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SOS - Shinjinrui on Sumo |
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Chris Gould
Chris sinks his teeth deeper into how sumo can go about pulling in the younger fans in part two of a three-part series.
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Azumazeki up close and personal |
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Steven Pascal-Joiner / William Titus
A wiz with a pen and a wiz with a lens get together with SFM to share
their time with Azumazeki Oyakata - Takamiyama as was - with the wider
sumo following world.
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Rikishi of Old |
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Joe Kuroda
Joe Kuroda takes a detailed look at the life and times of a former yokozuna forgotten by many - Maedayama.
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Eric Evaluates |
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Eric Blair
Eric calls the musubi-no-ichiban kimarite call on nakabi in Kyushu as perhaps only he could.
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Heya Peek |
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Jeff Kennel
First time heya visitor Jeff Kennel wrote about, photographed and even
made a video of his time spent at Arashio Beya prior to the Kyushu
Basho. All to be found within.
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SFM Interview |
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Mark Buckton
Mark interviews Russian up and comer Wakanoho of Magaki Beya.
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Photo Bonanzas |
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See behind the scenes at the Kyushu Basho, morning training in Arashio
Beya through the eyes of an artist and exactly what the Azumazeki lads
had to eat halfway though the July Nagoya Basho. All originals, all
seen here and nowhere else, and all for you.
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Kyushu Basho Summary |
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Lon Howard
Lon wraps the Kyushu Basho in Fukuoka 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 eyeing of life down below the salaried ranks.
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Hatsu Ones To Watch |
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Carolyn Todd
Carolyn ponders and puts fingers to keys on the ones to watch come January and the Hatsu Basho.
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Kimarite Focus |
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Mikko Mattila
Mikko's latest clarification of a handful of sumo's kimarite offers unequalled analysis and in depth explanations.
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Amateur Angles |
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Howard Gilbert
Howard looks at makushita tsukedashi and what it means in real terms.
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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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Facilitators - Lon Howard / Carolyn Todd
Two SFMers talk over the yokozuna benefiting from weak opposition - or not as the case may be.
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SFM Cartoons |
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Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson
In this issue's cartoon bonanza, sit back and sample Stephen's artistic offerings.
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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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Lets Hear From You |
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What was it that made you a sumo fan? Starting with issue #10, the SFM
staff will reveal a little of their own routes into sumo fandom -
starting with Benny Loh.
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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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tachiai henka route. After one
of those henka toward the end of the basho, one could hear murmurs in
the audience that smacked of boos, unheard of at a hon-basho.
After posting an infrequent kachi-koshi as a shin-komusubi in
September, Kokkai appeared to some to be ready to challenge for
promotion, but that quest collapsed in a heap this time as he failed to
defeat anyone ranked above him and didn’t record his first win until
day 10 against another 0-9 rikishi, M1 Iwakiyama. His 3-12 could
easily send him to his lowest rank since he was a shin-nyu-maku.
But…based on my observation in the Aki basho summary, I’m only
surprised that his make-koshi was so huge as he continues to pull and
slap his way around the dohyo. The remaining sanyaku,
shin-komusubi Aminishiki, posted a more predictable 6-9, probably just
bad enough to diminish the level of his competition in January to a
manageable level for him.
Since the four komusubi slots that were filled in Kyushu were the
exception and not the norm, and since two of those four komusubi posted
make-koshi, it might be expected that the banzuke-makers for Hatsu will
just let the ‘extra’ two slots go away. That would be bitter
medicine for Kotoshogiku, who finally had the semblance of a breakout
basho at 10-5. For many, this says that he must be promoted to
komusubi. If that happens, there’s a chance that M3 Dejima’s 10-5
might also be good enough as well, as it would provide balance to the
sanyaku portion of the banzuke. Whatever happens, I offer my own
congratulations to ‘Giku, who appeared headed off another cliff,
starting the basho at 0-4. I am not hopeful he’ll survive the early-basho
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heavy hitters he’ll face in January, but
he certainly showed a sharper tachiai and more creativity in his sumo
this time. If Dejima makes it, it’ll be his first return to
sanyaku in three and a half years, and if not, it’ll still be his
highest rank in two years. Either way, there is no chance of him
sticking at his new rank, as he only faced six men ranked above him in
Kyushu and this time he’ll get the full compliment of sanyaku
opponents, including the yokozuna. But I’m a late-arriving
admirer anyway, as the ex-ozeki got a chance this time to show some of
the new sumo fans why he was able to advance to ozeki, and to defend
that rank well for over a year. It’s just too bad about those bad
wheels of his.
Kotoshogiku
The two men at M1 took predictable tumbles. Ama once again showed
that he isn’t joi-jin material just yet. Although he took care of
both sekiwake, the remaining sanyaku boys overwhelmed him. It’s oft |
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repeated, I know, but when the little
one insists on going straight into all of his much larger foes, all it
takes is one well-timed – or lucky – poke in his chest, and it’s all
over. Until he injects some consistent creativity into his
tachiai, he’ll never get enough wins against the high rankers to join
them. As for Iwakiyama – what in blazes happened? I’ll
admit I was kind of amazed that he crawled his way back to the top of
the maegashira ranks, even without defeating anyone of consequence, but
neither I nor anyone else foresaw him free falling to an 0-12
start. After that he did manage to defeat the ‘Zakura’ brothers,
Toyo and Kita, but that was all. This will have shaken his confidence a
great deal.
M3 Tokitenku showed convincing evidence that he can deliver the goods
as a top maegashira as he issued a solid 9-6 message to the other
contenders. Even when he loses to the top rankers, he usually
makes them work for it, as he has a fair amount of power to begin with,
and they always have to be wary of his bag of tricks. Winding up
the joi-jin contenders’ report, there is the mysterious performance of
M2 Futeno, who knocked off three ozeki but could only put up two other
wins. The 5-10 outing is a big disappointment, as he gives
further proof that he can’t post kachi-koshi at any rank above
mid-maegashira, despite ample evidence that he has the skills to
compete with anyone.
Looking at the rest of the kachi-koshi pack, the M6 pair of Kyokutenho
and Baruto will advance, along with the M9 twins, Takamisakari and
Asasekiryu, with all four posting 10-5. For Kyokutenho, it halted
a line of three straight make-koshi following his most recent promotion
Next
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