Sumo monuments and statues

[Akinomaki 40,753]

On 06/05/2020 at 17:19, Akinomaki said:

Taiho gets a new stone monument at Wakanai harbor, where he arrived at age 5 in August 1945, evacuated from his birthplace Sakhalin. A friend from a local fishery processing company payed for the photographic monument. 

The new monument for Taiho was officially unveiled today, his 80th birthday - local NHK

vid

put in place on the 9th o

2m x 1.2m x 40cm - 3 tons

[Katsunorifuji 65]

11 hours ago, Akinomaki said:

The new monument for Taiho was officially unveiled today, his 80th birthday - local NHK

vid

put in place on the 9th o

2m x 1.2m x 40cm - 3 tons

That looks pretty cool. But it’s also pretty far off from where most tourists would go so I doubt we’ll get many photos of it. Still something I’d like to see. 

[Akinomaki 40,753]

22 hours ago, Akinomaki said:

The new monument for Taiho was officially unveiled today, his 80th birthday

From the local paper - with a closer look at the inscription on the back

o

Edited May 30, 2020 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,753]

The bronze statue of Kitanoumi in his hometown Sobetsu in front of the Kitanoumi memorial museum http://www.sumo-museum.net/ - cleaned by members of the local koenkai, now the Sobetsu Kitanoumi-kai, one of them his old judo teacher (81). o

The statue was erected in 2008 by the koenkai, and later donated to the town. o

Edited July 29, 2020 by Akinomaki

[Obana 357]

Whenever I visit Tokyo, I like to visit the Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine near Monzen Nakacho Station in Koto-ku.  They have frequent Sunday antique fairs on the grounds.  There is a cute Fuji-zuka in the North West corner of the shrine precincts (a sort of sacred pet rock).
They also host a dozen sumo related monuments, including the yokozuna and ozeki monuments, winning streaks greater than 50 wins, giant wrestler hand/foot prints, etc.
Among the monuments is a Powerful Sekiwake Monument 強豪関脇力士碑.
When I visited the shrine in 2019, I noticed that someone had policed the area around 力道山 光浩 Rikidozan's name.  I was looking at the close up photo of the cleaned entry I had taken and noticed that Rikidozan lacked a birth prefecture.  He is sandwiched between 神風正一 Kamikaze Shouichi from 香川 Kagawa Prefecture and 時津山仁一 Tokitsuyama Jin'ichi from Fukushima Prefecture.  I looked over the rest of this side of the monument and he is the only stateless rikishi.
I wonder why?  I also wonder who performed the work on the entry but unless someone here confesses, it will remain a mystery.

Edited February 14, 2021 by Obana
error

[Kishinoyama 596]

5 hours ago, Obana said:

When I visited the shrine in 2019, I noticed that someone had policed the area around 力道山 光浩 Rikidozan's name.  I was looking at the close up photo of the cleaned entry I had taken and noticed that Rikidozan lacked a birth prefecture.  He is sandwiched between 神風正一 Kamikaze Shouichi from 香川 Kagawa Prefecture and 時津山仁一 Tokitsuyama Jin'ichi from Fukushima Prefecture.  I looked over the rest of this side of the monument and he is the only stateless rikishi.
I wonder why?  I also wonder who performed the work on the entry but unless someone here confesses, it will remain a mystery.

Rikidozan was born Kim Sin-rak in Japanese occupied Korea. That may be why their is no birth prefecture. He is also considered the father of pro wrestling in Japan. 

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

That person should be a bit careful, looks like they left quite a few scrubbing scratches around.

Yuck, zooming in it looks like they even painted the characters but in a super sloppy way so its all over the place.

[Obana 357]

6 minutes ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

That person should be a bit careful, looks like they left quite a few scrubbing scratches around.

Yuck, zooming in it looks like they even painted the characters but in a super sloppy way so its all over the place.

I think they applied talcum powder (or something similar) to highlight the entry.  I don't think there was damage.

[Akinomaki 40,753]

On 01/10/2018 at 18:04, Akinomaki said:

A new statue of 1st yokozuna Akashi for JR Utsunomiya station was completed in China recently. The local Lions club will present it to the city, as a symbol for the station of the Light Rail Transit line that is under construction. The mythical yokozuna in "original" size: 221cm tall. The statue for the while will stay in China, to be transported to the location in time for the planned opening of the new line March 2022. http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASL9X35BHL9XUUHB002.html

The new statue of 1st yokozuna Akashi was unveiled yesterday at JR Utsunomiya station

o  o

the old statue at the Gamou shrine next to the Hachimanyama park in Utsunomiya, which was erected in Apr. 2007

o

[Akinomaki 40,753]

23 hours ago, Akinomaki said:

The new statue of 1st yokozuna Akashi was unveiled yesterday at JR Utsunomiya station

Local TV new clip

[RabidJohn 1,853]

Anyone else getting 'Talk to the hand' vibes from this new statue?

[Akinomaki 40,753]

The statue of 19th yokozuna Hitachiyama at the Keiunkan in Nagahama, Shiga, was this year voted for as the number one cultural heritage in the category industrial/modernization heritage of Nagahama castle town http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQD773JLQD4PTJB00F.html

Hitachiyama was the favorite of local industrialist Matazo Asami (thus a big sponsor), who had the keiunkan (state) guest house built, and he had this stone stature placed in the garden

https://nagahama.net/jyoukamachi/heritage/106/

[Akinomaki 40,753]

The statue "yokozuna ryogamae" from Yoshioki Hasegawa for the statues discipline at the 1936 Berlin Olympics arts competition made after yokozuna Minanogawa has been found stored by a private collector in Tokyo. It made it to the best 8 in Berlin. http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/609721

Minanogawa visited the studio of Hasegawa after yokozuna promotion

 

Funny that the German Wikipedia page on Hasegawa is much more detailed than the Japanese

Edited December 29, 2022 by Akinomaki

[shimodahito 317]

Someone shared this on the sumo mail list:  https://www.kitv.com/news/local/akebono-statue-finds-home-at-sams-kitchen/article_b71986c6-ee19-11ec-b94d-bbed2349b7f1.html

[Edwardoho 23]

Is the Tochinoshin rugby statue still in tokyo? What building is it next to?

 

 Thanks

[Google Obana 6]

Between the time I visited the Tochinishiki statue at Koiwa Station on 19 Feb. and yesterday, the 44th Yokozuna has been drafted to promote a Fire Prevention Campaign.

The view from the back reminded me of a tune whose modified lyrics could be:

"Who's been polishing my bum
Brightening my rear today
They must have known just how I like it
Cause every hand's coming my way"

 

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Google Obana

[RabidJohn 1,853]

From the culprit's POV:

Oh, what a wonderful backside,
I've only just seen it today,
Will anyone see if I touch it?
No? Then I'll be on my way.

[Obana 357]

The esteemed Akinomaki posted about the Kitanoumi bronze statue in a separate 2017 post.  I thought I would post to his Sumo Monuments and Statues discussion some pictures taken at 川崎大師平間寺 Kawasaki Daishi Heikenji Temple (dedicated not to ex-Maegashira 3 Daishi, but to the 8th-9th centuries monk, Kōbō Daishi).  The temple was preparing for some matsuri and the food vendors already set up made finding the statue a bit of a chore.  I especially like the shot of him standing before the temple's five-story octagonal pagoda.  Or, is he eyeing some festival food in a nearby stall?

[Obana 357]

Akinomaki has posted earlier about the ceremony where the 73rd yokozuna dotted the “j” and the “i” in his name on the Yokozuna Monument.  I include a close up of the first Reiwa Era yokozuna's work (next to Kisenosato), a view of the completed top line and the complete back with space for the next 14 yokozuna.

Since last I last visited the Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine in January 2020, Hakuho's 63 bout consecutive winning streak has been added to the pink marble pillar in front of and to the left of the Yokozuna Monument.  I photographed Hakuho's addition on three different day with different light.  All were a bit faint on Hakuho's details.  I am including two three photo Photostitcher compositions (one Mercator and a stereographic projection).  These distort the monument a bit but viewed at 100%, afford the best view of the finer engraving.  I especially like the Mt. Fuji effect the Mercator projection achieves.

The engraving:

六十三連勝 [sixty-three consecutive victories]
第六十九代横綱 [69th yokozuna]
白鵬翔 [Hakuho Sho]
平成二十二年一月場所 (横綱) 十四日目より [Heisei 22 January Basho (yokozuna) day 14 until]
平成二十二年十一月場所 (横綱) 初目まで [Heisei 22 November Basho (yokozuna) shonichi ending]

Finally, since last at the Monzen-Nakacho religious site, 琴奨菊和弘　福岡 Kotoshogiku of Fukuoka and 豪栄道豪太郎　大阪 Goeido of Osaka have been added to the Ozeki Monument next to Kotooshu.

Strangely, after three years, Rikidozan's name is still highlighted on the Sekiwake monument.

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Obana

[Akinomaki 40,753]

On 15/08/2019 at 17:58, Akinomaki said:

The newly styled Kotozakura museum in Uomachi, Kurayoshi, Tottori

the statue of Kotozakura in the museum is now visible from the entrance and they have a beautiful lawn

The Kotozakura museum since February has an exhibition for the event of 50 years since yokozuna promotion of Kotozakura

o o o o o o o

The renewed explanation plate at the statue, which was erected 20 years ago

The tomb of Kotozakura, with the kanji 忍 and a dohyo-iri statue

[Akinomaki 40,753]

The Dotonzeki statue at the Doton Plaza shopping mall near Dontonbori river in Osaka -  2.3x2m, about 350kg

over 2m tall, unryu style dohyo-iri, installed 3 months after the facility opened in April 2016 to have foreign tourists get in touch with Japanese culture - there was no model for the statue and the costs are a secret

o o 

[Akinomaki 40,753]

There are 3 bronze statues of Kaio, made by Hiroshi Katayama (here with Asakayama) http://www.takenakadouki.com/types/大関-魁皇像

On 28/10/2014 at 16:55, Akinomaki said:

The new bronze statue of Kaio at the JR station of his hometown Nogata, 238cm high, 116cm wide, 480kg.

On 21/12/2014 at 11:49, Akinomaki said:

The sketch model of the statue was donated to Kaio's old middle school.
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASGD34VD2GD3TGPB005.html

donated by Katayama

the 3rd is just a bust, usually on display at the Nogata Tanio Art museum

It is on display for touching at the moment in the Universal Museum exhibition at the National Ethnology museum in Okayama, Osaka

o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dehSuhUQAuk&t=37s

Edited April 15, 2023 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,753]

The Onosato monument at the Kashima shrine in Fujisaki, Aomori will definitely get more visitors now that the shikona is used by Nakamura. His motto was "The body and the power have a limit, but not the technique". He was one of the main rebels of the shunjuen incident and left the sumo kyokai, they formed another in Osaka. When that collapsed, he collapsed as well and died a month later. http://mitinoku.biz/hist_walk/hist_aomori/?p=997

the grounds have a dohyo as well

o

The stone monument in his honor was erected in 1960 for his 23rd death anniversary and since then in August the Onosato-cup kids tournament takes place there http://www.fujisaki-kanko.jp/event/sumo.html

[Obana 357]

The Yasukuni shrine has a sumo dohyo as well as a statue in front of the rebuild shitaku beya, now a seminar hall and multi-purpose building (靖国神社 啓照館) [Yasukuni Shrine Keishokan].  I decided to visit the shrine precincts on a purely artistic pilgrimage.  I discovered that in addition to the main approach to the sanctuary, there is a side entrance across the street from the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres building that runs between the shrine's Noh stage and the Yashukan Museum and leads back to the Keishokan where the statue is installed (bypassing the sanctuary).
The pair of wrestlers locked in a yotsu sumo battle is by the sculptor 長谷川義起 Yoshioki Hasegawa (1891-1974) who created the work in (昭和九年五月建) May 1934.  Titled 大日本相撲奨勵會, Google maps simplifies the title as 国技 [National Sport].
I think one of the combatants bears a striking resemblance to retired Georgian ozeki, Tochinoshin.
There is a very similar (identical?) statue in Takaoka Kojo Park 高岡古城公園 in Toyama Prefecture dating from 1938.