Mawashi
廻し
The belt that is the only garment of a sumo wrestler. It is wrapped around the waist and between the legs, and the opponent may grab it.
Quick Facts
Term typeClothing
LanguageJapanese
Formnoun
Pronunciation[mah-wah-shee]
Alternative Namessumo wrestler's belt
Readings and romanizations
Reading (kana)まわし
Hepburn romanizationmawashi
Word breakdown
廻しmawashiwrapping (verb mawasu)
Definition
Mawashi (廻し) is a sturdy belt, the only garment of a sumo wrestler. It is wrapped several times around the waist and between the legs and knotted at the back. A grip on the opponent's mawashi is the basis of most throwing and pushing-out techniques. Wrestlers of the top divisions (sekitori) wear a silk mawashi, called shimekomi, at tournaments and a cotton keiko-mawashi in training. Lower divisions wear a cotton mawashi at tournaments too. If the mawashi comes loose during a bout so that the wrestler is exposed, he loses.