The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-08-31

Mountains OF at-Tremendous Strength
of the Athletes.

of the Athletes.
Frank G. Carpenters Toxic Letter.
The wrestling is conducted in a twelve
foot ring. sanded, and on an elevated stage
under canopy, reminding one strikingly
of the fountain canopies in the courts of
the temples, supported by four plain
posts, entitled shihon bashira (the four
posts), and with an overhanging roof, but
no walls. The posts are decked with
parti-celored cloths, and Immediately be-
low the roof hang four blue tabs, white
silk festoon curtain, ornamented with q
round crest and other devices in gold, and
from its elevation entitled ten manku
(heaven curtainl. Fastened to the pots
are little pots of salt for clean
ing the palate, and at the foot
of them stand bowls of water
called chikaramizu increase the
strength). The wrestlers take salt and
spit it out, and then take mouthful of
water to wash their mouth out, splitting it
afterwards on little handkerchiefs of paper,
with which they smear their arms to make
them slippery. This is the correct explana-
ton of the habit. as gwen by my friend
Arkato, the great wrestler himself.
The whole arena is called dohvo. The
umpire, whose name was Kimura Hide
taro, on this occasion, wore a handsome
gray costume projecting about foot out
side OF each shoulder and ornamented on
collar, breast and cuffs with crest, and
carried peculiar black-lacquered fan
called the gombai uchiwa (iterally the
war-arrange-around FAM 1t was shaped
like blunt double-edged Ratchet and or
namented with scarlet silk tassel sus-
pended by cord yard long. Holding
this horizontally he gave out something in
aloud voice, and two wrestlers assembled
the platform, stark naked. as / have said,
except for the dark-blue cross-strap
around their waists and between
their legs. and with their hair combed in a
peculiar fashion, very much like the snood
once worn by little girls in England, on the
top of their heads. The ring had just been
swept and its heroes figured about in the
sand with their bare feet.
After slapping their thighs and cooking
up first one and then the other of their
mighty legs. this is called shiko fumu
(siap and stamp). and is recognized form
OF, not, as l first thought, salutation to the
audience, but to stretch their muscles
Then they carefully wiped themselves and
commenced crouching down like cats.
watching each other for the spring
Let us pause to look at them. These
wrestlers are gigantic tall fellows, some of
them six feet and half high, vast of
shoulder and arm and thigh and calf
mountains of muscle, and some of them
also mountains OF fat-pure, adipose fat.
Whether shaved or natural, they have no
hair on their bodies except under their
arms, and far from having faces of the
brutal prize fighter type. they most of them
have good humored. and some of them
quite dignified faces. They are not very
like the ordinary Japanese. but could not
discover that they came from any particu.
lar locality.
One wrestle was terminated by one of
the champion wrestlers, an enormously
fat and heavy man. being hurled clean out
of the ring by simmer but wirier antag-
onist AT the edge OF the stage he was
caught by attendants placed there for the
purpose, who must now have an adequate
conception of thunderbolt A third was
terminated by one of the wrestiers, a man
who weighed st least 200 pounds, being
caught around the waist and thrown a foot
or two up in the air Sometimes the men
gripped at arms length and the bout
would then be very long one. In one in
stance there were two men thus eripped.
one with his head under the others breast
bone. Ii was hard for his opponent TO
keep his feet, but on the other hand the
strain on his neck muscles was terrific. and
so was the strain on his wind, with his chin
crushed into his chest. He had the better
position if he could only last, and he did
last and win. though both fell and his only
advantage consisted in his falling less on
bis back than his adversary. In another