1962 Japanese Star Playing Cards - Baseball & Sumo Wrestling

This is a set I have been eying for a while having missed out on it many years ago.  Another one popped up recently and I quickly snagged it as you don't see them often.  This set is from late 1962 and features circular playing cards with famous actors, actresses, singers, and sports stars.  Issued in a children's magazine as a promotional item likely for the New Year's magazines that came out in December or early January, these types of sets were common throughout the 1950s and 1960s.   Heck, there are even a few American actors in the set namely Vincent Edwards and Harry Mills and the famous Japanese singer, Kyu Sakamoto, who died in the deadliest single plane accident in history: Japan Airlines Flight 123.

Representing the sumo wrestling community is Yokozuna Taiho who was on his meteoric rise to stardom in 1962.  Three Japanese baseball players garnered cards in this set: Sadaharu Oh, Shigeo Nagashima, and Yukio Osaki.  Osaki seemed like and odd choice to include in the set, but if you look at his performance in 1962, he was Rookie of the year and his team, the Toei Flyers, went on to win the Japan Series so he was a bright star in late 1962.  A lot of people had high hopes for him, but he eventually faded away not achieving his expected greatness.

Not a lot of people chase these oddball issues, but I love the thrill of the chase and finding these obscure sets that help build the sumo wrestling card repository.

New Set - 1962 Osato Famous Stars Trump (G622)

1962 Osato Famous Stars Trump

G622

   This is a set I have seen several times in the past few decades, but only recently did I pick up a sheet of the cards and checklist them.  It was made by Osato Gangu in 1962 and the sheet I have features 24 different sport and entertainment stars from the era (note: one card is duplicated on the sheet).  Osato made numerous card sets from the 1950s-1970s and most notably the 1975 Osato Sumo Wrestling Mini Card set.  The cards are printed on study cardboard stock and come in sheets of 25 cards in a 5x5 arrangement.  Gary Engel's Vintage Edition of the Japanese Baseball Card Checklist and Price Guide lists the set (JGA 149) at 44 cards and printed in 1962 or 1963.  The backs are printed in blue ink with a mosaic pattern around the Osato lion head and the fronts feature images of the famous star along with a playing card which is in a horizontal position on the card.  The front images are CYMK halftone printed with each card measuring about 1 3/16" x 2 3/8" and the entire sheet measuring 12" x 5 7/8".  Registration on my sheet is really good with only the blue color being slightly off top to bottom by .25 millimeters or so.

    
Distribution on these is unknown and likely sold by dagashiya in uncut sheets or potentially as a prize sheet for some other set.  It's possible that they might have been inserted in a children's magazine of the era too although all four sides of my sheet are nice and smooth indicating that they weren't necessarily attached inside a magazine.

                                                        Closeup of the halftone print dots




  Here is the checklist that I have compiled so far for this set:


Sumo Wrestling:
     - 4 of Clubs - Yokozuna Kashiwado
     - 5 of Diamonds - Yokozuna Taiho


Baseball:
     - 6 of Diamonds - Katsuya Nomura
     - 5 of Clubs - Sadaharu Oh
     - 8 of Diamonds - Masaichi Kaneda


Pro Wrestling:
     - 8 of Clubs - Rikidozan


American Movie Stars:
     - Ace of Clubs - 101 Dalmations
     - 9 of Diamonds - Jack Hawkins (Ben Hur)
     - 4 of Clubs - Charlton Heston & Sam Jaffe (Ben Hur)
     - 8 of Spades - King Kong
     - Ace of Diamonds - Steve McQueen (Wanted Dead or Alive (Kenju Mushuku))


American TV Stars:
     -7 of Clubs - Chuck Conners (Rifleman)
     - Queen of Clubs - Vince Edwards (Ben Casey)
     - 2 of Clubs - George Reeves (Superman)


Japanese TV/Movie/Music Stars:
     - 9 of Clubs - Kinya Kitaoji
     - Jack of Clubs - Hibari Misora
     - 4 of Diamonds - Unknown Samurai with Eye Cut
     - 3 of Clubs - Kayoko Moriyama
     - 3 of Diamonds - Raizo Ichikawa
     - 7 of Diamonds - Sayuri Yoshinaga
     - 6 of Clubs - Tomoko Matsushima
     - King of Clubs - Akira Kobayashi
     - 2 of Diamonds - Komadori Sisters
     - King of Hearts - Kinosuke Nakamura