Monday, October 8, 2018

c1918 Japanese Sumo Wrestling Bookmark Card - Ozeki Asashio

By the time you are all reading this, I will have ran in my first (and last) marathon.  Something that has been on my bucket list for many years and I was finally able to get to the long training involved in making it happen.  I've come to realize my body is too old at this point to make long-distance runs a habit, but I do enjoy the 6-10 mile run limit a lot more than these multiple-hour runs.  Speaking of old I happened upon this old circa 1918 bookmark card (B-series) of Ozeki Asashio.  Bookmark cards are actually one of the hardest series to find in all eras and this one has had it's fair share of love.  Asashio was an active wrestler for over 16 years and retired as an Ozeki in 1919 and the old age of 35, something very uncommon for wrestlers these days.  He died at the ripe, old age of 82, which was even more uncommon among wresters of that era.

This bookmark card has a nice hand drawn image of Asashio in his mawashi with stylistic flower images on both the front and back.  The back clearly indicates this is a Shiori "bookmark" with a nice, large gunbai image below that.  It measure 1 3/8" x  5 3/8".


5 comments:

  1. Congratulations buddy on completing your first marathon! That's flippin' awesome! I hate running, so I don't see myself ever doing one. However... my friend and I do one of those 5k walks every year. Lol. Not quite the same as a marathon though :)

    P.S. That bookmark is beautiful! Congratulations on the find.

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    1. Thanks! I enjoy running and half marathons are a fun, relatively painless challenge. I enjoyed the run, but my body did not. Ha!

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    2. Painless? I truly envy you. Keep up the great work buddy!

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  2. Congratulations on doing a marathon! Which one did you do? I did a handful before I had to give up running due to my back.

    I agree with you about the 6-10 miles runs being more enjoyable. I always thought 5Ks were too short and anything more than a half marathon killed your whole day. Of course I was also very slow - my best marathon time was 5 hours and 48 minutes!

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    1. I ran the three-country marathon. Started in Germany, ran into Austria and then into Switzerland before finishing back in Austria.

      I like to go for 6-10 mike runs with the occasional push to 13 miles. 26.2 was too hard on my body though. Training is intense too. It was a fun challenge, but now that I have my t-shirt, I think I’m good from here on out with full marathons.

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