Saturday, August 15, 2020

1936 Sumo Wrestling Stadium Set - S361: 1936 Kokugikan Color Set

This is one set I have been excited to scan for a while as it is one of the early S-Series sumo wrestling card sets out there.  Why was I excited?  Well, this set contains the earliest color card with an actual picture (not a cartoon drawing like on the R-Series rikishi) of legendary Yokozuna Futabayama.  And sprinkled throughout are other wrestlers that have only appeared in this set as far as I can tell.  Maegashira Bochozan....never heard of him until today and he only spent 5 tournaments at the very bottom portion of the top division.  Same with Maegashira Oyashima...6 tournaments barely scraping by in the top division.

These S-Series sets were sold at the Kokugikan as souvenirs with the intent of taking them home and using them as visual reference as fans listened to the tournaments over the radio as that was a popular way way to catch the tournament without actually going to the stadium.  As you can imagine, these sets had to have survived the fire-bombings of World War 2 as well as the test of time and to be able to land and catalogue one of these sets is a real honor!  Cards are somewhat small at 1.75" x 2.75" and usually come 32 cards to the set.

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend and stays safe!  Sayonara!


8 comments:

  1. is that Futabayama w/the purple background? Amazing to see.....thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Futabayama was the Joe Dimaggio of Sumo--with the record 69 match winning streak. I recall even the great Hakuho fell short of topping it with 63 straight.

      Delete
    2. That is Tamanishiki, crazy enough I didn’t scan the Futabayama cards.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, every sumo era has their greats and Futabayama was one of the greatest!

      Delete
    4. could you please scan in Futabayama on your next post--I would love to see it!

      Delete
  2. Beautiful cards. Love the different colored backgrounds. By the way... the weather is crazy up here right now. Woke up to thunder and lightning at around 3:30am.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These are pretty high quality for sure! It is warm down here in the other South Bay. Almost 90 today. Wow, thunder....crazy!

      Delete
  3. Great cards! I would also be interested in seeing the Futabayama card :)

    ReplyDelete