Back in action...just in time.

We escaped Germany just before the big heat wave swept through Europe.  Record heat has been logged all over Germany...in some areas hotter than Death Valley...and with little to no AC in a lot of places around Europe, it would have been miserable.  No complaints on our 70 degree SoCal weather right now, though.

At some point while I was in Germany, I picked up this two-card sumo menko lot from 1938.  It depicts hand-drawn images of the great Haguroyama as a Komusubi (#15184) and the rank-and-filer Tatekabuto who couldn't make it out of the Maegashira ranks (#85021).  What is interesting to note is the changes that Haguroyama saw during his 20-year career.  He went from competing in two annual 11-day tournaments in the early 1930s to four annual 15-day tournaments in the early 1950s.  He managed to stay alive during World War II, pushed sumo through the Occupation of the 1940s and 1950s, and helped bring sumo into the "modern" age in 1952 with the first televised bouts and into a new, modern stadium.  On top of it all, he collected 7 top-division wins during his career and was the powerhouse Yokozuna during this time.  The next changing of the guards happened in the early 1950s and by this time Haguroyama was pretty worn out ready for the next generation to take over.  He died in October 1969 at the age of 54...having just seen man land on the moon a few months earlier.

I hope everyone stays nice and cool as we enter the heat of the summer...unless you are living in the Southern Hemisphere...in that case, stay warm!

SoCal here we come!

Sumo card fans...unfortunately I have to take a ~1 month posting pause as all our household goods get moved from Germany to Southern California.  Once we get settled in the July timeframe, I'll start posting again.  Until then, enjoy the beginning part of your summer and I'll still be lurking on everyone's blogs!

2019 BBM Sumo Wrestling "Kaze" Set

BBM's second sumo wrestling set of 2019 hit the streets last week to somewhat of a luke-warm reception...at least outside of Japan.  There is something about this set that screams "BBM isn't trying hard enough."  Apart from the majority of lackluster poses, there hasn't been any real changes to these sets over the past decade.  BBM keeps using the same formula and doesn't even guarantee an auto per box.  In fact, BBM's YouTube channel had a box opening to promote the set and the host failed to secure an auto which is quite unusual.  It's hard to get excited paying close to $80-$90 to come away with only a partial base set and no extra shiny stuff or autos.  But alas, there are some decent things about the set.  The Popular Rikishi subsets do have some interesting shots and I like the red box art.  Let's dive into some of the actual card scans that I pulled from BBM's website.

Problem 1.  The background is too busy..  They should lose the white characters and just go with the artwork.

Problem 2: Look at how busy this is too...and they had to blur out the lady's face in the background.  Ugh.

Positive and negative.  Maegashira Enho is super popular.  Weighing in at 218 pounds and around 5'9"  This guy has shot right up the ranks in a little over 2 years.  Here is his second year card. If they would have gotten rid of the vertical stripes on the card, this would be a decent shot.

Positive...some nice shots of Mitakeumi and Endo.  No complaints on these two cards.

Negative....c'mon BBM.  Stop using sticker autos.  They have on-card autos of popular wrestlers that they use for special event promotions, but they continue to go with these stickers.  Booo.


Okay, as much as I complain, it is because I care.  There is a large sumo wrestling card collecting following out there that deserves a little more attention from BBM.  And sumo is as popular now as it has been in the past 2-3 decades!