Not Quite a Postcard - New Set / 1936 Large Bromides (BB362)

It was common in the 1920s and 1930s to issue pictures of sumo wrestlers on postcards.  Someday my collecting will focus on these postcard sets, but the sheer number of these postcards has kept me from diving into them head first.  With the advent of radio in the 1920s and 1930s, sumo wrestling matches were broadcast around Japan.  The Sumo Association needed a way to enable the listeners out in rural Japan, who couldn't make the tournaments in person, to visualize the wrestlers as they were absorbed with the broadcasts.  Thus, numerous sets of wrestlers were issued in the 1920s and 1930s to help.  Most of these are blanked back and are categorized under the Stadium, or S-Series, of cards.  This new set might very well go under that category someday, but for now I have classified it as a Black and White Bromide, or BB-series.  It is from 1936 and so far there are only three cards I have been able to unearth....Yokozuna Minanogawa, Maegashira Kasagiyama, and Maegashira Tamanoura.  These measure about 3.5" x 5.5" and are printed on a thin, paper or photographic stock.  I'm always still amazed that stuff like this was able to survive the war.