Shirokuma will join his stablemate, Onosato, in the top division at the upcoming September tournament in Tokyo. To celebrate, his hometown supporter’s club presented him with a brand new kesho mawashi. Kesho mawashi are the special mawashi with long, decorated aprons that sekitori wear during the introduction ceremonies, or dohyo-iri.

Shirokuma’s hometown is Sukagawa, Fukushima and that town is host to one of Japan’s three great fire festivals, the Taimatsuakashi. The festival has its roots in a battle from the 16th Century. Local residents took up arms to defend the castle and this festival symbolizes their efforts.

In November, teams of local residents build these massive bamboo structures and stuff them with dried brush, then wrap them with mats. A sacred fire from a local shrine is then lit, paraded to the festival site, and then used to set the massive structures alight.

Two years ago, they were able to hold the festival with crowds for the first time since the pandemic. This presentation will hopefully increase awareness of the festival and bring more people to Sukagawa to enjoy it. I will hopefully be able to go in a future trip. If so, plan for me to be there with some marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers.

To see what it’s like, as well as a detailed explanation how the bamboo structures are made, I hope you will enjoy this video. The kesho mawashi artwork does a great job of representing the actual pyres.

I will close with the words of The Great Beavis, “Fire, fire, fire.”