I'm not sure if it has ever been discussed before, but who are the mysterious "sumo" wrestlers on the 1955 Parkhurst Wrestling #60 card? I've seen this card for several decades and have never owned a copy. Not sure why, but I have never pulled the trigger on owning one. I think the main reason is that the "sumo wrestlers" that are on the card are actually former sumo wrestlers that switched over to pro wrestling after their active sumo years were over. This was quite common and a lot of the early Japanese pro wrestlers started in sumo wrestling. The main clue that these three wrestlers were not active in sumo when this card was made is that their hair is cut and not formed into the instantly recognizable chomage, or ginko leaf, style. Let's find out who these mystery men are.
I recognize one of the wrestlers instantly - Azumafuji. He is on the far right. He retired in 1954 from sumo wrestling and turned to pro wrestling with some mild success in the mid-1950s. He was also a Yokozuna, or Grand Champion, in sumo so his departure from the world of sumo into the world of pro wrestling was extremely controversial at the time.
The middle wrestler looks like the famous Rikidozan. He too started off in sumo wrestling and was fairly successful, but called it quits in 1950 and entered the pro wrestling world soon after. Probably the most famous pro wrestler in Japanese history.
The wrestler on the far left I believe is Fujitayama. He was part of the same sumo wrestling stable as Azumafuji and they likely left together in 1954 to enter pro wrestling, although I am not certain on that. No successful in sumo and doesn't appear he was either in pro wrestling.
It's sad that the back of the card does not promote the sport of sumo well. It calls the movements in the ring slow and clumsy which, in my opinion, is far from the truth.
Well, there you have it. My little bit of mystery solving to advance the trading card community.
Have a great week! Cheers!
Oh neat card! My dad had some Parkhurst wrestling and hockey cards from roughly that same vintage when he was a kid (though not that card). I agree with your assessment, the write up on the back is pretty lousy! Good job identifying all of them.
ReplyDeleteSeems like a good amount of people collect Parkhurst cards. It took me a little while to identify them all, still not 100% sure on Rikidozan. Appreciate the comments!
DeleteThere's a copy of this card heading your way. It's shipping from Canada, so it might take a month to reach sunny SoCal, but I can't have my buddy who specializes in sumo cards not have a copy of this card in his collection.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Great detective work.
DeleteHoly cow, thanks Fuji!!
DeleteFuji sure got on that quick! I've seen this card a few times now, but never knew anything about these three fellows, so it's nice to be able to finally say that I do :)
DeleteYeah, definitely cool to finally own a copy. I did a bunch of research and couldn’t find anyone that had ID the wrestlers.
DeleteThe 1954 Parkhurst Wrestling set features the "Togo Brothers" on card #16 (there are several on ebay). Tosh Togo (on the left of the card was actually Harold Sakata, best known for portraying "Oddjob" in the 1964 James Bond Blockbuster "Goldfinger".
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I saw that fact when I was doing research for this post. Cool that they captured him in this series.
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