going to be
denied because of hard criteria; they're just going to be made to work
a little harder to prove themselves. We shouldn't promote a
rikishi when “the promise and potential” appears to be there, a rikishi
should be promoted only after accomplishing
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what would make him worthy of standing alongside sumo's all-time greats.
Sanyaku rikishi can expect to consistently face the other sanyaku
rikishi and rikishi in upper maegashira. Defined criteria leading
to tampering with the torikumi is a very far-fetched notion. Fear of
yaocho definitely should not be taken into consideration.
You are correct that whatever the criteria might be, a new set of
rikishi would end up being among the worst; however, the gap between
the worst and the norm would not be nearly as great as it is now, and
there would not be such an enormous overlap between strong ozeki and
weak yokozuna. The ranks would be much clearer and more defined.
History suggests that our current promotion system has only created
chaos within the upper ranks of ozumo. It’s time for a new system
that is not only fair to rikishi, but also does not tarnish the
ranks. Let rikishi earn their ranks by winning hard fought
battles on the dohyo, and not by being popular among the powers that
be. Take it from Kotooshu, "I really think they should come up with
some more definitive [promotion] guidelines", September 9th, 2006.
RP: It is a shame we have run out of time and
space. You end by claiming an enormous overlap between strong
ozeki and weak yokozuna. Yet no evidence has been presented to
support this claim. You claim there are plenty of examples where
ozeki promotion is haphazard, but I find they are primarily all from
the 1940s and 1950s. Old data doesn’t seem to support the
argument that the current system is broken. Where are
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