Sumo Wrestling

Published May 01, 2025 Updated May 01, 2025

Traditional Japanese Sumo Wrestling playing cards with photograph of different wrestler on each card.

1970 Japan Nintendo Sports
Sumo Wrestling playing cards published by Japan Sumo Association, manufactured by Nintendo, c.1970s

Japanese Sumo Wrestling playing cards published by Japan Sumo Association with a colour photograph of a different wrestler on each card, whose name or ceremonial rank appears beneath in Japanese script, such as “Dragon King”. The more successful wrestlers were featured as the J, Q or K. The reverse is an artist’s impression of a sumo dohyō (the arena in which sumo wrestling bouts take place).

Sumo Wrestling playing cards published by Japan Sumo Association, manufactured by Nintendo, c.1970s Sumo Wrestling playing cards published by Japan Sumo Association, manufactured by Nintendo, c.1970s Sumo Wrestling playing cards published by Japan Sumo Association, manufactured by Nintendo, c.1970s Sumo Wrestling playing cards published by Japan Sumo Association, manufactured by Nintendo, c.1970s
Sumo Wrestling playing cards published by Japan Sumo Association, manufactured by Nintendo, c.1970s

Above: traditional Sumo Wrestling playing cards published by Japan Sumo Association, manufactured by Nintendo, early to mid-1970s. The Joker is a senior referee.

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By Jon Randall

Member since May 28, 2020

From 6 or 7 years of age I enjoyed playing cards with my family, and still enjoy a variety of games today with various groups and individuals. I contribute my competitive nature to enjoying games … it’s not that I like to win, I dislike losing! I was barely 10 years old when my great Uncle left me a small collection of playing cards and that was the starting point of my collecting. The competitive streak in me helped develop me into a competitive swimmer that sent me to various places around the world, including a 6 year stint in the US, where for much of that time I was at university. I’ve always enjoyed car boots flea markets, yard sales, charity shops etc., and my eye would never miss a pack of playing cards. Even after my swimming career finished I coached at a high level for many years and continued enjoying the discovery of some great finds around the world. For decades my collection continued to grow, despite selling a portion of it via eBay over the years. It wasn’t until post 2010 that I realised, mostly due to correspondence with Australian friends, that there were so many single playing card collectors. This intrigued me. I had so many packs of cards at home that I made the bold decision to share a good number with singles collectors, and subsequently listed around 7000 for sale on eBay. That did make a dent in my collection, but there’s still around 30,000 packs taking up quite a bit of space at home. Crazy? Yes, but I’ve seen bigger hoards a few times! There’s so many I surprise myself finding packs I forgot I had when I look in a box I’d not seen in a while.

My eBay IDs if you’d like to look are “worldwide_playing_cards” & “playing_cards_world

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