Obana

In January I acquired a folded, two sided poster of kimarite illustrated by the late Kototsurugi. Bilingual (Japanese/English). Wish it was a booklet.

The 2009 publication 妖艶粋美 Bewitching Beauty 甦る天才絵師 The Revival of a Genius Artist 鰭崎英朋の世界 The World of Hirezaki Eihō deals mostly with the ukiyo-e artist's bijin-ga (beautiful women) and kuchi-e (book covers) but has a final chapter exploring the artist's sumo illustrations. Eihō was the sumo illustrator for the Tōkyō Asahi Shimbun from 1901 (Natsu Basho) until Senshuraku of the Hatsu basho of 1923. I have collected the illustrations from Chapter 6 in a web page: https://tommycrouch.com/sumo/48te/eiho/_eiho.html Some standouts are: sumo coverage Tōkyō Asahi Shimbun 東京朝日新聞 6 June 1915 (text and furigana readable in the large image), the monoii with comments from the judges and a ring side ozeki (I wonder from where Eihō observed the action?), and ukiyo-e prints: 1942 照國 Sekiwake Terukuni (future 38th yokozuna), 1942 双葉山 Futabayama cover, and 双葉山 Futabayama 鏡岩 Kagamiiwa 16 May 1936 Day 8.

I recently obtained a copy of the 1939 Baseball World Supplement, 相撲四十八手 Sumo's Forty Eight Techniques with illustrations by ukiyo-e artist 鮨崎英朋 Hirazaki Eihō. I have included the illustrations in a web page: http://tommycrouch.com/sumo/48te/_48 te.htm just one illustration

I obtained this set of ten coasters of kimono clad top division rikishi by Daimon during Hatsu basho.

In the Kyushu Basho, I was taken with Juryo rookie Kotoeiho's elegant shiko (reminiscent of Katayama's beautiful foot stomps). I am pleased that he remains in Juryo in spite of a 7-8 makekoshi in his debut. A couple of years ago I picked up 杉岡幸徳 Sugioka Kōtoku's 2023 book, 『奇妙な漢字』 [Strange Kanji]. I particularly admired the "koto" variant in this work. If Andrés Segovia had become a Sadogatake rikishi, I hope he would have used this version in his shikona. A face mask celebrating J13W (again), Kotoeiho.

A sad farewell to the kokeshi doll of sumo.

A couple of Daimon's ukiyo-e postcards.

On my visit to the Hatsu basho this past January, I spotted this illustrated tenugui by the late Kototsurugi in one of the souvenir shops: 巡業風景絵図 (jungyō fūkei ezu) Scenes from Jungyo. I love his comic sumo compositions. So much amusing detail. (I previously posted a couple of other tenugui in the Obituaries thread soon after the artist's passing. Both of those were also on sale.)

A photo around Setsubun (3 February) from the Mt. Takao monthly magazine. Kataonami oyakata (Tamakasuga) with Tamawashi & Tamashoho.

When I visited the Kokugikan for Hatsu Basho this past January, I purchased a stuffable tote bag. It has Ura on the storage bag and an assortment of past and present wrestlers on the shopping bag including Hakuho and Kisenosato.

I love His Excellency Demon Kaka. His English skills are impressive and I want a purple tsuna belt like he often wears. I even have a cd of his band, Seikima II, the only heavy metal recording in my collection. (I don't consider Jethro Tull to be in that category.)

A few postcards by Daimon of Terao along with a coaster from his restaurant and a photo from a January 1986 rikishi guide.

In preparation for watching Grand Sumo Highlights on NHK World, to celebrate Meisei's first win of the basho, I prepared some (very lightly) seared tuna, accompanied with Kubota sake. Go Meisei!

This past basho, I attended shonichi (the opening day) for the first time. Also the first time attending the Nagoya basho. Attendees were given fans and I have been admiring the single continuous line rendering of a sumo wrestler ever since. I wish there were not kanji written over the artwork but think it still bears sharing.

The Yasukuni shrine has a sumo dohyo as well as a statue in front of the rebuild shitaku beya, now a seminar hall and multi-purpose building (靖国神社 啓照館) [Yasukuni Shrine Keishokan]. I decided to visit the shrine precincts on a purely artistic pilgrimage. I discovered that in addition to the main approach to the sanctuary, there is a side entrance across the street from the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres building that runs between the shrine's Noh stage and the Yashukan Museum and leads back to the Keishokan where the statue is installed (bypassing the sanctuary). The pair of wrestlers locked in a yotsu sumo battle is by the sculptor 長谷川義起 Yoshioki Hasegawa (1891-1974) who created the work in (昭和九年五月建) May 1934. Titled 大日本相撲奨勵會, Google maps simplifies the title as 国技 [National Sport]. I think one of the combatants bears a striking resemblance to retired Georgian ozeki, Tochinoshin. There is a very similar (identical?) statue in Takaoka Kojo Park 高岡古城公園 in Toyama Prefecture dating from 1938.