Sumo referee 'gunbai', white and blue with sun and moon
Origin : Japan
Made of : porcelain - potery
Classification : things / other things
Maker : ?
About "gunbai" (gunbai uchiwa - 軍配 short for 軍配団扇) :
The Gunbai is a wooden hand fan used by the Gyoji, the referee of sumo. The referee uses it for instance to point the winner of the fight.
About "sumo" (sumō - 相撲) :
Sumo is the Japanese form of wrestling. The best sumo wrestlers are famous and when it's the time of sumo championships, all Japan stops to watch the matches.
Their enormous size, the very hard training they have to follow since teen age, the quantity of food they have to eat every day, everything makes sumo wrestlers nearly inhuman and fascinating.
Today, wrestlers from Hawaii, Mongolia or Bulgaria are beating native champions which is not very much appreciated even if they change their names for a Japanese one.
Sumo champions are stars, they often marry top models and are sometimes involves a lot of betting and easy money.
