Akebono mawashi for sale

[BigTallMan 3]

An auction house in Indianapolis is auctioning off a mawashi apparently worn by Akebono in the early part of his career.  The auction date is March 30 and you can bid on-line.  Here is the link:  https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/japanese-sumo-mawashi-ceremonial-apron-worn-by-gr-2D645A09A0 

[Benihana 1,916]

Wow! Next time you find something like this, don't tell anyone, seize this one-time opportunity and buy it for yourself! The starting bid and the estimated price is a joke. Sadly they don't accept paypal and i don't have a credit card, so i'm out. I hope someone from this forum gets it.

[Tiger Tanaka 222]

Great find if this is legit. But for awareness of other forum members reading this, Invaluable auction house has some very skeptical reviews after doing a couple google searches:

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/invaluable.com

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/invaluable.com

So buyer beware for bidders. I'd at the very least request images of certificates of authentication and origin of how the kesho-mawashi was obtained. While sadly, given Akebono's health status, it wouldn't be surprising to see him or his family selling memorabilia for money; however, I would still be a little cautious here.

 

EDIT: It looks like Invaluable aggregates auctions, in this case Ripley, so maybe it is legit?

Edited March 24, 2019 by Tiger Tanaka

[BigTallMan 3]

1. I checked the Ripley's website--they do accept Paypal.  Ripley's is a legitimate auction house in Indianapolis. 
2. I have seen the mawashi and it is legit.  The auction price is way too low.

[BigTallMan 3]

After posting my last message, I started feeling guilty.  I should have mentioned that I am the current owner of the Akebono mawashi.  I bought it in Osaka at the Shitennoji monthly antique market about 3-4 years ago.  I don't remember what I paid for it, but it seemed like a lot of money.  The sponsor's name at the bottom of the mawashi (Izuo Dai Ni Sei Nen Dan) is a boy's sports club in Osaka.  That would be the typical kind of sponsor for a low-ranking rikishi just starting to climb up the ranks.  I assume, therefore, that Akebono wore this when he was maegashira 1 or 2.  Probably the club tacked the mawashi to the wall after Akebono wore it and there's where it stayed until it ended up at the market where I bought it.  The top part of the mawashi has been cut off--I assume by the person or person's who tacked it to the wall, because the loops would have made it difficult to display.  The reason I am selling it is because I am planning to move back to the US and I need to sell a lot of the things I collected over the 19 years I have lived in Japan.  The mawashi is big and heavy, as you would expect a sumo wrestler to wear.  I sent it and a lot of other items to Ripley's Auction House in Indianapolis, because I have bought items from them before and they seemed very honest.  

Below is a photo of Akebono in his prime taken at the Osaka basho in the late 1990s.  If you look carefully, you can see that the judge sitting to the right of the dohyo is former Yokozuna Chiyonofuji.

[Jejima 1,358]

It's a kesho-mawashi, which is not the same as a mawashi.

Akebono was never ranked at Maegashira 2.  He was first (out of three occasions) ranked at Maegashira 1 one year after he entered Juryo - which would be when he first required a kesho-mawashi.

If there is just one of these available - and not part of a set of three - then it was made before Akebono became Yokozuna.  Yokozuna kesho-mawashis come in sets of three, in order to have matching kesho-mawashis for the two attendants to the Yokozuna. 

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,261]

I signed up for the site, and it redirected me to a Qing Lord jacket and you could easily swipe right to bid. I almost accidentally dropped $2000 on that bad boy. Be careful!