Japanese Sumo Wrestling Cards and Menko
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em - Japanese 1956 Mitsuwa Sumo Wrestling - Yokozuna Tochinishiki
I don't promote smoking and occasionally like a good cigar, but the 1950s were a flamboyant era when smoking was all the rage and fashion. Did you know that in the 1950s almost half of the Japanese population smoked or consumed tobacco? In fact, in 1956 the per-capita consumption was over 1400 cigarettes! That equates to every Japanese man, woman, and child each smoking over 1400 cigarettes in 1956 alone. Crazy....but I digress. Sumo wrestlers were not immune to the influence of smoking as captured on one of the only known sumo cards that shows a wrestler smoking. Here is Yokozuna Tochinishiki having a nice drag in his yukata...given that his chomage is done up, this picture was taken right before or after a match or before a special event. What are your thoughts with tobacco products being "consumed" on trading cards?
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Neat card. I can't imagine there are many sports cards out there featuring athletes smoking.
ReplyDeleteThis hits on one of my pet peeves about living in Japan though, smoking is still way more prevalent than it is in North America. Tokyo city finally cracked down on it due to the Olympics, but in most other parts of Japan smoking is still allowed in restaurants and other areas where its been banned for decades in other countries. As a parent with small kids, nothing makes me madder than sitting in a family friendly restaurant and some idiot lights up right next to my kid.
Athletes and smoking don’t seem to go together so understandably you wouldn’t see the two together. Yeah, I am sure I knocked off a year of my life with all the 2nd hand smoke I consumed in Japan living and visiting there. I am not a fan of smoking in restaurants. Bars I guess I don’t mind.
DeleteFirst of... I immediately thought of Reverand Horton Heat's album when I saw the title of this post. As for seeing tobacco usage on cards... I like it, because it's different. But I definitely don't promote the use of tobacco. Spent the majority of my life wishing my mom would quit smoking.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my Grandmother was the same way and always wished she would stop. My Grandfather stopped cold turkey one day when I was in Junior High school. Was amazing! This card is sure unique and the image appears in several sets.
DeleteFunny that you mention that. My dad stopped cold turkey when they found out my mom was pregnant with me. Crazy willpower.
DeleteDefinitely, he was a tough old Italian for sure.
DeleteWhile I've never smoked myself, your comment about the photo of the wrestler smoking before or after a match, brought back military memories. I had a roomie that would wake up, smoke, complete our unit's 2-mile run, and then have the coffee pot on and his second cigarette as I came back to the room. When I was in Kosovo in 2005-06, it seemed as if the entire population smoked.
ReplyDeleteHa, I had a similar experience in the military in Colorado. A tall skinny guy who smoked quite a bit would complete the perimeter run (~2 miles) well ahead of me....and in that thin mountain air too. Ha, crazy times it was. Japan is still bad with smoking but getting a lot better.
DeleteWhen and where were you in Colorado? I was the editor of the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center newsletter, when I was stationed there from 1987 - 1991. I went from there, to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf War.
DeleteFrom 2006-2009. Colorado Springs at Schriever AFB (the old Falcon AFB).
DeleteI'm not a smoker, and never have been, that being said, I don't mind if an athlete or celebrity is pictured smoking. It is/was their choice to smoke, so why would I, or anyone else for that matter, need to have a problem with it?
ReplyDeleteAgree, I know with all the sensitivity surrounding smoking and influencing young minds, thought this menko was interesting for sure.
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