Mawashi
Template:Short description Template:Italic title Template:More citations needed In sumo, a Template:Nihongo is the loincloth that Template:Transliteration (sumo wrestlers) wear during training or in competition. Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a Template:Transliteration as part of the ring entry ceremony or Template:Transliteration.
MawashiEdit
SekitoriEdit
During competitionEdit
For top ranked professional Template:Transliteration (known as Template:Transliteration), the mawashi is made of silk and comes in a variety of colours. It is approximately Template:Convert in length when unwrapped, about Template:Cvt wide and weighs about Template:Convert. It is wrapped several times around the Template:Transliteration and fastened in the back by a large knot. A series of stiffened silk fronds of matching colour called Template:Nihongo are inserted into the front of the Template:Transliteration.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Their number varies from 13 to 25, and is always an odd number. They mark out the only part of the Template:Transliteration that it is illegal to grab on to: the vertical part covering the Template:Transliteration's groin, and if they fall out during competition the Template:Transliteration (referee) will throw them from the ring at the first opportunity.
Many Template:Transliteration are superstitious and will change the color of their Template:Transliteration to change their luck. Sometimes a poor performance will cause them to change colors for the next tournament, or even during a tournament, in an attempt to change their luck for the better. An example of this was done by Ōnoshō during the 2020 July tournament, when, after several losses in a row, he decided to change from crimson to dark gray.
During trainingEdit
Template:Transliteration only wear the silk Template:Transliteration during competitive bouts either during ranking tournaments or touring displays. During training, a heavy white cotton Template:Transliteration is worn. For senior Template:Transliteration in the top two divisions, this belt is coloured white, and it is worn with one end distinctively looped at the front. Template:Transliteration are not worn during training.
Lower-division rikishiEdit
Template:Transliteration ranked in the lower professional divisions wear a black cotton Template:Transliteration both for training and in competition. In competition, cotton Template:Transliteration are inserted into the belt, but these are not stiffened.
Amateur sumoEdit
Amateur sumo wrestlers wear a cotton Template:Transliteration of any color without the looping accorded to the senior professional's training garb. Additionally, they may wear a tag on the front of their Template:Transliteration that identifies them individually or the nation they are competing for, depending on the competition. Amateur sumo wrestlers are also allowed (or required, in the case of women wrestlers) to wear shorts or leotards under their Template:Transliteration while professional Template:Transliteration are not.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Techniques and rulesEdit
Sometimes a Template:Transliteration may wear his Template:Transliteration in such a way as to give him some advantage over his opponent. He may wear it loosely to make it more difficult to be thrown, or he may wrap it tightly and splash a little water on it to help prevent his opponent from getting a good grip on it. His choice will depend on the type of techniques he prefers to employ in his bouts. Thus a wrestler preferring belt sumo will usually wear it more loosely, while those preferring pushing techniques will tend to wear the Template:Transliteration more tightly.
If a wrestler's Template:Transliteration comes off during a tournament bout, he is automatically disqualified.<ref name="Sharnoff">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Page needed This is extremely rare, but did occur in May 2000, when Template:Transliteration wrestler Asanokiri's Template:Transliteration came off during a match with Chiyohakuhō.<ref name="exposed">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, for most of sumo's history, whether or not a wrestler's Template:Transliteration came off during a bout was considered irrelevant, and the policy of disqualification only came into place when Japan began adopting European attitudes towards nudity.<ref name="exposed"/>
Template:TransliterationEdit
Wrestlers in the two upper divisions, Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration, are allowed to wear a second ceremonial Template:Transliteration during their ring entering ceremony. The silk 'belt' opens out at one end into a large apron which is usually heavily embroidered and with thick tassels at the bottom. The fringe and tassels of the Template:Transliteration are usually gold but may be any color except purple, which is reserved for use by Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration only.<ref name=Sumo101kesho>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Template:Transliteration may advertise the produce of a sponsor of the Template:Transliteration (for example Bulgarian Template:Transliteration Kotoōshū was sponsored by a Japanese brand of yogurt, "Bulgaria", which was prominently displayed on the front of his Template:Transliteration) or be a gift from one of the Template:Transliteration's support groups. Alternatively, some foreign-born Template:Transliteration (such as Czech-born Takanoyama) bear their national flag on their Template:Transliteration. Popular Template:Transliteration may be given many of these Template:Transliteration.<ref name=Sumo101kesho />
Template:Transliteration have matching sets of three Template:Transliteration, with two being worn by his wrestler "assistants" (his Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration) during his ring entrance ceremony.<ref name=Sumo101kesho />
In the Edo period, the Template:Transliteration also served as the wrestler's fighting Template:Transliteration. However, as the aprons become more ornate, eventually the two functions were split apart. In this period wrestlers were normally sponsored by feudal Template:Transliteration or overlords, whose clan crest would therefore appear on the Template:Transliteration.
