Large menko are cool....not only because of their large size, but because you very rarely see them.  When you hold one you know you are holding something special because it took a small miracle for it to survive.  It had to survive wars, moms cleaning out rooms, storage in small Japanese homes, and ruthless menko battles.  So when I ran across this "large" set, I knew I needed to hold them, checklist them, and catalogue them.  They are pretty cool, not doubt, and the photographs and print quality are second to none for the era.  These R3811: 1938 Rikishi Large 7-8 menko measure about 2" x 4.5" and are a sight to behold.  What about you, do you like to collect large, "oversized" cards or are they a pain?

Have a great week everyone and sayonara!

Caricatures are always good time at fairs and carnivals.  I am always amazed by how quickly and relatively accurately artists are able to develop and draw these out for patrons.  I am not artistic so I always applaud and admire people who are.  Did you know some of the earliest caricatures were done by Leonardo da Vinci?  Makes sense since he was such a brilliant engineer and really used the right side of his brain to the betterment of a whole generation of artists, engineers, scientists, and craftsman.  Anyway, I digress....we are talking caricatures because of this set as it is almost truly unique in the world of sumo.  Normally, many sumo menko are drawn to approximate a rikishi's face, but this set does have the appearance of overexaggeration.  Before cameras and photographic reproduction were main stream on sumo menko, there must have been a small army of artists cranking out material.  I don't think this set was meant to be humorous or funny, but 84 years later it does bring a smile to my face.  Catalogued as the R3713: 1937 Caricature 4 set, these are fairly large at 1.5" x 3". 

Have an awesome week and sayonara!

Anyone remember what movie the quote "Pop Quiz Hotshot" is from?  If not, I have the answer at the bottom of this post.  I love quizzes and trivia and was the kid who wanted to play Trivial Pursuit growing up.  Not that I was particularly good at all the categories, but I found it fascinating to learn new things about the world.

In 1941, this menko set was printed to test kid's on their knowledge of one of the 82 different winning moves (kimarite) in sumo.  A drawing on front depicted one of the winning moves and inside a circle on the front asked which move it was...there were small clues in the question asking which throw, or which trip, or which push was used.  Then on the back the kids would discover the answer.....simple idea really and well executed on this set.  I was able to pick more of this set up since I reported on it almost 2 years ago.

I have catalogued this set as the M416: 1941 Circle Quiz 5 set and each menko measures approximately 1 3/8" x 2 7/8".

The Cold War in the 1950s must have been as stressful time as any to be alive given that nuclear weapons were now a real possibility and that at any time World War 3 could have ended the world as we know it.  Thankfully cooler heads prevailed to get us out of it, but I am sure it has left a lifelong impression on many citizens all over the world.  Japan was not immune from the Cold War and were caught in the political crossfire of Russia, China, Korea, and United States.  Having no offensive capability of their own, Japan relied heavily on the United States for protection and the weapons we employed during that time we fused into the lives of many children.  Menko companies took advantage of that fascination and made this set in 1956 that highlighted the popular rikishi of the era as well as some of the weapons children had no doubt read about or seen in books.

This M5623: 1956 Military 10 set is extremely hard to find...I am not sure why as most 1950s menko sets were made in decent quantities.  Maybe the war theme was too much for the general population at the time.  I have only seen these 6 menko in my over 20 years of collecting making them Extremely Rare.  Each menko measures approximately 1 3/8" x 2 3/4".

Have a great weekend and sayonara!

Purple as a color is just awesome!  I guess anyone could say that about any color, but there is something about purple that screams elegance and luxury.  Did you know that purple is associated with the Japanese emperor and Japanese aristocracy?  And in England it is used only on special occasions with the Royal Family.  Crazy...anyway, purple came up as I was cataloguing this new set...the R389: 1938 Rikishi 4 set.  The fronts are a high quality picture and the backs are printed, well, in purple.  Not a deep shade of purple, but a good looking one nonetheless.  This set is extremely hard to find and I uncovered 9 menko from the set during the pandemic and am finally able to document it here and in my book.  These could be the only 9 in existence at this point.  These menko are relatively small at 1" x 2 1/8", but they make up for it as real stunners.  The backs originally had a piece of paper glued to it in order to stand them up I reckon to play kamizumo, but not sure.

Have an awesome weekend!

I don't often use the word "Museum Quality" when it comes to sumo menko.  However, the early 1900 woodblock prints that were coming out of Japan at the time are nothing short of remarkable.  There are different qualities of woodprinters no doubt, and the artists that were making menko at the time were likely not skilled enough to compete with many of the heavy hitting artists.  Nonetheless, the quality and intricacies they devoted to the woodblock menko of the time was tremendous.  The woodblock set below is the R051: 1905 Priest, Gun, Fox Back 0.  Maybe more importantly than it's 116 years in existence, is the fact that it has two extremely, extremely rare menko of Osaka Yokozuna Okido and Wakashima.  At the time, there were two factions of sumo both in Tokyo and Osaka.  The one is Osaka struggled and eventually folded into the Tokyo Association, but for a brief time talented rikishi were competing there.  They don't nearly get the love and most artists seemed to have associated in Tokyo more so not many menko were produced of the Osaka rikishi.  These menko are printed on thin cardboard-like paper and are about 1" x 1 3/4".  Someday these will be in a museum!

I hope everyone came back same from the holiday and has a great week.  Sayonara!

There are still a lot of unique Japanese sports cards to be found as a lot of them are still unchecklisted and quite rare.  Once such card is this new card find of Hulk Hogan from 1983.  It is a card that came in a cassette case for what appears to be entrance music for the Hulkster, or Ichiban, as he was known in Japan when he first debuted.  It's about the size of a regular trading card and blank backed.  Now all I need is a Walkman to listen!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and sayonara!

It never ceases to amaze me how many pre-war sets are still out there that weren't destroyed in the war in Japan.  I've mentioned several times on this blog that the amount of destruction and devastation, along with paper drives and commodity scacity, would have seemingly wiped out all of the paper products and children's games for the most part.  When I uncover sets like this, it makes me realize how important these likely were to families back then and worth keeping.  I am glad I am able to document them for history's sake!

This M405: 1940 Circle Back 5 set looks like it was well loved and used in lots of menko games bringing a smile to some child's face.  In terms of design it is fairly standard, but with some great background designs on the front behind the wrestler.  When these were newly issued, the colors must have been really vivid!  The backs contain the standard birthplace, height, weight, favorite technique and stable information with a dominate circle at the top and 5-digit Fighting Number at the bottom.

Interestingly, no yokozuna appeared in the auction I won....likely those menko were the most cherished and fell apart many decades ago from hundreds of rounds of menko.

Thanks for stopping by...I hope everyone has a great weekend and sayonara!

Wow, I did not expect to take that much time off of blogging...almost two months.  Work just happened to get really crazy with a project we are working on right when a lot of things started opening back up as we all start getting vaccinated.  Hence, I have not had a chance to sit in front of my computer much, nor work on many hobbies.  Anyway...am hoping to be back blogging once or twice a week.

I've been clearing out my sets that need checklisted, documented in my book, and then put in binders.  This M-Series set has been staring in my face since the pandemic...I purchased it during quarantine and have now just finally got around to documenting it.  It's a beauty and the first, and only, time I have seen any menko from this set indicating how rare it is out there.  One of the main reasons it is so rare is it was made in the middle of World War II.  1944 in fact.  How it survived all these years is a wonder and we'll never know.  However, we can now document it as the M441: 1944 Gunbai Math 2-3 set.  The drawings of the rikishi are crude, but totally fit in with the austere war conditions in Japan during the time.  The backs have an image of the judge's fan, or gunbai, and are printed in a vivid, red ink.  Inside this gunbai are the wrestlers names across the top (read from right to left) as well as birthplace, height, weight, favorite technique and stable information in the gunbai.  Also common during this time was a math equation and indicates it could have been issued in a children's school magazine.  They measure about 1 1/8" x 2 7/8" so a bit on the small side.

I'm continuing to clear out my backlog of uncut cards that I picked up these past few months and finally was able to catalog this new set.  From 1946, this new set is distinguishable by the two striped poles/lines on the left and right side of the card on the back.  Beautiful hand-drawn pictures of the wrestlers dominate the front against a bright, vivid background.  Likely, these menko that I picked up were from unissued inventory or sat tucked away in the backroom of a dagashiya for all these years.  Regardless, they make a new and interesting addition to the M-series of menko and will be catalogued in the 5th edition of my book.

Some huge names dominate this set from 1946 which featured only 1 tournament that year due to the post-war depression and rebuilding that was occurring in Japan.  The great Yokozuna Futabayama had just retired so the current/future Yokozuna, Terukunia, Haguroyama, and Azumafuji, were on their way to dominating the sport over the next 7 years and are aptly captured in this set.

I have only seen this set pop up recently and there continues to be uncut sheets for sale as the seller is trying to clear out his/her inventory. 

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

California had a fairly strong earthquake yesterday.  Fortunately the damage was limited and it wasn't stronger and closer to LA.  Our house swayed a little bit down here for 20-30 seconds is all.  I hoping for a speedy recovery for those that were more severely affected.

Ebay is not my go-to auction site for picking up sumo menko, but these beauties from 1941 showed up and I immediately snagged them.  There was another auction of these that popped too that I snagged as there were several more in that one that I needed.  All in all, it looks like there are at least 12-13 total menko in this set.  These menko depict the Natsu (summer) 1941 tournament and were printed right before World War II kicked off for the United States.  What is most unique about this set is that they are designed to be a quiz where the front shows a winning technique being performed by two wrestlers, but asks the reader to guess which one it is.  The drawings of the wrestlers are fairly crude, but when you turn the menko over, the correct technique is revealed as well as the name of the wrestler that is depicted on front.  I have never seen one of the sets before and knew I needed to add them to my collection.  Interestingly, the menko of Onami has the word "Robot" (ロボット) written on the back....which had only been coined a term only 20 years earlier.


 

We escaped Germany just before the big heat wave swept through Europe.  Record heat has been logged all over Germany...in some areas hotter than Death Valley...and with little to no AC in a lot of places around Europe, it would have been miserable.  No complaints on our 70 degree SoCal weather right now, though.

At some point while I was in Germany, I picked up this two-card sumo menko lot from 1938.  It depicts hand-drawn images of the great Haguroyama as a Komusubi (#15184) and the rank-and-filer Tatekabuto who couldn't make it out of the Maegashira ranks (#85021).  What is interesting to note is the changes that Haguroyama saw during his 20-year career.  He went from competing in two annual 11-day tournaments in the early 1930s to four annual 15-day tournaments in the early 1950s.  He managed to stay alive during World War II, pushed sumo through the Occupation of the 1940s and 1950s, and helped bring sumo into the "modern" age in 1952 with the first televised bouts and into a new, modern stadium.  On top of it all, he collected 7 top-division wins during his career and was the powerhouse Yokozuna during this time.  The next changing of the guards happened in the early 1950s and by this time Haguroyama was pretty worn out ready for the next generation to take over.  He died in October 1969 at the age of 54...having just seen man land on the moon a few months earlier.

I hope everyone stays nice and cool as we enter the heat of the summer...unless you are living in the Southern Hemisphere...in that case, stay warm!

I like these multi-purpose sets that were issued in the 1950s.  This particular one has a manga story on the front along with the hiragana alphabet for playing karuta, and sumo wrestlers on the back.  A lot of times these came in kids magazines which inevitably leads to crooked edges from unskilled scissor use, paper loss, and general disarray.....all of which I love.  These cards actually were held in a Japanese child's hand 60 years ago.  History right here.  I'm not up on my 1950s Japanese manga series which might help determine which magazine these came in, but fortunately the sumo wrestlers have rank information which can help us narrow down an exact year....1958 in this case since Shinobuyama only held the Sekiwake rank for three tournaments in the latter half of 1958.  The cards measure 1.75" x 2.5"...approximately.

These are the only 6 cards from this set I have seen in all my years of collecting...and until I find out if they were actually issued in a magazine, I'll catalogue them under the karuta (K-series) column...this one being the K581 set.  Here is the current checklist:

い - Yokozuna Wakanohana
ろ - Yokozuna Tochinishiki
へ - Yokozuna Chiyonoyama
ほ - Ozeki Asashio
ぬ - Ozeki Kotogahama
り - Sekiwake Shinobuyama

I was able to finally remove one of my lone sole cards and match it to this new set that I picked up.  This is the 1937 Rikishi Left Box 5 set (Catalog # R3711).  It has one of Yokozuna Minanogawa's first Yokozuna menko in it and Shinkai's last menko as well.  It also contains a rare gyoji card.  Each menko measure about 1.0" x 2.25" and has some pretty cool gold gilding on the front.  Unfortunately some ambitious kid wrote on the back of them, but it definitely gives them character.

This set popped up the other day and I had never seen it before so I knew I needed it for my collection.  It is definitely hard to find and a nice, early R-series menko set from 1935.  It has Minanogawa and Musashiyama before they were ranked at Yokozuna!  Nothing particularly distinguishable from this set and one of the many from the 1930s that had very similar designs.

Tomorrow is the 16th Anniversary of the terror attacks on 11 September, 2001.  It is difficult to fathom how quickly the time seemed to go, but it is one of those world-changing events that we'll all be telling our kids and grandkids about for the rest of our lives.  I hope everyone is able to take a moment of remembrance.

In a similar vain, the U.S. would official be thrust into World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.  Up until then, Japan was engaged in a brutal and horrific war all throughout the Pacific.  The war had permeated all throughout Japanese society and it is hard to imagine anyone in Japan not affected by it in some way or another.  I recently picked up this 1938 set and the war's stark reminder was boldly embellished on the kesho-mawashi of the wrestlers: a rising sun flag, bombers, fighters, cannons, and gas masks.  These are just a few of the reminders the wrestlers and Japanese society were faced with.  I am hoping to pick up more menko from this set.

As always, I find it amazing that these survived the war, the paper drives, and the post-war years fairly unscathed.  I was lucky enough to get them inserted into the 4th Edition of the Sumo Menko and Card Checklist right before printing and now the set is permanently documented for future generations.

  Discovering new menko sets is getting fewer and farther between so it is always exciting when a new set pops up and I am able to get my hands on them.  This set hails from the H-series of menko (The Brick Menko) and has a lot going for it.  First, it is very rare given the fact that these 8 menko are the only ones I have ever seen from this set in almost 2 decades of collecting.  Second, the backs make for easy identification....made by Maruta along with all the ranks of the wrestlers pinpoints this set depicting the October 1955 Tournament (1955 Aki Basho).  Future Yokozuna Wakanohana was promoted to the rank of Ozeki right after this tournament and is a key menko in this set.  Lastly, and most importantly, these menko are in immaculate condition.  If you ever played Pogs, you know the importance of the slammer.  In menko, these H-series "Bricks" are extremely thick and heavy and were great slammers for flipping over other menko.  Naturally, the ones you find today are usually beat up and bent....these, however, were likely deadstock in some store before they made their way to auction.  Just for reference, these measure about 3/16" thick and are very stiff.  Given that 6 of the 8 wrestlers in the known checklist of this H554 set made it to Yokozuna along with great artwork on the front, makes this a true masterpiece of a set.  I'm happy to add this set to my collection and it will be checklisted and included in the 4th addition of my Sumo Menko and Card Checklist book.

Getting back to sumo cards after a few other posts, I picked up these sumo card singles a month or two ago over in Japan.  Normally for these kids magazine cards I turn to the Japanese Baseball Card Checklist as Gary usually has most of these cataloged.  Surprisingly, this set is not it there, but these cards appear to be from around 1975 given the wrestler's ranks.  These trump cards (as the Japanese call playing cards) came in small boxes and different sets were inserted in issues of Boken Oh (Adventure King) magazines throughout the year during the January issues.  Likely there are 52-54 total cards in this set and I have three of the sumo wrestlers (Wajima, Takanohana, Kitanoumi) and one pro wrestler (Antonio Inoki), but there are likely singers, actors/actresses, baseball players and other famous people throughout the set.  They measure 1 5/8" x 2 1/8" and are printed on thin paper stock.  Anyone else have any of these?

  I'm back in business after an extended break getting through Thanksgiving and turning in two mid-term papers.  I've been keeping up on my fellow bloggers' posts, but have failed to get one out myself in three weeks.  Hopefully I'll have time to get several more before the Christmas and New Years breaks.  This set has been sitting in my to-be-catalogued binder and is ready to get inserted into the 4th edition of the Sumo Menko and Card Checklist.
  I picked this set up about a year ago and it is one of the popular R-series (Rikishi series) die-cut sets.  In fact, this is the latest one I have come across and have nailed it down to being produced in 1974...likely right in the middle of the year.  So far, these 8 menko are the only ones I have come across and there are some big names in the set.  Here is the checklist:

Yokozuna Kitanoumi
Yokozuna Wajima
Sekiwake Takamiyama
Komusubi Masuiyama
Maegashira Kaneshiro
Maegashira Kirinji
Maegashira Kongo
Maegashira Wakamisugi

There are some big names in this 8-menko lot especially Takamiyama and Yokozuna Kitanoyumi who went on to become one of the greatest yokozuna of our generation.


The menko have a great/manga like drawing of the rikishi's likeness on the front standing in their kesho-mawashi.  Notice the hairy chest on Takamiyama....he was one hairy foreigner wrestling in Japan.  This style of menko was very popular in the 1930s-1950s and so it is nice to see it revitalized here.  The backs have a wealth of biographical data on the rikishi (pre-internet goodness) such as height, weight, birthplace, stable name and favorite winning technique.  The rikishi's shikona (name) dominates the middle with a nice Gu-Choki-Pa symbol at the top.  Backs are printed in purple ink.

This is the only R-series set I know of that was printed in the 1970s and they are extremely hard to find.  They do look like they have been popped out of a sheet as there are little nubs around the edges of the menko.  A nice looking and rare set if you can get your hands on some of them.

I have a binder of "To-be-checklisted" sumo menko sets.  These are sets I have just acquired and that I have not yet entered nor checklisted in my book.  Normally the amount of sets in my binder number between 5-10... I'm always cataloging and clearing new sets as new ones come in.  I define a set as having two or more menko, however, I also have a section in my binder called the Lone Soles.  These are menko I only have one of and can't catalogue them since I usually need at least two menko to narrow down a year.  Some of these Lone Soles have been in there for years....in some instances almost 10.  This week I was able to move one of my menko out of the Lone Sole section and into the queue for cataloguing due to finding another one from the set.  Nothing brings me more joy, other than discovering new sets, than finding a match (or Sole Mate if you will) to my Lone Sole pile.  Sumo menko collecting will never be as mainstream as baseball or football, but in this small niche collecting community, these are the discoveries that get us excited.

This Lone Sole Mate is a a new M-Series set from 1952 and I've catalogued it as the M526 - 1952 Trump 5.  I had the #53819 Yokozuna Chiyonoyama menko for what seemed like an eternity, but I picked up the #62357 Yokozuna Terukuni menko recently at auction.  I've deduced it's from 1952 as Terukuni retired early on in 1953 and Chiyonoyama didn't promote to Yokozuna until later in 1951.  This set has the possibility of being from 1951 or 1950, but I'll update it if I happen to find any more of these rare bad boys.  I love the artwork on this set and the colors are nice and vivid.....also having a red-inked back is quite rare too as most sets usually have blue, brown, black, purple, or green.  Red is really uncommon.

I am hoping that more of these exist out there, but given that I have only found 2 in my 16 years or so of collecting, I am unlikely to find many more.  If a Wakanohana menko of this set exists, that would be the big menko of this set as it would be considered his Debut Menko.....much like a rookie card is defined.