Everyone Loves an Underdog - 1996 Sumo Wrestling Playing Cards

Fuji over at The Chronicles of Fuji sent me a short sumo wrestling video of the popular small wrestler, Enho, taking on his stablemate and arguably one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Hakuho. Enho is one of the smallest, if not the smallest, wrestler in the top divisions and his speed combined with technical savvy is almost unrivaled in sumo at the moment.  But he is small and in sumo sometimes no matter how fast and agile you are, size does matter.  In an era of weaker top division wrestlers, Enho might have been able to make a bigger mark, but sadly he has likely topped out on any future promotions.  However, as Fuji puts it, we all love an underdog from time to time.

The original small guy and underdog that I remember is one-time Sekiwake, now Shikoroyama Stable Master, Terao.  He had a 23-year active career from 1979-2002 and was the popular small guy at the time.  Crowds loved him, he was spry, and he had the right personality and aura about him to make him so fun to watch.  I first saw him at the sunset of his career, but he still had some gas left in the tank and still dominated his peers.  However, his career peaked in the mid 1990s right when sumo was reaching new popularity heights with the dominance of Wakanohana, Takanohana, Akebono, and Konishiki, not to mention Musashimaru and Kaio.  He was never destined to promote to the top ranks, but he sure drew a crowd.

I was recently reminded of Terao when I picked this 1996 Playing Card set up with Terao as the queen of diamonds, a very healthy and respectable position in these sumo card decks. Looking at the wrestlers above him and around him at the King and Jack levels, it is easy to see why sumo loves the underdog, but it surely doesn't offer any respite from taking on the big guys.  

2020 Sumo Wrestling Playing Cards

"Playing Cards" in the United States are known as "Trump Cards" (トランプ　カード) in Japan.  Not getting political here, but Trump Cards don't have anything to do with President Donald Trump, but rather have to do with the "Trump" being the term used to identify a powerful suit in different types of card games.  The tie to sumo wrestling has to do with the fact that these sets are popular souvenirs during tournament time as they depict the different active sumo wrestlers.  Since 1973, there have been over 63 sumo wrestling trump card sets released.  From quick napkin math, you can see that in some years there was more than one set released.  This often was the case when sumo popularity was extremely high and the Japan Sumo Association was trying to capture the latest, ever-changing ranks of the wrestlers.  This past September, the Japan Sumo Association released its 63rd set.  I scanned the top 3 cards in each suit (J,Q,K) of this 2020 set as these cards depict the 12 highest-ranked wrestlers at the time.  Interestingly, the Japanese don't view the Ace as a strong card in general, but with these sumo wrestling sets, the Ace is usually a veteran or someone notable so not necessary the weakest wrestler either.

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.

2009 Dohyo Trump

From the mid 1970s all the way until 1997, the only cards produced of sumo wrestlers were playing cards, or trump cards as they are called in Japanese.  It wasn't until 1997 that BBM produced regular sumo cards and distributed them on a wide scale to collectors.  So for 20 years, collectors had to suffice with these annual releases which are still being printed today.  It's not surprising though as the end of the mini card, bromide, and menko boom of the 1970s had petered out by the time the great Yokozuna Chiyonofuji became popular in the early 1980s.  So for the extreme collectors we have to make due with the playing card sets to bridge this 20-year gap.

The playing card formats have stayed relatively the same since the first known set was produced in 1976.  Even the back design has stayed the same sans the late 1980s and early 1990s sets which featured a picture of the new Kokugikan on the back card face.  They eventually reverted back to the old design, though.  The early sets did not have the wrestlers name in English at the top, but soon included it and it has been standard ever since.  All sets feature 52 of the most popular wrestlers at the time the set was printed as well as a joker card of the gyoji (referee).

Right now there are confirmed sets for the following years (UPDATED 26 DEC 2017):

1976
1977
1978
1983
1984
1986
1987
1990
1992
1993
1994
1997
2004
2008
2009
2013
2017

Surprisingly, these sets are actually extremely difficult to find and only ~6 or sets pop up every year.  Older sets often command $50 while some of the new sets can easily be had for $5-$10 on the secondary market.  These set new were sold at the tournaments for about 1500円 and can still be purchased today during tournaments!

This 2009 set is one that I recently cataloged and is unique in the fact that it is the first set that I know of to feature two gyoji on the same card.  It also has 4 of the modern day Yokozuna in it (Asashoryu, Harumafuji, Hakuho and Kakuryu).