Re: Natsu Basho Juryo

[abe@kaleida.com (Masumi Abe)]

Tommy:

>Weird question:  I saw a japanese movie a couple of years ago
>called Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (Shiko Funjatta).  In this very funny
>picture, some one prevents the washing of the heya's mawashi.
>Is it really true that mawashi are never washed?

According to "Oh-zumo Yes/No Quiz" (NOT one of books written by
Moto-Sekiwake Kurama), mawashi (or "shimekomi") is made from silk and very
comfortable without wairing anything underneath, and it is not supposed to
be washed. They just wipe the swet and dirt. Widths of mawashi cloth is
about 80 cm, and standard length is about 9 meters. Konishiki's mawashi is
the longest of all with about 13 meters. Obviously, rikishi don't wear
mawashi as a flat cloth, they fold it in 5 or 6 folds (makes it 13 or 16 cm
wide) before put it on. Each sekitori has several set of mawashi for his
use.

Mawashi for practice are made of cotton. Sekitori (rikishi in Juryo and
Makuuchi) uses white mawashi and Toriteki (rikishi in Makushita and under)
uses black mawashi (originally in black color but mostly getting old and
more like grey color).

Only black, navy blue and dark purple are officially allowed color of
mawashi for matches. But many other colors are actually used by various
sekitori. Gold color for Mitoizumi and Daishoho, wine-red for Oginohana,
Kiraiho, Kasugafuji and Kotoinazuma, for example. Wakanohana wears dark
green whereas Takanohana wears navy blue mawashi. All Hawaiian rikishi wear
black mawashi.

Sagari, the strings hanging from mawashi must be either 13, 15  or 17, need
to be an odd number. It is also made from silk and starch makes and keep
them stiff. The color needs to be the same as each mawashi. Toriteki uses
cotton sagari without stiffened.

-Masumi

>
>--
>Tommy Crouch
>Seijintachiyo warera o mamori tamae/Saints Preserve Us! (a monthly calendar)
>2008 East 125th Street, Apt. 1
>Cleveland, Ohio 44106-2371 USA

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