Mawashi

Mawashi

Sekitori

During competition

For top ranked professional rikishi (known as sekitori), the mawashi is made of silk and comes in a variety of colours. It is approximately 30 feet (9 m) in length when unwrapped, about 2 ft (0.6 m) wide and weighs about 8 to 11 lb (4 to 5 kg). It is wrapped several times around the rikishi and fastened in the back by a large knot. A series of stiffened silk fronds of matching colour called sagari (下がり) are inserted into the front of the mawashi. Their number varies from 13 to 25, and is always an odd number. They mark out the only part of the mawashi that it is illegal to grab on to: the vertical part covering the sumotori's groin, and if they fall out during competition the gyōji (referee) will throw them from the ring at the first opportunity.

Many rikishi are superstitious and will change the color of their mawashi 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 training

Sekitori only wear the silk mawashi during competitive bouts either during ranking tournaments or touring displays. During training, a heavy white cotton mawashi is worn. For senior sekitori in the top two divisions, this belt is coloured white, and it is worn with one end distinctively looped at the front. Sagari are not worn during training.

Lower-division rikishi

Rikishi ranked in the lower professional divisions wear a black cotton mawashi both for training and in competition. In competition, cotton sagari are inserted into the belt, but these are not stiffened.

Amateur sumo

Amateur sumo wrestlers wear a cotton mawashi 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 mawashi 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 mawashi while professional rikishi are not.

Techniques and rules

Sometimes a rikishi may wear his mawashi 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 mawashi more tightly.

If a wrestler's mawashi comes off during a tournament bout, he is automatically disqualified. This is extremely rare, but did occur in May 2000, when sandanme wrestler Asanokiri's mawashi came off during a match with Chiyohakuhō. However, for most of sumo's history, whether or not a wrestler's mawashi 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.