<DATE> Contents

Attention to Akeni
Carolyn Todd
SFM's newest addition to the writing staff takes an in-depth look at akeni, their history and production techniques
Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
Joe Kuroda slides former yokozuna Minanogawa under his SFM microscope
Eric Evaluates
Eric Blair
Eric's wit scythes through the SML and makes clear his opinion of where the future lies for online sumo forums.
Eternal Banzuke Phase II
Lon Howard
Stats, equations and mathematics all lead to a list of sumo's most prolific up and downers
Matta-Henka: Another View
Lon Howard
A row that will never be fully decided but Lon gives his impressions on it all the same
Heya Peek
Mark Buckton
Mihogaseki, former home of Estonian sekitori Baruto is toured (and peeked at) by SFM's Editor-in-Chief
SFM Interview
Mark Buckton
Mark interviews shin-komusubi Kokkai
Photo Bonanza
See the Nagoya basho and Akeni photo bonanzas
Nagoya Basho Summary
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Nagoya basho summary, along with the henka sightings results
Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila casts his watchful eye over lower division goings on in makushita and below.
Aki Ones to Watch
Carolyn Todd
Carolyn takes over the job of rikishi job performance prediction for SFM as she looks at those to keep an eye on come September
Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Our man Mikko's latest trio of kimarite get thrown about the SFM literary dohyo
Amateur Angles
Howard Gilbert
Howard returns with the second of his columns on the amateur sumo scene.
Sumo Game
SFM's very own quiz comes in for a bit of self scrutiny by our secretive man of questions. We'll call him 'X'.
Sumo in Print
Barbara Ann Klein
SFM’s Editor reviews “The Little Yokozuna”, a book for “young” (and older) adults
Kokugi Connections
Todd Lambert
Check out Todd's bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites
Fan Debate
Facilitator - Lon Howard
Keri Sibley and Eduardo de Paz  ponder the concept of ‘to pay or not to pay’ makushita salaries
SFM Cartoons
Stephen Thompson
Sit back and enjoy the offerings of one of sumo's premier artists
Lets Hear From You
What was it that made you a sumo fan? SFM’s own Todd Lambert details his path into sumofandom
Readers' Letters
See what our readers had to say since we last went out
Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.


  again. Recently, he did sneak up from jonidan to makushita and, in Nagoya, achieved a 4-3 record at Ms50. Tamaasuka (23, 3 makuuchi, 5 juryo basho) won the makushita yusho in Aki 2004 and went through juryo in four basho, making his makuuchi debut in the 2005 Nagoya basho. Sadly, he severely broke his already injured ankle during the 2005 Kyushu basho. Unable to compete in Hatsu 2006 , he fell  to makushita level. However, he has now had three winning records at high makushita and is slowly on his way back to juryo. A 4-3 kachi-koshi at Ms4 will take him very close to juryo and every basho-lull should help to promote his ankle’s strength.  He is definitely a talented rikishi with fruitful years to come - unless he drifts onto the “Wakakirin-path”.

Speaking of which, Wakakirin (22, 4 juryo basho) is a living example
    

Wakakirin
     
of the debilitating effects of an ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) injury. He hasn’t been able to gain back his “pushing-style” sumo strength and looks rather hapless compared to the vigorous and challenging sumo he exhibited as a 20-year-old juryo debutant in Aki 2004 (10-5 at J13). 
He injured his knee after the 2005 Hatsu basho, but on his way back, clinched a surprising 7-0 yusho in Aki that year (although avoiding all the best makushita rikishi due to his low rank). He managed to eke out 4-3  in Kyushu 2005 and returned to juryo, but has since been backpedaling with 4-11, 2-5, and 2-5 preceding this year’s Nagoya basho, where he turned the tide again with a 5-2 record.

Kaido (29, 11 juryo basho) resembles his famous stablemate Kaio a lot, both in sumo style (right hand outside grip, kotenage, tottari) -  and injury burden. Kaido limping around the stadium was a common sight in juryo, having had several  acute injuries and problems with his legs. He was considered to be quite a prospect when he joined ozumo, but never fully flourished. He spent the time from Aki 2003 to Haru 2005 in juryo - sometimes healthy, looking like one of the strongest juryo rikishi,; other times, just hobbling along. Since then, his nagging injuries have sunk him deep into makushita. A small-scale comeback seems to be in progress lately and he has jumped from Ms31 in Hatsu 2006 to Ms11 in the 2006 Nagoya basho with his narrow kachi-koshi. He might still compete in juryo if his battered body holds up.

Although Sadogatake-beya has Kotooshu, Kotomitsuki and Kotoshogiku in makuuchi, it has no juryo rikishi. Instead, there are three former juryo rikishi – all of whom made their juryo debuts at advanced (for sumo) ages. Kotokanyu (40, 11 juryo basho, debut in juryo at 29 years of age), Kotonomine (33, 4 juryo basho, debut in juryo at 29), and Kotokasuga (28, 5 juryo basho, debut in juryo at 27) all appear to be somewhat lacklustre these days. Kotonomine suffered a devastating 1-6 losing record at Ms46 in
Nagoya and will drop to sandanme, while the 40-year-old wonder,  Kotokanyu, couldn’t do much better at Ms25 with his 2-5 record. Only Kotokasuga had a winning record, but he was still in juryo as recently as Hatsu 2006 and has since spun into a freefall, down to Ms37 where a 4-3 doesn’t warrant a big hooray. It is doubtful that any of them will return again to juryo, even though Kotokanyu had been written off a number of times over the past ten years. He certainly is the ironman of sumo, having joined as a mere 15-year-old -- 25 years of sumo life and sumo training with a relatively light weight body and he reached Ms1 only two years ago.

Wakatenro (28, 6 juryo basho) was last seen in juryo in the 2004 Hatsu basho and never really got close after that. He received a motivating stablemate when Wakanoho joined Magaki-beya, but he still hasn’t been able to surge up to the juryo promotion-zone and was brusquely left behind by the youngster. Wakatenro enjoyed a fine 6-1 record in the Natsu basho, but at Ms15 the caliber of his foes grew and he finished the Nagoya basho  with a 3-4 record. Maikaze (29, 3 juryo basho) spent the entire time between Natsu 2004 and Nagoya 2005 languishing within Ms5 and J10, with an aggregate record of 38-42 in those five makushita and three juryo basho. What is more, he never had a winning record in juryo. Injuries made life difficult for him, too, and in Haru 2006 he couldn’t even get a winning record at sandanme rank. In the 2006 Natsu basho, Maikaze bounced back strongly with a clean 7-0 sandanme yusho, and held his own reasonably well at Ms18 in Nagoya,  finishing with a narrow 3-4 losing record.

If one would ask for three facts about Gokenzan (33, 11 juryo

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