kesho mawashi

New Kesho Mawashi for Both Yokozuna

Andy Nagoya 2025 ,

With a pair of Yokozuna climbing onto the dohyo in Nagoya, I thought I would provide a little background and a few notes on what you may want to watch out for tonight.

Sekitori are the wrestlers in the top two divisions, Juryo (second division) and Makuuchi (top division). They have many privileges and responsibilities that are not given to or required of lower-ranked wrestlers. For example, they have to fight each of the fifteen days of the tournament while low rankers only fight seven days.

Each day before they fight, Juryo and Makuuchi wrestlers parade around the dohyo in special kesho mawashi in ceremony called, dohyo-iri (photo below), in banzuke rank order alternating with the group of the East together and the West wresters together. The Juryo wrestlers perform their dohyo-iri together before the Juryo bouts begin. Then prior to the top division action, Makuuchi wrestlers of Ozeki rank and below participate in their collective dohyo-iri.

These special “kesho mawashi” are notable for the long apron which often features the wrestler’s shikona and hand-made, embroidered artwork, heavy on symbolism. I write about them here on occasion, particularly when they feature symbols of cultural or historical importance or if they’re just cool. They’re provided by sponsors and kept by the wrestlers after they retire. Shohozan’s are on display in his restaurant. You can see him wearing one of them in Nicola’s picture at the top of this post and then up close in his restaurant. There’s another purple one over on the left side, outside of frame.

Mitsuzoroi

Yokozuna, though, have a special dohyo-iri where each Yokozuna is accompanied by two attendants, a sword-bearer (tachimochi) and a dew-sweeper (tsuyuharai). You can tell them apart because the sword-bearer bears a sword; the dew-sweeper does not. The Yokozuna then does a special set of movements determined by the style they chose when they earned promotion: either Unryū or Shiranui. Both of our current Yokozuna have chosen the Unryū style which is customarily thought of as “defensive” style while Shiranui is an “attacking” style.

Yokozuna get triptych kesho mawashi, a set of three (mitsuzoroi). One is for the Yokozuna to wear and then one for each of his attendants. Hoshoryu had a pretty cool set when he was first promoted. He was just presented with a new set by “Full Time System,” a diversified corporation with a variety of businesses which has been a long-time sponsor. A few notable items about this set is that it features a purple fringe which only Ozeki and Yokozuna can use. The one which will be worn by Hoshoryu is in the center and features a mythical Chinese bird called a ran. The animal featured on the sword-bearer’s mawashi is a guardian dog, known as komainu, while the dew-sweeper’s mawashi is a lion.

Onosato has two new sets of three kesho mawashi. One is from long time real estate sponsor, Ai-Komuten of Osaka. The triptych of kesho mawashi features Mount Fuji and the gods of Wind and Thunder on a dark blue background. Onosato will wear the one with Mount Fuji and a rising sun coming up behind it. This is called “Diamond Fuji” because of the brilliant sun, shining above the mountain.

If you live in Japan or you want to plan your trip to Japan around when you can best see this “Diamond Fuji” view, there are several cool websites that purport to track when and where these views will be seen. This one is provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism. This one, picture above, has a really cool map. Apparently, you might get a really cool view from the tip of Chiba prefecture, with the sea in the front and Fuji in the background.

Onosato also unveiled the design of another mitsuzoroi set sponsored by the owner of a race horse who is also the head of Onosato’s Tokyo fan club. The picture of the design is above as the actual set has yet to be made. It will apparently be ready for Aki Basho and the London tour event. The sword bearer is to wear the kesho mawashi with the horse, inspired by the sponsor’s champion horse called, Panja Tower. Onosato would wear the one in the center which features a statue of Fudo Myoo, a Buddhist diety known as Acala which is on display at Erinji in Koshushi city, Yamanashi prefecture. So, this set will not be on display for this tournament but I will keep an eye out for it at Aki.

Followers on Twitter will remember that we are smack in the middle of somenuki season, too. Top division wrestlers are allowed to wear these special stylish yukata when going to the tournament venue. They often have very cool designs on the back but they’re noted for the fact that they have the wrestlers’ shikona on it — usually in white but sometimes in gold. I am sure the new Yokozuna will have some new threads and I will keep my eye out for great designs throughout the tournament.

Shirokuma’s New Kesho Mawashi Highlights Hometown Festival

Andy Japanese Culture ,

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.”

Endo’s Kesho Mawashi Celebrates Kumadori

Andy Natsu Basho 2021 , , , , , ,

By now, y’all have discovered that I like to track sumo wrestlers’ ceremonial kesho mawashi. Yamaguchi Embroidery Company’s (山口刺繍加工点) Instagram account posts great pictures of some of the kesho mawashi they made. Before Harubasho, they posted pictures of makuuchi mainstay Endo’s eight kabuki-themed kesho mawashi. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see them all at Haru because of Endo’s mid-basho kyujo.

These mawashi are sponsored by Nagatanien, a company known in Japan for noodles, soups, and toppings and spices and its kabuki theme. All of them feature the same kumadori called Shibaraku, an iconic kabuki image, which is actually trademarked by Nagatanien and a Nagatanien pop-up restaurant. These mawashi also feature unique gold leaf detailing. Nothing but the best for the golden boy, I tell you what.

What’s kumadori (隈取), you ask? Well, I guess you may not have asked…I’m going to tell you, anyway. Actually, I’ll find out for myself…then report back.

<…50 days pass…>

OK, I’m back. You still here? Good! Now, where was I?

Oh, right. Kumadori. Let’s look at the term, first. You may already recognize the second kanji character, ‘tori’ (取), as in sekitori and torikumi, etc. That’s a well known character I’ve discussed before. But how many of you recognize the first character, (隈)? Here’s a hint:

Takekuma (武隈) Oyakata

That’s right! The “kuma” in Takekuma is the same as the first character in kumadori, as opposed to the character for bear — which I usually think of when I hear “Kuma”. It has to do with the boundary between light and dark. Clearly, this means that Takekuma oyakata will be the stable master who will usher young recruits to the dark side…but I digress..

That brings us to the meaning of kumadori, where the artisan accentuates the lines of the face, blurring the lines between light and dark to represent and exaggerate emotion. So, in other words, Kumadori is the makeup of kabuki, which is applied with a brush and then stylistically smoothed and blurred with the finger. The funny thing is, the word for “makeup” in Japanese is kesho (化粧), as in kesho mawashi. So, Endo’s kesho mawashi of kumadori kesho seems to be a glorious pun…which means I love them even more.

[Hmm… a kesho kesho mawashi. Does that mean, kesho x kesho mawashi = kesho2 mawashi?]

https://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/dglib/contents/learn/edc25/jp/kumadori-makeup/images/ct6_2_sujiguma_mo.png
Sujiguma pattern

There are several different styles of make-up patterns in kabuki. The one that is featured on Endo’s mawashi is the sujiguma (すじぐま) pattern on Umeomaru (梅王丸) and in the famous play “Shibaraku” (暫) on Kamakura Gongoro.

In this case, Yamaguchi.Shishu said it is from Shibaraku which has been associated with Nagatanien. Shibaraku is a Nagatanien trademark. It even appears there is/has been a Shibaraku restaurant featuring miso soup and ochazuke.

Kumadori Styles

Occasionally, I find myself enjoying new experiences in Japan without really knowing what’s going on. If I were dropped into a Kabuki theater before today, I’d be totally lost. To prevent that from happening on my first visit to a Kabuki theater, I’ve decided to explore a bit more and share what I learn with you all. According to the Japan Arts Council’s “Kabuki for Beginners” website, there are a number of kabuki makeup themes, of which they have highlighted ten:

“Eyes Full of Shellfish”
  1. Mukimi-guma (むき身隈): This style’s name comes from the shape of the design, which resembles shucked shellfish. These characters symbolize youth, sexiness, and justice. You know, terms synonymous with scallop flesh and oysters and clams. Think Clint Eastwood in “Fist Full of Dollars.”
  2. Ippon-guma (一本隈): Uncontrollably violent and mischievous characters are portrayed with this style, noted by a dark line, looping vertically from the scalp on each side of the face, and a double chin.
  3. Nihon-guma (二本隈): This style is noted by two lines giving the impression of rising up. It has a blue beard and conveys a strong, dignified adult.
  4. Suji-guma (筋隈): This is the style used by Nagatanien’s kabuki-styled brand and featured on Endo’s mawashi. These characters are powerful heroes, full of anger, denoted by streaks of red across the face, a triangle on the chin (look at the Nagatanien one again), and at the corners of the mouth.
  5. Kagekiyo-no-guma (景清の隈): This “style” is named after the character, Kagekiyo. He’s a general of a defeated army, hunkered down at a shrine. Drama ensues. Physically, the upper half is red, like the Suji-guma we see above. But the lower half of the face is blue. As we see with in the next style, Kugeare, the blue conveys a coldness, often associated with villains. Kagekiyo is consumed with vengeance and tries to kill the deputy of the General who defeated him, as that deputy is coming to work on a construction project. Personally, I think this makes him less hero, more villain…and likely why he’s both?
  6. Kugeare (公家荒れ): As mentioned above, this form features blue streaks instead of the red ones we have seen above. That conveys a coldness, rather than the hot anger of the red — and is used by villains.
  7. Akattsura (赤っ面): Instead of a base of white, the base makeup here is red. These characters are usually the assistants of the villain characters
  8. Chaguma (茶隈): The base makeup here is a tea-brown, featuring heavily distorted facial features. These are bakemono and evil spirits, the yokai.
  9. Saruguma (猿隈): The comedic samurai Kokkei features “egg-plant” shaped eyes, evoking a figure-eight.
  10. Namazuguma (鯰隈): The “catfish” theme here is like Kagekiyo, with the red on the top and blue on the bottom. But the shape of the blue, making round arcs around the mouth, seems like the comedic shape like a catfish.
  11. Andy-guma (アンディー隈): A recent innovation featuring those seductive, just, and youthful shellfish eyes and characteristic comedic, clown-like orange mouth evoking golden fried-catfish. Lately, it has been portrayed with streaks of white on the chin, indicating advancing age Nordic heritage.

There’s a cool little tool here where you can make your own color schemes to use in these different patterns. I hope you all enjoy learning a bit about Endo’s kesho mawashi.

New Kesho Mawashi for Daieisho and Tsurugisho

Andy Daieisho (大栄翔), Japanese Culture, Sponsorship, Tsurugisho , , , ,

Nihon Daigaku (Nichidai: 日大) presented Oitekaze stablemates, Daieisho and Tsurugisho, with some brand spanking new kesho mawashi. Tsurugisho graduated from Nichidai before entering Grand Sumo but Daieisho entered a graduate program there last April. (I’m always glad when athletes are making plans for their post-athletics careers. So props to Daieisho.)

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, Tsurugisho is already the owner of an awesome Momotaro kesho mawashi. Well, his new one doesn’t feature the eponymous folk hero who was birthed from a peach. [Pause here while Andy recovers from a giggle fit.] “I swear all those old stories are dirty.“

Instead, it features Daikokuten, one of the Seven Gods of Fortune which I have written about in the past. Remember the boat (Takarabune)? Daikokuten is generally shown with his hammer (uchide no kozuchi 打ち出の小槌). In Daieisho’s old kesho mawashi, which, coincidentally, is the one I wrote about with the beautiful sakura and Takarabune, Daikokuten is the one at the very front of the boat. The playful portrait here — this time on Momotaro’s apron — is in keeping with Tsurugisho’s jovial personality. Meanwhile, Daieisho’s new kit features an amazing image of a distant Mount Fuji framed by sakura (cherry blossoms). I look forward to seeing both of these new mawashi on the dohyo in May.

The designer of these kesho mawashi is Tanaka Yuko, vice-chairman of the Female Sumo Federation in Japan and was presented to the pair by her and her husband, Tanaka Hidetoshi, chairman of Nichidai, vice-president of the Japanese Olympic Committee among other key positions in the amateur sumo and sports-world.

Speaking of Oitekaze, what have they been putting in the power water over there? Of the 20-odd wrestlers, six are sekitori, five of them in makuuchi! And Endo isn’t even heyagashira! Daieisho’s yusho, Tsurugisho’s juryo yusho…kensho and special prizes galore!