Re: Mawashi Question

[abe@kaleida.com (Masumi Abe)]

Patric:

Without consulting you, I decided to post this for other interested people.

It's called "Sagari". Sagari means an object hanging (from...).
It is a simplified version of "shime-nawa", a rope hanging in front of a
sacred place/area. Typically, you see this in front of an enterance of a
house during new year's days, or in front of shinto shrines. White Yokozuna
rope is also from "shimenawa" but from it's heavy version.
Sagari is to express that you can not invade the area behind it. The area
behind is groin area, which is considered sacred. In sumo, you are not
supposed to hold the front-vertical part of mawashi. If you stick
finger(s), or hold that particular area, you lose the bout.

As mawashi, sagari is made from silk, and stiffened with a kind of seaweed
(funori). The average number of the hanging strings is 19. Depends on their
physical size, each rikishi use one of 17, 19 or 21. It is worn under the
top layer of mawashi. Average, two sagari are consumed at every basho, and
a rikishi starts wearing a new (seciond) sagari on nakabi, unless he is
losing badly. Sometimes, for changing the bad air, his tsukebito changes
the used sagari with a new one, without telling his master about it.

The color need to be same as his mawashi.

Toriteki (rikishi under Juryo rank) are only allowed to wear uncolored and
unstiffened cotton sagari.

-Masumi

Patrick Mathieu さんが  9:16 AM 2/13/95 +0000ごろに
「Mawashi Question」の件で：
>Abe-san:
>
>My question is:  What are the rigid fringes that hang down from the 
>mawashi?  They seem to serve no purpose and frequently fall out 
>during a match.  If they don't fall out, some rikishi pull them out 
>after the match is over.  What can you tell me about these things 
>(beginning with their name)? 
>
>Patrick Mathieu