I really like these trump sets as they feature a lot of wrestlers that really only ever got cards in these sets.  A brief history...these continued to be printed today, but started in 1973.  They usually came out one set per year (except in 2012 when the big match-fixing scandal hit sumo and in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), but at the height of sumo's popularity in the early 1990s they were cranking out 3 sets per year.  These sets were only available at the kokugikan and souvenir shops.

This particular 1983-1 set was printed in March 1983 and has some notable rikishi in the set: the dai-yokozuna Chiyonofuji as the King Diamonds, the great Yokozuna Kitanoumi as the King of Hearts, Yokozuna Takanosato ranked as an Ozeki as Queen of Spades, the young Asashifuji ranked as a Maegashira before he became Yokozuna later on in the 1980s. and of course Takamiyama who seemed like would keep competing forever.  There was a 1983-2 set made in September of that year that included an extra Queen of Clubs that showed Takanosato as a recently promoted Yokozuna...this was done to hold people over until the following year when a whole new set could be printed.

I haven't been able to research much about who manufactured these sets, but the case does say "Alaska Playing Card Company"...not sure if they made just the plastic storage cases or the whole sets.  A brief search on Google doesn't yield anything.  

The Telephone Card Craze in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Japan must have been madness.  Telephone companies couldn't print the cards fast enough as it was like printing money.  Although they held value for use in telephones, they held much more value among collectors.  It was almost pure profit at that point for the companies so a wide variety of subjects and of different quality flooded the market.  This high-quality set from 1990 commemorates Yokozuna Chiyonofuji's 1000 top-division win and 30th championship.  There are three cards in this set with two of them that have a mirror-gold finish and they come in this really amazing 3D foldout holder.   This holder folds up and is tucked away in a white paper envelope.  Not sure what the cost would have been back in the day, but imagine somewhere between ￥5000-￥10000.  Chiyonofuji passed away in 2016, but is absolutely one of the top 5 Yokozuna to ever grace the sport.

Anyone else collect Japanese telephone cards?

I mentioned in a previous post that NTT switched to the barcode backs on their telephone cards in 1991.  Before 1991, each back had a unique numbered back for easy cataloguing.  After 1991, they went to a generic back with a standard barcode number making cataloguing that much more difficult.  Here is one of the first barcode backs (The dreaded 955595 100160 <110-016> number)....which happens to be the great Yokozuna Chiyonofuji.  He was called the "Wolf" because of his cunning in the ring and his superb physique was popular among the fans.  Chiyonofuji is regarded by some as the greatest wrestler in history due to his contributions to the sport on and off the dohyo.  My goal is to start cataloguing Japanese sumo telephone cards with earnest in 2019....as Fuji would say "Down the Rabbit Hole."

In 1980, if you were living in Japan, sumo wrestler Chiyonofuji would have been a household name.  His face was plastered on everything it seemed.  Although he hadn't been promoted to the highest rank of Yokozuna yet, it was clear he was headed there.  Finding trading cards of him from this era is somewhat of a challenge and collectors are really limited to mainly these playing cards, or trump cards as they are called in Japan.  These were annual sets released at the Kokugikan and captured 52 of the top ranked wrestlers within a playing card set.  This 1980 set is especially interesting as it has 6 current or future Yokozuna in it as well as 2 of the most popular wresters from the 1970s and 1980s. Lets dive into a few of the wrestlers featured in this set.


Kitanoumi was a beast.  He was the youngest ever Yokozuna at 21 years of age when he was promoted in 1974 and eventually served as the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association.  In 1980 he was on the downhill slop of his career but still managed to eventually reach 24 tournament wins!


Wakanohana was a pretty dismal Yokozuna and won only 4 championships in his career.  Why the sumo association decided to promote to Yokozuna after posting two runner up championships is baffling.  Normally promotion to Yokozuna occurs after two back-to-back championships.  He had a storied life after his active wrestling days were over and eventually he married a girl he met while she was working in a bar.



Maybe even more disappointing than Wakanohana was Mienoumi as a Yokozuna.  He managed only 3 tournament wins and retired a little more than a year after his promotion.   Why he was promoted after two runner up championsips is equally as baffling as Wakanohana.   Although, from a card collectors standpoint, capturing his as a Yokozuna on a card is pretty rare and so its exciting to see him here as the King of Diamonds.  Mienoumi eventually became head of the Japan Sumo Association and became director of the Sumo Museum after he stepped down from that position.


Wajima had a great career as a wrestler, but fell into debt after retirement.  He eventually became a pro wrestler with Giant Baba's promotion to try and pay off those debts.  Wajima is still alive and kicking although not in great health.



Takamiyama (Jesse Kuhhaulua) is forever etched in the pages of sumo history.  As the first foreign winner of a tournament, he gained international fame.....as popular, if not more popular than most of the Yokozuna he fought.  In 1980, he had settled in to being a rank and filer but still would wrestle for another 5 years before retiring and becoming a coach.  If you don't know his story, I'd recommend clicking on the link above and reading about it.  It is very inspirational.


Takanohana was sumo's pretty boy for most of the 1970s and early 1980s.  He was handsome and had a fairly athletic build compared to most wrestlers, however, he couldn't obtain the elusive rank of Yokozuna and stalled out at Ozeki.  He married a beauty queen and they had two handsome sons who eventually went on to become Yokozuna themselves...the first time in history two brothers were Yokozuna.  In 1980s he was nearing the end of his storied career.




Takanosato was relatively old when he was promoted to Yokozuna.  Seen here as a Maegashira-ranked wrestler in 1980, he wouldn't obtain the coveted rank until 3 years later.  Because of his age, he was rather disappointing as a Yokozuna with only 4 championships to his name.



We started off talking about Chiyonofuji and we'll end with him.  Here he is as a Maegashira, but a year later he'd be Yokozuna.  He was extremely skillful, handcome, chiseled and had an amazing physique.  He eventually went on to win 31 championships.  Rumor has it that Chiyonofuji's victory over Takanohana (shown above) caused him to retire.  Years later, Takanohana's son, Takahanada, was the reason Chiyonofuji retired after Takahanada beat him.  What goes around comes around I guess.


Here is a picture of the back of the playing cards.






Thanks for stopping by!

I don't often come across cards or ephemera that have sumo wrestlers advertising commercial products.  There just weren't that many that I know of and not a whole heck of lot of wrestlers were using their likeness to promote products.  When I came across this card issued by Daichi Pharmaceuticals, I knew it was something I needed to pick up.  For ￥100, it made it an even better deal....in fact, I paid many times more in fees and shipping than the actual card itself. 

This card was issued right in the middle of 1981 when Chiyonofuji was on the brink of promotion to the rank of Yokozuna.  He was the hottest thing in sumo and would carry the sport throughout the 1980s until the Hanada brothers took the reigns in the early 1990s.  It appears this particular card was issued with a product call Patex, a compression support of ankles, elbows, and other joints...hence the fact that Daichi issued it.  The back has a 6-month calendar from September 1981-February 1982...an interesting calendar span.  I've done other searches for additional cards, but it appears this is the only card.

I'll get this inserted into the next edition of my book.  Not sure what I'll categorize it as yet.