1958 Sumo Appointment Card - What day of the week is it again?

Back in May of last year I posted about these sumo wrestling bromides calendar cards.  The first one I picked up was of Komusubi Tamanoumi and I recently stumbled across this one of future Yokozuna Asashio shown as an ozeki.  The good news is I can now nail down the year of these cards to about 1958.  These cards are interesting and really hard to find as I have only run across these two in the 20 years of collecting.  I thought they were originally from the 1960s or 1970s so I am now not sure what company Daiichi is or what services/products it provided.  More to follow I am sure as I try and find a few more of these along the way.  I hope everyone has an awesome week!

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?

1958 Sumo Appointment Card - What day of the week is it?

Days have blurred into nights have blurred into weekends during quarantine.  Given the fact that I have not posted in almost a month just illustrates how time flies and gets blurred when work, home, hobby, and free time are all done within a 40' distance from one another.  I hope everyone is doing well and hanging in there.

I won this BB-series card several months ago and thought it was an apt opportunity to highlight it here.  I have only ever seen this card in all my years of collecting.  It appears to be an appointment card for the Daiichi Paint company that was prominent in the 1970s and 1980s.  On the front is then-Komusubi Tamanoumi and on the back are days of the week (Monday through Saturday) along with times from 1:00pm to 6:00pm.  It is a pretty cool piece of ephemera from the late 1950s.

Given it has a bunch of ambiguous days of the week and times, it fits perfectly into how most of us are feeling on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.  It measures about 2.5" x 3.75" and has a nice amount of foxing on the front to give it just the right amount of patina.

Have an awesome week!

Silver Linings - New 1956 Silver Front Sumo Wrestling Set

Work has been busy for me of late and I am finding it harder and harder to spend time on my sumo wrestling card hobby.  When I do, though, I try and maximize my time with cataloguing a set or two before my bedtime calls...as is the case with this set.  This set is a new one for me and the first time I have seen this print style on a sumo menko card.  From 1956, this set has a shiny silver printing technique for the front.  It doesn't show well in the scans, but this set uses a black ink printed on this shiny silver paper that is then affixed to a thin piece of cardboard.  The fact that I have only seen these 4 menko cards in all my years of collecting must mean they are extremely rare and it appears very few have survived today.  I only recognize a few of the wrestlers, but some of the photos have been used in other sets.  Right now I am going to catalogue it as the BB5612 Set - 1956 Silver Fronts.  It might be another 20 years before I find any more of these, but I'm glad I can document this little piece of history. 

2018 Year in Review

I imagine a lot of you will be posting this topic over the next few days so I am excited to read about how your collecting went.  I tend to be pretty focused with my collecting and set realistic goals to accomplish so I have some satisfaction at the end of the year.  This year was no different and I feel like I did pretty well.  Thanks for stopping by and keeping me motivated to continue this blog!

 

Here are the 10 goals that I set out for myself at the beginning of the year:

1. Discover and Catalog at least 5 "new" vintage sumo sets (pre-1997) - Grade A+
- Just when I think that there are no new vintage sets to collect, something always pops up.  I've discovered numerous fun sets this year including this tiny little 1940 pre-war beauty that I reported back on in November.

2. Add 2 more 1973 Calbee Sumo Cards to my collection - Grade A+
- This set is one that I am really going to have to get a going on with some gusto or I am going to "invest" upwards of $5000 on it before it is all said and done.  Why singles cards go for an average of $100 is beyond me.  I picked up 3 more this year, but I am still over 25 cards short of a complete set.  Here is a summary I did of this set back in 2016.

3.  Conduct some interviews of fellow collectors - A+
- I am glad I got this interview series off the ground with three interviews of Billy @ Cardboard History, Fuji @ The Chronicles of Fuji, and Tony from the Facebook Group "BBM Sumo Card Collectors."  I haven't done one in a while since I frankly ran out of people to interview.  Raz...you interested?  Give me a holler if anyone is up for it!

4.  Add at least 1 more Murai card to my collection - A+
- This set has proven to be hard as people warned me.  I picked up only 4 more from this T483 Murai World's Smokers set earlier this year as posted here and am up to 9 total in this set.  My goal is to complete this set in raw condition someday.

5. Continue to expand my German Card Collection - A+
- Living in Germany has been fun with respect to collecting German Cards.  I've walked away from many flea markets with some good stuff including these 1933 Salem Gold Film Stars detailed here.

6.  Add two more card catalog books to my library - C
- I thought this one would be one of the easier ones from me to complete.  I didn't pick up any physical books, but did get Engel's 2nd Vintage Edition of the Japanese Baseball Card Checklist & Price Guide in electronic form.

 7. Add to my Brandon Laird and Yuta Tabuse Collection - A+
- I've been whittling away at my two player collections all year long and Fuji has helped immensely along the way with this awesome Laird stash & sweet Tabuse haul.

8. Expand the B.League Basketball Sets - A+
- I love the BBM B.League Basketball Sets and will continue to collect them.  I picked up both the 1st and 2nd Half boxes this year, although I don't officially have complete sets in singles form...yet.

9. Update the BB-Series of Sumo Menko and Bromides - B+
- One of my most ambitious goals this year was to "fix" and update the BB-series of sumo cards and bromides in my book.  There were so many produced during the 1930s-1950s that is was daunting to just get to the spot where I am now....I reorganized all the sets and assigned catalogue numbers to them.  Now all I need to do is get them in electronic form in my book.  I see the goal line in sight, but unfortunately will not cross it this year, but the majority of the battle is over with.

10. Finish the 1974 Yamakatsu's Mini Card Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon (Series 1) Set and add to The Way of the Dragon (Series 2) and Green Hornet (Series 3) Sets - B-
- Gah, I'm still two short on the Series 1 set, about 10 short on the Series 2 set and about 35 short on Series 3.  I did have a nice haul reported back in June.  This set is getting harder as the years go by and maybe in 2019 I'll finally finish Series 1!

With no failing classes and some solid effort and help from friends, I am giving myself an:

2018 Overall Grade = A-
(for reference) 2017 Overall Grade = B
 

 

I'm looking forward to 2019 and I really appreciate all the support you have given this blog over the past year!  Thanks for stopping by!

60-Year Old Sumo Wrestling Card Goodness - 1960 Marumatsu Kimarite Bromide 6: Type 2

Changing of the guard in sumo wrestling happens when the new, younger generation of wrestlers out performs the older generation and the yokozuna realize it is time to hang up the mawashi.  Sometimes this is noticeable, other times it is so subtle that you don't realize it happened.  The last major changing of the guard occurred in 2002/2003 when Asashoryu stormed onto the scene and pushed the older Musashimaru and Takanohana out.  Before that it was in 1991 when Takanohana upset the dominate Chiyonofuji and he realized it was time to retire.  Taiho, arguable the best Yokozuna in history (we'll see where Hakuho lands though), was an up-and-comer in 1960 and was getting ready to dethrone the great Yokozuna of their time, Wakanohana and Tochinishiki.  His rival, Kashiwado, was right beside him and they went on to dominate sumo throughout the 1960s until they too got dethroned in the 1970s.  Such is the life in a King of the Hill type sport.  Perform or retire.

This scarce 1960 Marumatsu Black and White Bromide (BB-Series) set captures this dynamic time in sumo.  I recently picked up the rarer of the two different versions: Type 2 Blue Backs.  In them you can see an aging Wakanohana and Asashio.  I don't own any of Taiho or Kashiwado in the Blue Backs, but they all exist in this set.....the young getting ready to dethrone the old.

1963 Tokyo Yukata Sumo Bromide Cards

Here is another example of more unique and collectible cards that are surfacing every so often.  Enter 1960s Japanese Bromide sumo cards attached to yukata bolts.  Yukata are worn by sumo wrestlers all times of the year and stores sell that same material in bolts to the fans to make their own.  In the 1960s, the patterns were not as intricate so attaching a bromide card to the bolt would let you know which wrestler the material belonged to.  Nowadays, printing technology allows the wrestlers' names to be printed into the actual material pattern, rendering the bromide card unnecessary.  In the 1960s, they not only did this for sumo wrestlers, but other stars as well.  I've seen these cards before, but have not paid serious attention to them until recently.  Having a bolt of the material in hand, as well as the card, is a cool piece of history and a great collectible.  I definitely am hooked...fellow sumo card collector, Paul F., is partially to thank for that!  I have not decided how I am going to categorize them in the 5th edition of my book.....do I give them their own category or do I include them in the BB-series (Black and White Bromide) category?  I have some time to think about it and try to uncover additional cards to see how many are out there.

Here are two bolts I won in the same auction.  I haven't unrolled them (and don't plan on it), but they are probably around 30 feet in length.  You can see them folded up here.  The material and card on the right are Ozeki Tochihikari....the material on the left is attributed to an unknown wrestler.

Here is the inside of the first fold.  You can see the round Tokyo Yukata seal at the bottom.  One of the neat things about Tochihikari's is an attachment for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.  I haven't translated that yet to see what it says exactly.

An end on shot here of the bolts....there is a lot of material there!

Thanks to Paul F. for this picture....a bolt that was sold on eBay of Yokozuna Taiho.  You can see the similarity in all the cloth patterns making the bromide very useful and important.




Thanks for stopping by and I hope I am able to share more of these in the future.

Sometimes things are Black and White - BB-Series Sumo Wrestling Menko

One of the most neglected parts of my sumo menko and card collection is the BB-Series, or Black and White Bromides.  The 1940s BB-series bromides are a "nightmare" to try and catalog due to the sheer number of different sets produced.  A lot of detective work has to go into binning them to the correct sets....and I don't always get it correct so every edition of my book I have to fix numerous sets and checklists as I get smarter on them.  I'm not complaining, but with limited time these BB-series badboys get relegated to the bottom of my priority list.  In fact, when I first started collecting sumo cards, I wouldn't even keep most of my BB-series bromides...that was a big regret.  I've reached the point in my collecting where I can now focus on these black and white beasts.  Now that we are settled in Germany, I've been experimenting with shipping from eBay purchases as well as shipping from Japan.  My first pickup was this nice 1950s lot from Ebay.  Believe it or not, a few cards from this lot are actually quite rare.....I was even able to catalog a new type of set which happens very rarely these days.  The BB572 Marusho set now has been confirmed to have a Type 3: Brown Back.  Pretty cool. These cards are well loved which makes me cherish them more.  I love the candid shot of Yokozuna Wakanohana taking on three young boys which is quite common in the sumo world.  Kids would test their strength against a sumo wrestler, usually during special events like retirement or promotion ceremonies.

I haven't checked to see which ones of these are doubles yet....hopefully not many.  I did notice as I am writing this, there are two winner menko....marked with a purple "1" on the #81004 BB572 and a purple "3" on the 524300 BB601 menko.  Plus a kid named Norio lovingly marked the back of one menko with his name.  Fuji, do you recognize any from your book?

Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll have some more posts for you soon as the goods start flowing into Germany.

Not Quite a Postcard - New Set / 1936 Large Bromides (BB362)

It was common in the 1920s and 1930s to issue pictures of sumo wrestlers on postcards.  Someday my collecting will focus on these postcard sets, but the sheer number of these postcards has kept me from diving into them head first.  With the advent of radio in the 1920s and 1930s, sumo wrestling matches were broadcast around Japan.  The Sumo Association needed a way to enable the listeners out in rural Japan, who couldn't make the tournaments in person, to visualize the wrestlers as they were absorbed with the broadcasts.  Thus, numerous sets of wrestlers were issued in the 1920s and 1930s to help.  Most of these are blanked back and are categorized under the Stadium, or S-Series, of cards.  This new set might very well go under that category someday, but for now I have classified it as a Black and White Bromide, or BB-series.  It is from 1936 and so far there are only three cards I have been able to unearth....Yokozuna Minanogawa, Maegashira Kasagiyama, and Maegashira Tamanoura.  These measure about 3.5" x 5.5" and are printed on a thin, paper or photographic stock.  I'm always still amazed that stuff like this was able to survive the war.

Silver Bromide Poisoning - The challenge of 1930s and 1940s BB-Series Black and White Bromide Cards

I'm a completionist when it comes to collecting sumo cards.  I want to get my hands on each and every sumo card made.  I really feel it is the challenge of being able to document and catalog a new set for the first time.  Nothing is more satisfying than reuniting individual cards back into sets which is probably how a good amount of set collectors feel.  This is how I collected back in the 80s and this is how I collect now.  With sumo cards, however, it does present some challenges.  First, my disposable income forces me to pick and choose as I can't have everything, so I have had to prioritize.  Second, the different kinds of sumo menko and cards is vast (believe it or not) and so this economic limitation forced me to get the more common stuff early on in my collecting year.  Now I am left with the "harder" and more expensive stuff.  Alas, if I had them all there would be no need to collect anymore, right?  So I am not complaining.  Lastly, out of all the types of sumo cards out there, the 1930s and 1940s BB-Series Bromide cards are a hot mess.  I say that with fondness for the challenge, but I knew once I seriously dipped my toes in the 1930s and 1940s BB-Series Bromide sumo cards, my sanity would be tested.  Well, now that I am in my second decade of collecting sumo cards, I have come to the realization that the BB-Series sumo cards need some catalog and checklist lovin' and given the respect they really do deserve.  Why the hesitation you ask?  Let me quickly sum up the challenges 1930s and 1940s BB-Series Bromide Cards.

- There are over a hundred different sets (probably, I'm just estimating here) = Lots of auction action = $$$ & ¥¥¥
- Only a small fraction (less than 5) have any company marks = Need to figure out which cards go to which sets

- Blank Backs (see above) = Need to figure out which cards go to which sets based on front design
- Out of a hundred different sets, how many ways can the front design change? = Answer, not a lot in most instances = In-depth study needed to sort them all = time, time, time
- Most were printed prior to WW2 = scarce = beat up = patience for them to come to auction

The 1930s and 1940s BB-series bromides were usually (not always, though) actual photographs.  A few used the halftone printing process.  The term "Bromide" or in Japanese "Buromaido or Puromaido" ”ブロマイド　or プロマイド”　comes from the term 'silver bromide.'  Silver bromide is a yellowish chemical and when mixed with a gelatin was a photographic emulsifier.  Once exposed to light, the silver bromide darkened into metallic silver.  The areas that weren't exposed to light do not change and stay silver bromide.  That is why these bromide cards have a yellowish tint to them in the light areas and silver metallic on the dark areas.  In fact if you hold these card to the light just right, you can see the shiny silver metal reflect the light.

Here are three cards from the BB391: 1939 Black Shikona Bromide Set (Notice the hand-colored tint on two of them).  These came from three different sources over the years.

The unique things about Bromides, which is different from Menko, is that Bromides were meant to be collected and viewed, not used to play the game menko.  So a lot of times they were glued into scrapebooks or pasted into albums and consequently have a lot of back damage.  Here is one such book called a Puromaido Book プロマイドブック.  You can see the slits in the book to insert the Bromides.

It will not be a quick process, but the 4th edition of my book will have a greatly expanded BB-Series section as I will have added many more sets, corrected numerous cataloguing errors, and refined the research in the area.