相撲 Sumo Traditional Clothing
Following my post about the Sumo grand tournament in Tokyo, I thought you might want to know a bit more about the sumō traditional clothing.
In Sumō, the wrestlers (or rikishi, meaning 'powerful man') are known for their typical ring fighting or training outfit called mawashi, which consist of a thick-waisted loincloth.
As part of the ceremony of dohyō-iri, which literally means 'entering the ring', upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a keshō-mawashi, a more elaborate ceremonial dress which consists of an ornate apron that is inserted into the mawashi.
A mawashi is made of white cotton for training and colorful silk for competition. Lower ranks sumotori wear dark cotton for both training and competition.
The mawashi is approximately 9 meter long when unwrapped, about 60 cm wide and weighs between 3.5 to 5 kg. It is wrapped several times around the rikishi and fastened in the back by a large knot. For competition, a series of matching color strings, called sagari are inserted into the front of the mawashi.
(source: Google)
Besides the ceremonial and esthetic aspect of the mawashi, a rikishi may wear in a way that will give him some advantage over his opponent, depending on the type of techniques he prefers to employ in his bouts. A wrestler preferring 'belt sumo' technique will usually wear his mawashi more loosely to prevent himself to be thrown. A wrestler preferring pushing techniques will wear the mawashi more tightly and lightly wet to prevent his opponent from getting a good grip on it.
Also, because many rikishi are superstitious, they can change the color of their mawashi to change their luck for the next tournament.
During their ring entering ceremony, Sumotori of the two upper divisions (makuuchi and jūryō) are wearing the ceremonial keshō-mawashi, a colorful silk richly embroidered loincloth with various design and thick tassels at the bottom.
These gorgeous embroidered aprons are very expensive. They are usually paid for by a sponsor and may advertise its product, or they are gifts from the rikishi's support groups.
Often, the keshō-mawashi depicts traditional Japanese sceneries, or refers to the wrestler’s ring name but sometimes it features the sponsor’s products. Some aprons show funny pictures inspired by modern popular culture, and foreign rikishi can wear a keshō-mawashi with their national flag.
If you want to know more about sumō, you can check the following links:
