Congrats - Maegashira Terunofuji wins his 2nd Sumo Championship!

It's great to see some lower-ranked rikishi on the winner's podium, especially a former Ozeki who, plagued by injuries, dropped all the way down the 2nd lowest division and then managed to dominate all the way back up the banzuke and win his 2nd championship.  Congrats Terunofuji!  Here is his 2018 BBM card that shows him ranked as a Sekiwake on his way down from Ozeki.  Notice his knees all bandaged up which was ultimately his reason for temporarily faltering.

I hope everyone has a great week! 

1958 Japanese Baseball and Sumo Stamps - Nagashima and Wakanohana

The late 1950s had several multi-sport sets that captured some of the most popular sumo and baseball stars of the time. Hugely popular in the late 1950s in sumo wrestling was Yokozuna Wakanohana and in baseball, Shigeo Nagashima. Both of these athletes dominated newspapers, magazines, and the attention of young children. Included as free giveaways in the Shonen series of children's magazines in 1958, these stamps show a young Nagashima in his Giants uniform and a seasoned Wakanohana who had just been promoted to Yokozuna. Both of these individuals would rise to the some of the highest levels of respect within their sports and these stamps capture them as athletes striving to make names for themselves.  Now catalogued as the Z581: 1958 Shonen Sumo and Baseball Stamps, these extremely rare stamps are printed on thin paper and were meant to be licked and stuck onto something or inside something.  Thanks for stopping by and stay safe out there!

 

 

 

Making Time to Read - 1960s Japanese Sumo Wrestling Bookmark

These days, you'd think that I would have a lot more time to read....however, with the lines blurred between my work space and office space within the confines of my home I tend to spend a lot more time working which leaves a lot less time for reading.  I do love to read....magazines, manga, books, blogs...you name it, one of my escapes is reading and if you can throw in a fireplace to sit in front of, I am in heaven.  The Japanese are avid readers as well and bookmarks are a staple for any Japanese kid.  In the 1950s and 1960s, bookmarks were often given away as promotional items inside monthly children's magazines as is the case with this bookmark below.  The Manga King （まんが王）magazines were extremely popular from the early 1960s to 1970s and included this Yokozuna Wakanohana bookmark in a magazine from likely 1960 or 1961. This is the only one I have seen in almost two decades of collecting attesting to its rarity...much like the rarity in my reading time these days.

Stay safe out there and thanks for stopping by.