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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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to komusubi. Baruto is expected to make
another assault on sanyaku, following a nasty knee injury in
September. He showed no overt effects of the injury, but his
tachiai is still too high and passive, and we’re still waiting to see
if he can mix it up with the upper sanyaku men. As for
Takamisakari, the Robo-Cop had shown just one kachi-koshi in his past
seven basho – that one a mere 8-7, but somehow had dropped only four
banzukeranks. This 10-5 will unfortunately send him back up to
where he doesn’t belong, but don’t worry, he’s still good for at least
another couple of years in makuuchi. Asasekiryu, on the other
hand, was further down than he belonged, mostly due to his chronic knee
injury, and so got off to his own hot 6-0 start. He started
slipping as he faced stronger foes, but might be good for another
kachi-koshi next time if he doesn’t go up too far.
M7 Kasugao and the M8 shin-nyu-maku Kakuryu posted two surprising 8-7 kachi-koshi. A bit of
Kakuryu
banzuke luck had sent both men on a wild vertical bounce, and it was
widely thought that both would be cruisin’ for a bruisin’ once they got to Kyushu. But both rikishi brought
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their game face with them on the
way up – Kasugao from M15 and Kakuryu from J1 – and now both will be
severely challenged as they try to defend an even higher rank in
January. The other kachi-koshi were 8-7s put up by M10
Toyonoshima and M13 Tochinohana, and a 9-6 by M14 Tamakasuga,
rebounding nicely from his 1-14 disaster in September at M4.
M5 Hokutoriki, who dropped his first eight matches and then declared
kyujo, citing a bruised instep, heads the remaining list of rikishi
finishing in the red. Since he didn’t record a single win, he
could find himself in juryo come January for the first time since he
set foot in the top division. Another one holding his breath on
the juryo bubble is M7 Tamanoshima, who posted just 2 wins before also
going kyujo on the basis of an injured groin, suffered on day 10.
It’s the first kyujo for both of these veterans.
The M4 duo of Takekaze and Kakizoe took their expected lumps at 6-9,
but both are good enough to get back to this level before too long;
they’re just not good enough to stay there. I’m happy for M5
Tochinonada that he was able to post the seven wins good enough to keep
him in the middle of the maegashira pack, as he provides some ‘glue’
and stability to that portion of the banzuke. The brothers M8
Toyozakura and M11 Kitazakura did about as well as expected, at 5-10
and 4-11, respectively. Toyo will probably hang in the top
division for at least one more basho while Kita will certainly enter
juryo again.
The M12s Ushiomaru and Tosanoumi were both good for only 5-10, but it
may be good enough to keep them in makuuchi, as there weren’t that many
neon lights at the top of juryo this time. The same |
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could be said for shin-nyu-maku
Asofuji, who managed only 6-9. M14 Hakurozan’s recovery from the
knee surgery he had following Aki basho was clearly incomplete as he
lost his first eight matches poorly, but then somehow devised a
‘workaround’ and put out seven consecutive wins to probably retain a
top division spot for Hatsu basho. Rounding out the bottom rung
of makuuchi were the M15s Otsukasa, who will probably go back down to
juryo with 7-8, and Katayama, who will surely go down with his
6-9.
I am awarding the Upset of the Basho this time to the same rikishi who
claimed the Shukun-sho Outstanding Performance Prize – that would be no
one. First of all, the yokozuna was zensho, and none of the ozeki
was dominant enough to warrant a raised eyebrow if they lost to anyone
they faced, and moreover, not one of their losses changed
anything. As in Aki, this was a basho without crisis or gusto,
and the large blotches of bare seats in the arena on the majority of
days may as well have been a shrieking bull elephant – they were that
manifest. And so we wait…for Hakuho or Baruto or someone.
I am as big a fan of Asashoryu as they come, but I’m also a
realist. Somebody has to come along who can put up 11-13 wins
consistently so there is at least some pre-basho speculation about the
yusho race. Otherwise, the fact that we might be watching the
greatest yokozuna of anyone’s time will stir the imagination to the
same delirium achieved by a wife getting a shredder for an anniversary
present. So let’s get ready for Hatsu and sing all together now –
“Here we go Hakuho, here we go…here we go Hakuho, here we
go…”
Home
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