Re: Yobidashi and towel

[jz8d-smmn@asahi-net.or.jp (Doreen Simmons)]

Hi all! Skip this if you don't like trivia. 

One of the best things about sumo is that there's always something else to
learn. This time, I learned something new about the towels being carried
out by their owners.

In return, I can tidy up a few  loose ends.

The kensho envelopes for one bout are tied together in a bundle. The
winning rikishi steps down, hands the bundle to the yobidashi, and his
sagari if he still has it, and waits empty-handed until he needs the water
dipper. Meanwhile the yobidashi carefully threads the stiff spikes of the
sagari through the string that is tying the bundle of envelopes together.
(It ends up looking a bit like a hammer.) (I knew this already.) The
yobidashi then gives him the water dipper and afterwards retrieves it, then
hands the departing rikishi the sagari-and-bundle, along with the towel.
The towel is  neatly folded and goes under the rikishi's thumb - that is,
underneath the handful and therefore as near out-of-sight as possible. This
must be why I missed it. Fortunately I still had the recording of my Day 8
of the Haru Basho that I hadn't checked yet, so was able to look at the
final few bouts.

In the case of a man who has to return to sit beside the judge, as soon as
he gets down, a young yobidashi (different from the one sitting on duty at
the salt and water corner) comes up to the corner, takes the kensho bundle
from his right hand and the sagari from his left, and returns up the
hanamichi to the tsukebito. I didn't see it, but he must have already taken
the towel.  On that day, Taisuke took Wakanohana's kensho and Yutaro took
Takanonami's.

In the case of the musubi-no-ichiban, Akebono walked out immediately the
bout was over, carrying his kensho in his right hand and his sagari in his
left. The towel hand-over was so slick that I had to watch three times -
the yobidashi on the corner rapidly slipped the pink towel up into
Akebono's right hand, under the thumb. It was almost like a conjuring trick
- now you don't see it, then you do! Obviously the yobidashi are under
instructions to hand over the towel as unobtrusively as possible, since it
is always put on the inside  (underside) of the kensho bundle.

 Doreen Simmons in sumoland, Tokyo        jz8d-smmn@asahi-net.or.jp 

 Flattery is harmless provided you don't inhale
                                                       - Adlai Stevenson