Sumo Art

[Akinomaki 40,814]

That frog one surely was inspired by the national treasure animal picture scroll(s)

the Asashi shimbun page is already gone, only the pic remains, maybe not for long - the wiki pic as well:

When I was in Japan in May there was a nice introduction to these scrolls on NHK's E-Tere
enlarged part from the English wiki page above (changed to from the Japanese one, which has the scroll bigger)

on another scroll (fragment) with persons a real sumo match is going on as well


All scrolls to scroll through: http://www.chojugiga2015.jp/emaki/

A visit to the recent exhibition in Tokyo: http://www.museum.or.jp/modules/topics/?action=view&id=639

A YouTube visit to it at the Kozan temple (part of Kyoto's world heritage sites), where it belongs to.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Akinomaki

[egparis18 622]

Greatly appreciated contributions from Asojima and Akinomaki.

On my search, I found frog-sumo ceramics, frog-yokozuna netsuke and sumo-rabbits, but not the beautiful old scroll, and I couldn't have uploaded that print to save the universe.

I've got a store of prints of Kintaro wrestling with, or gyoji-ing matches between, animals that I'll be uploading soon.

[Kasutera 258]

The frog rikishi just made me think ALL HAIL THE HYPNOTOAD.

[egparis18 622]

The frog rikishi just made me think ALL HAIL THE HYPNOTOAD.

I had to look the hypnotoad up. I think his tachiai is wea...ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!

[egparis18 622]

Something for Tochinoshin fans;

I don't know who took the picture, can't find out, but the gorgeous Georgian is on the cover of the book, which you can find information about and/or get hold of if you're interested, here;

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13552331-sumo-through-the-wrestlers-eyes

and here;

http://www.amazon.com/Sumo-Through-Wrestlers-Eyes-Edition-ebook/dp/B00X4ZIWKI

It's not an art book, it's an 'about sumo' book and seems to be only available as an e-book. Getting good reviews.

À bientôt

[egparis18 622]

Morik, street artist, painter. Great stuff.

The image above, along with work by other artists, comes from http://www.ozartsetc.com/2014/03/06/a-major-minority-group-exhibition-1am-gallery-san-francisco/ about half-way down, but you'll find this image and more of his sumo-inspired work here on his live journal;

http://morik1.livejournal.com/

again starting about half-way down. The other works are very good too.

Enjoy.

Edited October 25, 2015 by egparis18

[sekitori 492]

I have an interesting piece of ceramic sculpture from Lladro that I've owned for several years. Lladro is known for creating very beautiful, often extremely delicate work, so their producing something like this is highly unusual. Out of the thousands of sculptures they have produced since 1955, I believe they have only created one other one featuring sumo and it showed no action. It was of a single rikishi wearing his kesho mawashi. By the way, this sculpture measures 13" wide by 10" deep by 8 1/2" high. it stands on a dark oval wooden base "dohyo" measuring 16" wide by 13" deep. It's 1 1/2" high. If you'll notice, the photo is similar to my avatar, but taken from a different angle.

The only problem is the name given by Lladro. The sculptors probably had no real knowledge of sumo and they just called it "Test of Strength". I can't exactly figure out which kimarite is depicted but from the position of the winner's hand close to the front of the loser's mawashi, it looks pretty close to shitatehineri. However, that's only a guess. No matter what it's called and whatever technique it depicts, I enjoy it very much. I hope others will enjoy seeing it as well.

Edited October 26, 2015 by sekitori

[egparis18 622]

Hello Sekitori,

I'd noticed your profile icon, and I've got the rikishi in kesho mawashi in my stock, along with a gyoji and, for once, a yobidashi (can't remember if they're from Lladro, but I think not). I'll post them later.

The sculptor perhaps worked from a set of photographs, perhaps not of the same bout, used another artwork has his 'sketch' or even watched a bout on TV, and couldn't see exactly how the kimarite worked, It's a fine work though.

Edited October 26, 2015 by egparis18

[egparis18 622]

Ceramics

Here's the Lladró figurine of the rikishi in kesho mawashi that Sekitori mentioned.

http://www.lladro.com/figurines/01009129-SUMO_WRESTLER/;jsessionid=RM4M454EYHUKKCRDIRKSFFAKENAVIIWB#

Edited October 26, 2015 by egparis18

[egparis18 622]

More ceramics Georges Roux. His site won't let me copy images at all. The options to copy the image or it's URL just don't come up when I right-click, but here's the yobidashi (looks familiar):

http://www.georges-roux.com/portfolio-item/sumo-yobidashi/

and the gyoji;

http://www.georges-roux.com/portfolio-item/larbitre-sumo-gyoji/

Here's his gallery:

http://www.georges-roux.com/galeries/

There are three or four other sumo artworks and plenty (7 pages) of other good sculptures and paintings.

Enjoy

Edited October 26, 2015 by egparis18

[Asojima 2,874]

egparis18, on 26 Oct 2015 - 11:56, said:

More ceramics Georges Roux.

Yobidashi:

Gyoji:

Sumitori:

Sumitori 2:

[inhashi 2,363]

Ceramics

Here's the Lladró figurine of the rikishi in kesho mawashi that Sekitori mentioned.

http://www.lladro.com/figurines/01009129-SUMO_WRESTLER/;jsessionid=RM4M454EYHUKKCRDIRKSFFAKENAVIIWB#

I wonder who he is, that is if intended to be anyone in particular. Hokusai wave is on this kesho mawashi that I found in a search although I have no idea who it belonged to.

[sekitori 492]

Then there is the work of the famous (or infamous) artist, depending on one's point of view, Leroy Neiman. People either love his art or they hate it. There isn't much of a middle ground. He was a very prolific artist, producing hundreds of paintings. Out of all of them, I could find only one related to sumo. Because I'm a big fan of his, I purchased a very accurate 16" x 25" copy of it done in acrylic for around $200.00. Apparently Neiman's estate contracted with dealers in China to produce low cost copies of his work in both oil paint and acrylic. In exchange, I assume the deal also involved opening the Chinese market to the sale of his far more expensive limited edition works. As you can see from the website below, a 25" x 38" signed copy of this limited edition lithograph is offered at $3,100.00. I have no doubts that it will sell at that price or very close to it.

http://deweygfa.com/cgi-bin/deweygfa/wdn.sla.a?sa=&zm=1&artwork.id=00400*425&client.code=deweygfa

I believe Neiman knew little or nothing about sumo and for that reason, he gave the painting a generic name, "Sumo Wrestlers". I think it should have a much more appropriate title--"Yori Kiri".

Edited October 27, 2015 by sekitori

[Tony 16]

Ceramics

Here's the Lladró figurine of the rikishi in kesho mawashi that Sekitori mentioned.

http://www.lladro.com/figurines/01009129-SUMO_WRESTLER/;jsessionid=RM4M454EYHUKKCRDIRKSFFAKENAVIIWB#

I wonder who he is, that is if intended to be anyone in particular. Hokusai wave is on this kesho mawashi that I found in a search although I have no idea who it belonged to.

I think that this set belonged to Chiyonoyama. Chiyonofuji used a very similar's one for his first yokozuna dohyo-iri.

[inhashi 2,363]

It's Chiyonoyama wearing Hokusai wave in woodblock print :-D

[egparis18 622]

Hello Inhashi

Good sleuthing from you on the Hokusai kesho mawashi. Okinoumi's got one 'the other way round' and with a logo. http://thejapans.org/2013/06/12/sumo-fashion/ (To see everyone in his best, Baruto too. Enjoy!)

Edited October 27, 2015 by egparis18

[egparis18 622]

Woodcut of Chiyonofuji in his https://www.pinterest.com/pin/360991726355199361/

Another example https://www.tumblr.com/search/osaka%20shosen%20kaisha

Hokusai did some sumo woodcuts, so exchange of inspiration is only fair.

Edited October 27, 2015 by egparis18

[Naganoyama 5,948]

Is that Tachiyama?

[egparis18 622]

Hello Naganoyama,

I found the image on two different pages, but neither said who he was. Perhaps a fellow-fan more learned than me can tell you.

[egparis18 622]

Kintaro

First time I Googled him I got:

And I'm not complaining.

Here's the original, referee-ing;

The page where I found the image has an interesting explanation

http://www.toshidama-japanese-prints.com/item_856/Yoshiiku-Modern-Parodies-of-Genji--Kaidomaru.htm

Here he is referee-ing again:

Full story here https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Japanese_Fairy_Book/The_Adventures_of_Kintaro,_the_Golden_Boy

And here he is wrestling https://hollowtreetales.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/thursday-myths-legends-101-kintaro-the-golden-boy/

And again http://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc202640

If you go to this page,

http://omamorifromjapan.blogspot.fr/2015/03/kintaro-kintoku-ashigara.html

you'll get loads of information, and if you click on the image of Kintaro wrestling a bear, it opens up to a Google images page with enough Kintaro pictures to last you until Christmas.

Enjoy

Edited October 30, 2015 by egparis18

[ronnie 221]

​

Surely the verdict is hansoku!

[egparis18 622]

Is that Tachiyama?

Yes it is. He's gone and sunk Japan.

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/03/19/who-is-this-mysterious-sumo-wrestler-and-why-has-he-sunk-japan/

My sumo education has been well furthered thanks to your question. I didn't know anything about Tachiyama before.

There are some fine old pictures of him on this page http://kakutougisokuhou.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-11.html?sp

Edited October 31, 2015 by egparis18

[egparis18 622]

For Hallowe'en; beasties and demons

http://www.japanbrands.jp/blog/post/japanese-beauty-design-ukiyoe-188/

Plenty of rabbits here http://pinktentacle.com/2010/12/rabbit-new-year-cards/

Cats. There are a lot of other non-sumo images on the site http://marinagra.livejournal.com/112116.html

Uproarious tanukis which you can read about here

http://io9.com/5892181/the-raccoon-scrotum-monster-and-other-awful-creatures-from-1800s-japanese-artwork

and here http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/tanuki-scrotum-kintama-kinbukuro.html

and here http://www.printsofjapan.com/Yoshiiku_tanukis_page_2.htm

​

Daikoku https://printsofjapan.wordpress.com/tag/kyosai/

And kappa. Information here - including all about the art of the fart http://www.printsofjapan.com/Yoshitoshi_kappa_control.htm

Full image and link to page http://woodblockprints.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/403

Rikishi Shirafuji Genta is watching the kappa, and the woodcut is by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.

Happy Hallowe'en everybody.

Edited October 31, 2015 by egparis18

[Naganoyama 5,948]

Is that Tachiyama?

Yes it is. He's gone and sunk Japan.

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/03/19/who-is-this-mysterious-sumo-wrestler-and-why-has-he-sunk-japan/

My sumo education has been well furthered thanks to your question. I didn't know anything about Tachiyama before.

There are some fine old pictures of him on this page http://kakutougisokuhou.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-11.html?sp

Whoa! I hope Japan never sinks. Some other places perhaps...

That blog looks great. I'm going to have to look through those pictures carefully when I have more time. It looks like there are some real gems there.

[egparis18 622]

Chris Cudlip: Sculptor http://www.cudlipsculpture.com/Portraits-and-figures(2469334).htm

Here http://www.cudlipsculpture.com/Projects-Blog(2417992).htm

you can see this, plus a video of him working on it, plus another sumo sculpture and several others;

Here's his Linkedin page https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/chris-cudlip/1a/641/917

Here's the Sumo Fan magazine archive. http://www.sumofanmag.com/Right_Menu/archives_details.html

There are two interviews with him - issue numbers 22 and 38.

Enjoy

Edited November 4, 2015 by egparis18