It’s
hard for kids today to believe that there used to be a time without television
and families would gather around the radio for evening entertainment. Such was the family life in the United States
and similarly in Japan
in the 1930s and 1940s. While attending
a live sumo match was a rare treat for most Japanese, listening to the matches
on the radio was commonplace throughout most households in the 1930s and
1940s. Sumo tournaments were first
broadcast in 1928 and some believed that it would diminish the number of people
attending the matches in person. This
turned out to be quite the opposite and sumo’s popularity soared in the 1930s
and tournaments expanded to 13 days in 1937 and to 15 days in 1939. In response to this increased popularity some
companies started printing and issuing packs of “Stadium” Cards that had color
or black and white photographs of rikishi in the Makuuchi ranks. It is thought that these card packs were sold
at the Kokugikan as well as in other sumo related stores. This would allow fans to remember their
favorite rikishi after visiting the Kokugikan to watch live matches as well as for
fans at home who listened to the matches on the radio. In this 8th article on the
different kinds of sumo menko and cards we’ll be talking about Stadium/Kokugikan
cards or simply, S-series cards.
Unfortunately,
like most pre-WWII menko and cards, the amount of S-series cards out there are
hard to find because of the paper drives issued by the Japanese government as
well as the heavy bombing inflicted upon the Japanese cities during the second
half of the war. Additionally, many
people couldn’t afford “luxury” items starting in 1943 as the tides of war had
turned in the United States’
favor and living conditions in Japan
started to plummet. Currently there are
only six Stadium sets identified as having been printed and sold during the
1930s and 1940s. However, I believe that
14 or so total sets were printed from 1932 to the very end of World War II in
1945. I’m unable to confirm this at this
time, but I will focus more research as sets become available.
The
earliest S-series set known comes from 1934 and features high quality photos of
the rikishi with the rikishi’s shikona written from right to left along the
bottom. This set has an informal feel to
it as all the pictures show the rikishi from the waist up and have their arms
folded. The cards measure approximately
1.75” x 2.75”. As with all S-series
sets, the backs of the cards are blank.
This set is unique since it shows about half a dozen rikishi, such as
Shinkai and Ayazakura, that had worked their way back to Tokyo after competing in a separate sumo
organization in Osaka
resulting from the Shujuen Incident.
These rikishi had their topknits cut and still haven’t had time to grow
out their hair when the pictures for these cards were taken and printed.
1933
Stadium Set(S331): The great Futabayama and Shinkai(recently returned from Osaka Sumo Association)
In
1937, the first known color set was produced and featured high quality photos
of the rikishi in their kesho-mawashi along with the shikona along the bottom
from right to left printed in blue ink.
Backs are again blank and size is 1.75” x 2.75”.
1937
Stadium Set(S371): The great Futabayama just months away from becoming Yokozuna
The
same company that printed and sold the S371 set came out a year later and
produced another high quality set in 1938, the S381 set, featuring full length
photos of the rikishi in their kesho-mawashi measuring approximately 1.5” x
2.5”. It was printed in black and white
and what is unique with this set is that the pictures have no borders and the
rikishi’s signature is written across the front from top to bottom right over
the picture. Unfortunately, this
detracts a little from the overall appearance of the set, but the photos are of
very high quality.
1938
Stadium Set(S381): Yokozuna Tamanishiki
The
second, and last known, color set is the 1940 Stadium Set (S401). It is almost identical to the S371 set except
that the cards measure 1.5” x 2.75”.
Photos feature the rikishi in their kesho-mawashi with the shikona
written along the bottom from right to left.
1940
Stadium Set(S401): Yokozuna Futabayama
The
strains of war started to show in both of the last two known S-series sets
resulting in poorer quality. The set
from 1941, the S411 set, is nearly identical to the S381 set in that it
features black and white photos of the rikishi in their kesho-mawashi and has
the rikishi’s signature across the front from top to bottom. However, the photos of the rikishi are very
dark and hard to see and the paper that is used is of much lower quality. In some instances the photos are so dark, the
signature is unreadable anywhere it overlaps on the rikishi’s body.
1941
Stadium Set(S411): Yokozuna Futabayama
This
last set is historically significant not because of who are printed on the
cards, but when they were printed. There
are less than six known sumo card and menko sets printed between the end of
1941 and the end of World War II in 1945.
Commodities were scarce in 1944 and almost everything was being used for
the war effort. Paper was rationed, food
was scarce and people had little money to spend on anything but basic living
necessities. The companies printing
these cards would undoubtedly had to have had special permission to print
something not related to the war.
Because of all this, the many poor quality features of this set can be
forgiven and the historical value of the set can be appreciated. This 1944 set, the S441 set, features a
full-length black and white photo of the rikishi in their kesho-mawashi and
measure approximately 1.5” x 2.5”. The
photos aren’t of great quality and the printing process leaves the impression
that the printer was trying to ration his ink as many of the photos have a very
sparse layer of ink on them. The
rikishi’s signature is written across the front from top to bottom in black
ink. The paper stock is of poor quality
and looks to be made of a recycled cardboard.
1944
Stadium Set(S441): Yokozuna Terukuni
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