Japanese Sumo Wrestling Cards and Menko
Sunday, March 19, 2017
1957 Kami Zumo Set (G571)
Here is a fun set from 1957 called Kami Zumo or "Paper Sumo" in English. Paper figures of sumo wresters, as seen in the photos below, at placed standing facing each other in a ring made of cardboard....the wrestlers are made to stand by bending their legs or folding their arms. Players then make the wrestlers move by tapping the outside of the ring with their fingers and the winner is the one who forces their opponent out of the ring or to fall over. This 1957 Kami Zumo Set came with two wrestlers and a cardboard sword...I am assuming for the losing paper wrestler to commit ritualistic suicide if he lost. Each of the wrestlers in this set are about 2 1/4" tall and they each have an actual photo of the wrestler's head superimposed on the paper body. Pretty cool. I also did a review on the 1961 Ito Kami Zumo Set. Here is a YouTube video of two people playing kami zumo.
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That's a pretty cool game, and a neat collectible.
ReplyDeleteThey are pretty neat. I have maybe 3-4 different kinds from the 1950s.
DeleteThat is so cool, a pre-Rock'em Sock'em Robots type collectible. Now the question to you is are you going to put them together and play with them or keep them unfolded and in original form?
ReplyDeleteThey will likely stay unfolded, but I have some others that I am contemplating playing with.
DeleteThat is a pretty cool find. I have seen similar games made of wood, but the paper is awesome.
ReplyDeleteGiven the scarcity of these paper ones, they definitely must have been played with and then thrown out by tidy mothers.
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