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| Attention to Akeni
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Carolyn Todd
SFM's newest addition to the writing staff takes an
in-depth look at akeni, their history and production techniques
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| Rikishi of Old
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Joe Kuroda
Joe Kuroda slides former yokozuna Minanogawa under his SFM microscope |
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| Eric Evaluates
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Eric Blair
Eric's wit scythes through the SML and makes clear his opinion of where the future lies for online sumo forums. |
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Eternal Banzuke Phase II
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Lon Howard
Stats, equations and mathematics all lead to a list of sumo's most prolific up and downers
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Heya Peek
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Mark Buckton
Mihogaseki, former home of Estonian sekitori Baruto is toured (and peeked at) by SFM's Editor-in-Chief
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Nagoya Basho Summary
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Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Nagoya basho summary, along with the henka sightings results
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Lower Division Rikishi
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Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila casts his watchful eye over lower division goings on in makushita and below.
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Aki Ones to Watch
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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 |
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Kimarite Focus
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Mikko Mattila
Our man Mikko's latest trio of kimarite get thrown about the SFM literary dohyo |
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Amateur Angles
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Howard Gilbert
Howard returns with the second of his columns on the amateur sumo scene.
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Sumo Game
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| SFM's very own quiz comes in for a bit of self scrutiny by our secretive man of questions. We'll call him 'X'. |
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Sumo in Print
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Barbara Ann Klein
SFM’s Editor reviews “The Little Yokozuna”, a book for “young” (and older) adults
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| Kokugi Connections
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Todd Lambert
Check out Todd's bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites
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Fan Debate
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Facilitator - Lon Howard
Keri Sibley and Eduardo de Paz ponder the concept of ‘to pay or not to pay’ makushita salaries
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SFM Cartoons
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Stephen Thompson
Sit back and enjoy the offerings of one of sumo's premier artists |
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Lets Hear From You
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| What was it that made you a sumo fan? SFM’s own Todd Lambert details his path into sumofandom
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| Sumo Quiz |
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke. |
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style.
At the following basho in March 1927, Tomojiro experienced his first
make-koshi. Takasago oyakata (3rd Takasago oyakata, ozeki Asashio Taro,
former Asaarashi Chotaro) sensed Tomojiro hitting the wall and asked
then sanyaku-ranked Kiyosegawa to instruct Tomojiro. Kiyosegawa
initially excused himself as he belonged to Tateyama-beya and he |
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Akutsugawa
attempted to have Minanogawa join another heya while claiming
Minanogawa to be his own. Meanwhile, Takasago oyakata was essentially
providing for his training and care.
With
Kiyosegawa’s expert training regimen, Minanogawa started to show his
true potential, and at the Hatsu 1928 basho, Minanogawa was
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Tomojiro was given some time to rest, but he was left
stranded during the tour with no funds to return to Tokyo. He later
admitted that he had never felt so miserable,
having to scramble up enough money to buy a train ticket back to Tokyo.
From then on, he believed that the Kyokai management did not truly care
about the rikishi’s well being, but rather in producing more revenue by
parading
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was well aware that Tomojiro’s de-facto shisho, Akutsugawa, was still active in Takasago-beya.
However,
Takasago oyakata convinced Kiyosegawa to reconsider by telling him,
“You know yourself that Akutsugawa can no longer compete with
Minanogawa. Minano needs a stronger opponent”. While it was true
that at this time Akutsugawa was ranked at low makuuchi and Minanogawa
at high juryo, this situation underscored a life-long bitter feud
between Takasago oyakata and Akutsugawa. Takasago oyakata never
forgot that
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finally
promoted to makuuchi. He had grown taller, and at 195cm (6’5”) and
135kg (298 lbs), he became the second tallest rikishi next to
Dewanoumi’s giant Dewagatake Bunjiro at 206cm (6’9”). At Mw 14,
Tomojiro finished the basho with 6 wins and 5 losses.
This ‘unexpected’ low score came about for a valid reason; Tomojiro had injured his thigh during a training session just prior to
the basho. Initially, he was unable to convince the Kyokai officials to
permit him to take a rest during a jungyo tour. Eventually, they
relented and
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| them around. After leaving the Kyokai, Tomojiro often argued
that they should reduce the number of toshiyori (oyakata) as they had
more toshiyori than income-producing sekitori.
By early 1929, Akutsugawa’s condition deteriorated sharply. After
missing the March basho, at Mw 12, Akutsugawa was certain to be demoted
to juryo. He went to talk to Takasago oyakata about retiring from
active sumo and staying on as an oyakata. However, Takasago oyakata
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