Re: [SUMO lite] Yobidashi and Towel

[achimp@t-online.de (Achim Pawelczyk)]

Many thanks for your reply. I thought I would be left alone with my tapes.
I am just checking my sumo-recordings (about 150 hours I think) for an
introduction to Sumo at the Deutsch-Japanische-Gesellschaft in Dortmund (on
the 15th of April, 19:30 - any one in the area ?).
As I tried to look deeper, I noticed that the things happening around the
acting Rikishi have to be put together like a puzzle, they are mostly only
shown at the edge of the screen.

At 11:20 Uhr 4.4.1998, Doreen Simmons wrote:

>>For the winning Rikishi, he meanwhile holds the Sagari (the stripes hanging
>>in front of the Rikishi Mawashi) and Kensho (the 30000 Yen envelopes for
>>every banner carried around the Dohyo before the Torikumi), binds them
>>together, wraps the towel around it and returns them to the Rikishi.
>>To the looser on his way out he just hands the towel.
>
>He tucks the envelopes into the folded sagari and hands it to the rikishi.
>The towel is never wrapped around them - it's damp!

He rearranges the Sagari strings straight, afterwards a thin cord can be
seen tied around it and the envelopes inside, maybe taken from the
envelopes. In Japan the envelopes you can buy to give money presents always
have some decorative cords attached, a little like the Yokozuna rope.
With the envelopes on the far end side of the Sagari strings, the towel is
wrapped around the other to be used as a handle. Till now I had never
noticed the towel, but the Rikishi clearly go out with them to the
Hanamichi entrance and hand them over then. The best visible towel is that
of Takanonami - red !

>>Questions: Who hands the Yobidashi the towel and where does it come from in
>>the first place ? Why is it, that some Rikishi have no towel ?
>
>The tsukebito who brings in the basho-buton (zabuton). It is normal for all
>sekitori to have a towel, but not all choose to use it.

At last I found a tape, where the handing over is visible. The Tsukebito,
waiting knees bent for the other Zabuton to return, hands the Yobidashi the
towel (looks like the o-shibori towel in a restaurant in Japan). The
Yobidashi puts it somewhere on the inside of his bucket, which makes the
count of towels there three, one for each Rikishi present (the last soon to
come) on each side, one up and two waiting.

I read somewhere, the Yobidashi signals the Rikishi that time has come (the
last salt to take, and after that at the line for Shikiri the Gyoji calls
"Jikan desu").
Is standing up and offering the towel to the Rikishi (mostly ignored by
them) this signal ?


-- Achim Pawelczyk
-- achimp@t-online.de
-- http://home.t-online.de/home/achimp/
-- a chimp at home