The Crash of Japan Airlines 123 and the Death of a Sumo Family

On August 12, 1985 tragedy struck a great deal of families across Japan.  Kyu Sakamoto, the famed singer, the president of the Japanese Baseball Team Hanshin Tigers, Hajimu Nakano, and the entire family of former Ozeki Kiyokuni died along with 500 other fellow passengers in Japan's largest aviation disaster in history.  Kiyokuni's 39-year old wife Sanae, his 12-year old son Yoshihiko, and 10-year old daughter Kiyoe were on their way to Osaka from Tokyo to visit Sanae's parents who were living in Osaka.  The cause of the crash....a ruptured pressure bulkhead in the rear of the plane that wasn't properly fixed when the tail struck the ground during landing 7 years earlier.  I visited the memorial at the crash site when I was living in Japan and was amazed at the story of devastation and survival. 

After the crash, Kiyokuni (having changed his name to Isegahama Oyakata when he took over the Isegahama stable after retirement) never was able to recover and drove his stable into the ground.  When he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in 2006 he had just two wrestlers under his roof.  The stable dissolved in 2007 after being around for almost 150 years.  Here is a great article from the now defunct Sumo Fan Magazine...I used to write for this magazine back in the day and sadly the magazine went belly up in 2012.

The above card represents one of only a few cards that features Kiyokuni....this one belonging in the famous 1973 Calbee Sumo Set. When this 1973 set was published, Kiyokuni was on the backend of his career having won one tournament.

Happy 91.5 Birthday Queen Elizabeth II - Her Majesty's Rookie Card?

Today the Queen celebrates her 91 1/2 birthday being born on 21 April, 1926.  I have had a lifelong fascination with the British Royal Family.  Maybe it is because my Great Grandfather x13 immigrated from England in the 1700s, or because of the opulence that Royal Family represents, but they really are intriguing.  Our recent trip to London only fueled my interest and I ended up picking up this 1937 Wills's Cigarette King George VI/Queen Elizabeth "Our King and Queen" set off of eBay.  My main interests were of the Princess Elizabeth cards (Current Queen Elizabeth II).  My main goal with picking up sets like these is to find her rookie card...the very first card she was depicted on that was available to the public in quantity...and not a postcard.  I've seen other mid-to-late 1930s sets, but not sure which contains her earliest.  For now, I'll claim this set!

Queen Elizabeth II has actually been a fairly popular Queen and she is the longest service British Monarch in history.  She celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 marking 60 years of reign.  Call it lucky, but when the Queen was born, she wasn't slated to take over the throne at all.  Her Uncle, King Edward VIII was actually in line and after a brief time as King, he abdicated the throne to his brother, King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth now had rights to the throne when her father passed away in 1952.

The main focus of this 1937 Wills's "Our King and Queen" set was on Princess Elizabeth's parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth I.  In 1937, they had only been in reign for a year so they captured some interesting moments in the 50-card set.  Princess Elizabeth is shown on three cards in this set.

Card #2 (The Royal Family) shows her with her sister and parents
Card #4 (The Royal Princesses) shows her with her sister
Card #50 (The Princesses and their Miniature House) shows her with her sister

One of each of these cards came in a pack of cigarette's and they were meant to be glued inside of an album.  Several albums are for sale on eBay and I may end up picking one up one of these days.

1984 - The Year the Hawaiian Sumo Torch was Passed

1984 marked a pivotal year in foreign participation in sumo wrestling....especially for the Hawaiian wrestlers.  Superstar Takamiyama (Jesse Kuhaulua from Hawaii) ended his historic 20-year career in sumo wrestling.  He racked up an impressive career.  Jesse was the first foreigner to win a sumo tournament and at the time of his retirement had the most kinboshi(victories over yokozuna), most career bouts with 1,653, and was the third heaviest wrestler in sumo history.  Jesse was well like and it was a difficult adjustment for those used to seeing him in the ring after 20 years.  In 1984, up-and-coming Hawaiian superstar Konishiki (Saleva'a Atisano'e from Hawaii) had just broken into the top ranks of sumo and would go on to have a storied, although troublesome, career retiring in 1997.  By all standard marks, Konishiki would have been promoted to yokozuna with his impressive succession of tournament records, but his status as a foreigner and the Sumo Association's general dislike of him prevented him from reaching this goal.

The 1980s were dismal in terms of sumo card sets.  The only sets being produced were playing card sets with pictures of the wrestlers on them.  This 1984 set is the only set that captures the handing of the Hawaiian sumo torch from Takamiyama to Konishiki.  Takamiyama was designated the Jack of Spades and Konishiki the 7 of Diamonds.  Face cards were reserved for the top-ranked wrestlers and Takamiyama was well deserving of this honor.