Pop Quiz Hotshot - 1941 Japanese Quiz Menko

Anyone remember what movie the quote "Pop Quiz Hotshot" is from?  If not, I have the answer at the bottom of this post.  I love quizzes and trivia and was the kid who wanted to play Trivial Pursuit growing up.  Not that I was particularly good at all the categories, but I found it fascinating to learn new things about the world.

In 1941, this menko set was printed to test kid's on their knowledge of one of the 82 different winning moves (kimarite) in sumo.  A drawing on front depicted one of the winning moves and inside a circle on the front asked which move it was...there were small clues in the question asking which throw, or which trip, or which push was used.  Then on the back the kids would discover the answer.....simple idea really and well executed on this set.  I was able to pick more of this set up since I reported on it almost 2 years ago.

I have catalogued this set as the M416: 1941 Circle Quiz 5 set and each menko measures approximately 1 3/8" x 2 7/8".

If you are wondering what moving the first quote was from, if you guessed "Speed" then you are correct!  Here is a short clip featuring this famous movie quote:

Have a great week and sayonara!

Cold War Era - 1956 Japanese Military Menko

The Cold War in the 1950s must have been as stressful time as any to be alive given that nuclear weapons were now a real possibility and that at any time World War 3 could have ended the world as we know it.  Thankfully cooler heads prevailed to get us out of it, but I am sure it has left a lifelong impression on many citizens all over the world.  Japan was not immune from the Cold War and were caught in the political crossfire of Russia, China, Korea, and United States.  Having no offensive capability of their own, Japan relied heavily on the United States for protection and the weapons we employed during that time we fused into the lives of many children.  Menko companies took advantage of that fascination and made this set in 1956 that highlighted the popular rikishi of the era as well as some of the weapons children had no doubt read about or seen in books.

This M5623: 1956 Military 10 set is extremely hard to find...I am not sure why as most 1950s menko sets were made in decent quantities.  Maybe the war theme was too much for the general population at the time.  I have only seen these 6 menko in my over 20 years of collecting making them Extremely Rare.  Each menko measures approximately 1 3/8" x 2 3/4".

Have a great weekend and sayonara!

Pre-War Japanese Menko! The 1940 Circle Back 5 set does not disappoint!

It never ceases to amaze me how many pre-war sets are still out there that weren't destroyed in the war in Japan.  I've mentioned several times on this blog that the amount of destruction and devastation, along with paper drives and commodity scacity, would have seemingly wiped out all of the paper products and children's games for the most part.  When I uncover sets like this, it makes me realize how important these likely were to families back then and worth keeping.  I am glad I am able to document them for history's sake!

This M405: 1940 Circle Back 5 set looks like it was well loved and used in lots of menko games bringing a smile to some child's face.  In terms of design it is fairly standard, but with some great background designs on the front behind the wrestler.  When these were newly issued, the colors must have been really vivid!  The backs contain the standard birthplace, height, weight, favorite technique and stable information with a dominate circle at the top and 5-digit Fighting Number at the bottom.

Interestingly, no yokozuna appeared in the auction I won....likely those menko were the most cherished and fell apart many decades ago from hundreds of rounds of menko.

Thanks for stopping by...I hope everyone has a great weekend and sayonara!

Back at it!

Wow, I did not expect to take that much time off of blogging...almost two months.  Work just happened to get really crazy with a project we are working on right when a lot of things started opening back up as we all start getting vaccinated.  Hence, I have not had a chance to sit in front of my computer much, nor work on many hobbies.  Anyway...am hoping to be back blogging once or twice a week.

I've been clearing out my sets that need checklisted, documented in my book, and then put in binders.  This M-Series set has been staring in my face since the pandemic...I purchased it during quarantine and have now just finally got around to documenting it.  It's a beauty and the first, and only, time I have seen any menko from this set indicating how rare it is out there.  One of the main reasons it is so rare is it was made in the middle of World War II.  1944 in fact.  How it survived all these years is a wonder and we'll never know.  However, we can now document it as the M441: 1944 Gunbai Math 2-3 set.  The drawings of the rikishi are crude, but totally fit in with the austere war conditions in Japan during the time.  The backs have an image of the judge's fan, or gunbai, and are printed in a vivid, red ink.  Inside this gunbai are the wrestlers names across the top (read from right to left) as well as birthplace, height, weight, favorite technique and stable information in the gunbai.  Also common during this time was a math equation and indicates it could have been issued in a children's school magazine.  They measure about 1 1/8" x 2 7/8" so a bit on the small side.

I hope everyone has a great week!  Sayonara!

1941 Japanese Sumo Wrestling Menko - M412: 1941 Nagoya Trophy 4

It's not often that I can add to the checklists for some older, extremely-rare menko sets.  The surge in card popularity has made finding good deals even in Japan harder and harder.  However, I was able to recently pick up an 8-menko, uncut sheet of the extremely rare 1941 Nagoya Trophy 4 set.  I was able to basically triple the checklist and catalogue some important sumo names, but what is more important is I am now able to see what an actual uncut sheet looks like...and it is a different one for sure.  The four middle cards are flipped from the 4 outer cards making for a unique display...I have never seen this before on sumo menko.  What I really like about this set are the vivid colors and quality of the artistic renditions of the rikishi's likeness.  A good quality set for the ages and I am happy to now have the checklist as follows:

9612 - Maegashira Fujigatake

9024 - Maegashira Tamanoumi

7897 - Maegashira Ryogoku

7892 - Ozeki Maedayama

4272 - Maegashira Tatekabuto

3556 - Komusubi Nayoroiwa

3456 - Maegashira Oshio

1359 - Sekiwake Terukuni

0205 - Yokozuna Minanogawa

0009 - Komusubi Asahigawa

Have a great week!

Making a Japanese Baseball/Sumo Wrestling Connection - 1959 Menko

Several days ago Sean over at Getting Back into Baseball Cards....in Japan (BaseballCardsinJapan.blogspot), posted about a new menko find to the baseball community.  It is a new menko of the ever popular Shigeo Nagashima and up until this point had not been catalogued in the Japanese Baseball community.  In the sumo community, I have run across this set only a handful of times.  They are extremely rare and very hard to find since they were printed and sold at the tail end of the menko era when menko popularity was waning.  There is a plain, white-bordered version as well as an even more rare gold-bordered version in the sumo world.  I have catalogued this set as the 1959 Comic 9-10-11 (Catalogue #: M591-1 White Border and M591-2 Gold Border).  The back has the TV anime character "Moonlight Mask" which aired on Japanese television and in theaters in 1958 and 1959 which led me to believe this set was printed in 1959.  Up to this point, it seemed this was a sumo-only set, but what we might be seeing here is a multi-sport set.  And given there are gold-bordered versions, there is a good chance these were issued in boxes with the gold-bordered menko as prizes.  It is great when some of these new mysteries pop up and keep the older Japanese card collecting community on the hunt to try and continually answer some of these decade-old mysteries.

Have a great week!

The Ill-Fated 1958 Japanese Antarctic Expedition and Sumo Wrestling Cards

This Japanese sumo wrestling menko set captures a little-known piece of Japanese history from 1958.  Flash back two years before 1958 to 1956 and the Japanese had established their first research base in Antarctica to world exclaim and was a symbol of Japanese national pride.  When it came time for the replacement team to arrive in 1958, they were unable to get close enough to the research station and the team that was already there was forced to evacuate and abandon the station, but not before leaving behind 15 Sakhalian Husky sled dogs.  Leaving food for the dogs and thinking they would soon be back, the scientists evacuated by helicopter.  Unable to get back for entire year and assuming the dogs would all be dead, the returning scientists were shocked to learn that two of the dogs survived: Taro and Jiro.  These dogs became national heroes and were all over the news.  They eventually got their own stamps and several movies were made about the story!  Below is an actual picture of Jiro and Taro when they were found.  This 1958 menko set, however, was printed to celebrate the 1958 return expedition, before it turned ill fated and the dogs were abandoned.  There are many great-looking scenes from the expedition on the back of the menko that capture the imagination of any kid reading the magazine.  It is so rare that I have only ever seen one of them and don't even know which magazine it would have come out of.  As you can tell from the picture, these would have come as a sheet and each child would have had to cut out the menko individually.  Thanks for stopping by and letting me share a little piece of Japanese history!

Taro and Jiro greeted by the men from the 3rd Expedition that found them.  Photo courtesy of Dogs in History Blog.

Unopened Box Bepop

Fuji and I have a little dual-post action going on this Saturday where each of us is posting our Top-10 favorite unopened boxes we have in our collections.  Check out his here.  It was tough narrowing it down to ten, but I was able to break them down into different categories to help me decide.  From #10 to #1, here is what I came up with:

#10 (Also known as my favorite Vintage Japanese Sport Box) - 1991 BBM Baseball

This was the first large-scale baseball set that BBM issued which also happened to contain a bunch of Hideo Nomo 2nd-Year cards and baseball legends Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima as coaches.  My box is a bit beat up, but still a beauty and hard to believe it was 29 years ago!  30 packs per box with 10 cards per pack.  

#9 (Also known as my favorite Collector's Choice Box) - 2013 BBM P. League Bowling

I used one of my 10 boxes as kind of a miscellaneous box, or Collector's Choice Box.  Pretty girls that are bowling seems pretty quirky, but if you go watch videos of them in action they are very talented.  The P. League has somewhat of a reality show feel, but fun to watch and the ladies do not disappoint.  The autographs of these ladies are extremely well done as well.  54-card set per box with 2 special insert cards to boot!

 

 

#8 (Also known as my favorite Vintage Japanese Non-Sport Box) - 1950s Weapons "Gold" Menko



In the mid-1950s, the world saw a proliferation of nuclear weapons as well as rockets, jets and bombers filling the skies.  This set captures the imagination of the artists through weapons and destruction  What makes this set very interesting beyond the artwork, is the liberal use of gold ink on the packaging and cards.  A great example of Japanese artistry.  These boxes are considered "unopened and sealed" when the twine is present with the box.  50 packs per box with 6-7 menko per pack.

 



 

#7 (Also known as my favorite Foreign "Non-Japanese/U.S." Box) - 2019 Panini European Kimmidoll





I went through Spain and Portugal earlier last year right during the Kimmidoll craze.  Panini issued these cards only in this part of the world for a span of 3-6 months.  After I saw them, I ended up buying two unopened boxes online as well as an album.  Now you can't find them anywhere it seems.  These postcard-sized cards are strangely appealing to me and the artwork is amazing and refreshingly Japanese.  There are 18 packs per box with 6 cards per pack.

 

 



#6 (Also known as my favorite Modern Japanese Non-Sport Box) - 1986 Amada Famicon Mini Cards



I was and still am a huge NES fan.  The hours/days/weeks I spent engrossed in these games always brings a smile and air of nostalgia to me.  Amada kept the mini card craze strung along until the mid 1980s and issued these cards which captured screenshots of actual in-game play.  These boxes have 30 packs with 2-3 mini cards per pack.  I can still hear the Super Mario Brothers music playing in my head right now.... 

 

 

 

#5 (Also known as my favorite Oddball Box) - 1997 Takara Basscole Fishing Lures



 Most of you are scratching your head on this one.  Me too.  Why do I have this box?  Read about it here in full detail.  But basically Brad Pitt's movie, A River Runs Through It" sparked a bass fishing frenzy in Japan which also happend to coincide with the boom in trading card production.  What are these cards?  Trading cards of bass fishing lures.  No, no the actually people bass fishing, just the lures.  A must in my collection for sure.  30 Packs per Box and 10 Cards per Pack.

 

 

#4 (Also known as my favorite Modern Japanese Sport Box) - 2016-2017 BBM Basketball

I have a PC of Yuta Tabuse...or at least a really good handful of them in my collection...and decided I wanted to collect these boxes.  At the time, the new B.League partnered with BBM to produce these trading cards.  That was back in the 2016-2017 timeframe and they have since been making these for 4 years.  This was the very first series issued back in late 2016.  20 Packs per Box and 5 Cards per Pack 

 

 

 

# 3 (Also known as my favorite U.S. Non-Sport Box) - 2018 Topps Stranger Things Series 1



I love the show Stranger Things and when Topps announced they were releasing a trading card set based on the series, I knew I had grab a few boxes.  I can't remember the exact story or controversy, but I believe the odds for special cards there was stated on the retail? packs wasn't accurate and this evolved into a lot of complaints and poor reviews of this first product.  Alas, this box stays on my shelf with unknown content....mysterious!  24 Packs per Box, 7 Cards per Pack

 

 

 

#2 (Also known as my favorite Modern Sumo Box) - 2016 BBM Sumo



I chose this year of BBM sumo cards because this was the year I connected with a great group of collectors on Facebook devoted to strictly BBM sumo cards.  It has been a great opportunity to share my passion with like-minded collectors and fans.  A sharp-looking set with great box art.  24 Packs per Box with 5 Cards per Pack. 

 

 

 

#1 (Also known as my favorite Vintage Sumo Box) - 1958 Dash 7-8 Menko



 This box is what got me into sumo card collecting in the first place. The very first sumo box I owned!  While vacationing in the southern islands of Japan, I found this box in a small antique shop in the resort town we were staying at.  I knew I had to have it!  This 1958 Dash 7-8 (Catalogue #M581) has resided in my collection as the first-ever sumo card box that I have owned and so it captures a special place in my heart and the #1 spot on my list of unopened card boxes.  I haven't counted the packs, but there are at least 100 packs with the special uncut gold prize card sheets on top. 

 

 

Well, there you have it.  Thanks for stopping by and please make sure you check out Fuji's unopened box bebop as well.  Cheers and Sayonara!

Raw & Uncut: 1946 Two Stripe 3-4 (M462) Sumo Wrestling Menko Sheet

I'm continuing to clear out my backlog of uncut cards that I picked up these past few months and finally was able to catalog this new set.  From 1946, this new set is distinguishable by the two striped poles/lines on the left and right side of the card on the back.  Beautiful hand-drawn pictures of the wrestlers dominate the front against a bright, vivid background.  Likely, these menko that I picked up were from unissued inventory or sat tucked away in the backroom of a dagashiya for all these years.  Regardless, they make a new and interesting addition to the M-series of menko and will be catalogued in the 5th edition of my book.

Some huge names dominate this set from 1946 which featured only 1 tournament that year due to the post-war depression and rebuilding that was occurring in Japan.  The great Yokozuna Futabayama had just retired so the current/future Yokozuna, Terukunia, Haguroyama, and Azumafuji, were on their way to dominating the sport over the next 7 years and are aptly captured in this set.

I have only seen this set pop up recently and there continues to be uncut sheets for sale as the seller is trying to clear out his/her inventory. 

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

Who felt the earthquake?

California had a fairly strong earthquake yesterday.  Fortunately the damage was limited and it wasn't stronger and closer to LA.  Our house swayed a little bit down here for 20-30 seconds is all.  I hoping for a speedy recovery for those that were more severely affected.

Ebay is not my go-to auction site for picking up sumo menko, but these beauties from 1941 showed up and I immediately snagged them.  There was another auction of these that popped too that I snagged as there were several more in that one that I needed.  All in all, it looks like there are at least 12-13 total menko in this set.  These menko depict the Natsu (summer) 1941 tournament and were printed right before World War II kicked off for the United States.  What is most unique about this set is that they are designed to be a quiz where the front shows a winning technique being performed by two wrestlers, but asks the reader to guess which one it is.  The drawings of the wrestlers are fairly crude, but when you turn the menko over, the correct technique is revealed as well as the name of the wrestler that is depicted on front.  I have never seen one of the sets before and knew I needed to add them to my collection.  Interestingly, the menko of Onami has the word "Robot" (ロボット) written on the back....which had only been coined a term only 20 years earlier.

 

Gold & White Sumo Wrestling Cards - 1959 Comic 9-10-11 Menko Set

Collecting Japanese menko cards in the late 1950s has a similar aspect shared with the current United States sports card industry...they both were/are a form of gambling.  In the 1950s, Japanese manufacturers would randomly insert winner menko cards in M-series boxes.  These winner menko were the regular white-bordered menko, but had a small stamp on the back indicating the level of prize you won.  If you happened to pull a winner menko from the box you could redeem it for an uncut sheet of gold-bordered prize menko.  The large, uncut sheets (4-8 uncut menko) were reserved for the top prizes and the smaller sheets (1-4 uncut menko) were reserved for the lower prizes.  These gold-bordered prize menko were included with the box when the shop owner purchased it from a wholesaler, but they were removed and displayed to entice kids.  As I can only imagine the amount of yen Japanese kids would plop down to try and "win" one of the gold-bordered cards.  Sound eerily familiar?  As you can imagine, these gold-bordered menko are extremely hard to find and quite valued among sumo card collectors.  Here are two gold-bordered menko from the M591: 1959 Comic 9-10-11 set, a non-winner regular white-bordered menko, and some examples of other gold-bordered menko with their original boxes.

Example of the prize gold-bordered menko.  These happen to be cut.



Example of the regular white-bordered menko.  This is a non-winner since it doesn't have a stamp on the back.

 

 



The Wakanohana Story: Devil of the Dohyo - 1956 Sumo Wrestling Menko Cards

These are definitely a first for sumo wrestling menko cards.  Up until now, I have never discovered any promotional items for sumo wrestling movies.  There certainly have been a few for TV shows, but this is the first movie one.  In 1956, the Nikatsu Company released a movie base on the true story of Wakanohana's life.  The title of the movie was called "The Wakanohana Story - Devil of the Dohyo". At this point in Wakanohana's career he had just been promoted to Ozeki, but was well on his way to Yokozuna.  He was by far the most popular wrestler of the time with his skill, speed, and good looks.  People were eating up anything and everything made or printed about Wakanohana.  M-series menko had reached their popularity peak in 1956 so it made sense that this medium would be used to promote the movie.  There were two menko cards made for promotional events and are shown below.  Wakanohana was promoted to Yokozuna in 1958 and retired in 1962 with a changing the guard to sumo's new hero, the great Taiho.  He eventually headed the Sumo Association from 1988-1992 and passed away in 2010.

 

1930s Japanese Sumo Menko Lone Soles

Unfortunately, my Lone Sole pile is slowly accumulating more cards than are being matched.  This pile has lone examples of particular sets that I try and hook up a sole-mate to so I can catalogue them in my book.  These past few months, 4 more have entered.....hopefully destined to leave before I do.

First up we have an early 1930s halftone M-series menko of Shinkai.  I would hope I can stumble across more of these as they have a very distinctive back.

 Next is a beautiful gold-gilded drawing of Kagamiiwa in the M-series from the early 1930s.  Another distinctive back.

 I haven't been able to translate this back, but looks like a kimarite finishing move on the front and the style is from the early 1930s as well.

 Lastly, an R-series of Taroyama from the mid 1930s.

Post WW2 Occupied Japan Menko - 1946 Kimarite 6 (M461)

    Post World War 2 Occupied Japan was marked by heavy poverty, inflation, and a very weak economy with a rampant black market.  To say it was a struggle for most Japanese is an understatement as most families had barely enough money to buy food and provide shelter let alone any frivolous items like toys and menko.  So when I have the opportunity to buy and own post-WW2 occupation menko I consider it a great honor to be able to preserve something that likely cost a child, and his/her family, food money.  A unique attribute to most post-WW2 occupation menko (prevalent throughout all menko subjects) is the "westernization" of menko where the wording is written in romaji or the romanization of the Japanese alphabet.  This was an attempt to provide a common language where the Japanese children and American troops could communicate with each other.  Since baseball was America's pastime there are dozens of sets produced in Japan during this time....and several sumo sets....not to mention the dozens of non-sport sets out there.  One of those sets is the 1946 Kimarite 6 Set (M461).  These menko were printed on very thin paper stock (paper was very difficult to come by so the thinner the cheaper to produce) with either blue or purple backs.  This set came in sheets and had to be hand cut with each individual menko measuring about 1.75" x 2.75".  On the front of the menko is a cartoon drawing of the rikishi as well as the rikishi's rank, shikona, and the romanized spelling of the shikona as seen in the pictures below.  The back had all the menko features (dice, gu-choki-pa, fighting number, hometown, height, weight, birthplace, stable (heya)).  So far I have identified 11 menko in the set with a few more likely.  Interestingly, in 1946 there was only one tournament as the whole sumo association was thrown in a whirl as the occupying forces took over various sumo facilities during this time.  On a positive note, by 1952 Japan was out of the post-war depression with a decent economy with sumo popularity reaching an all time high thanks, in part, to the advent of television and broadcasting.  So for now, we'll take these pieces of history and imagine how cherished they likely were due to the sacrifices made to own them.

- 995041 Maegashira Chiyonoyama

- 957600 Yokozuna Terukuni

- 876540 Maegashira Terunobori

- 745002 Ozeki Azumafuji

- 725650 Yokozuna Terukuni

- 640520 Maegashira Masuiyama

- 625398 Komusubi Kamikaze

- 605040 Ozeki Shionoumi

- 504207 Maegashira Wakasegawa

- 437021 Maegashira Kashiwado

- 156217 Sekiwake Fudoiwa