Yokozuna Akebono Retirement Ceremony: Yokozuna rope belt demo
Finally we get to see Akebono again. They demonstrated how they tie on the thick, white, yokozuna rope (tsuna) around his waist.
The tsuna is the symbol of the yokozuna. It takes several assistants to put it on. They all wear white gloves. They first wrap the tsuna around his waist from the front, or the thickest part of the rope.
He turned in all four directions to show everyone what it looked like. This is what is called the shiranui style of tying the rope (不知火). It is characterized by a single loop in the back. The other style, called unryu, has twin loops (雲竜).
Naotoshi Yamada (1926-2019) is Japan’s most famous super fan and super supporter at sporting events, especially at the Olympics since 1964. If you’ve watched the Japanese Olympic team on TV during a recent Olympics, you might have seen him in the crowd waving a huge Japanese flag. He always stood out in the spectator seats. He was also one of the people who had the honor to snip Akebono’s topknot.
Akebono Retirement Ceremony: Greetings | Merch | Makushita/Juryo | Rope belt | Final Dohyo-iri | Demos | Topknot cutting | Final cut | Makunouchi