[sumo] Luciano Pavarotti's bath

[JZ8D-SMMN at asahi-net.or.jp]

A  long time ago all Japanese baths were tiled affairs and could therefore be made to any size.
But for decades builders have been using molded plastic units which include a squarish tub 
and the floor beside it, with a curve up to the wall. I would have thought that it  would be hard to order a larger size 
custom-made, but it's quite possible that enough married and retired sumo-san, plus larger members of the regular population 
(they don't all go into sumo, after all) would  afford a niche market.

And, I do believe, there are such molded rikishi-sized tubs in the Kokugikan shitaku-beya; I took pictures last year 
(don't ask) --I'll see if I can hunt them out tomorrow.

Lion-do sells outsize clothes and other gear but I would not go there to order a bath. That's for builders and builders' suppliers, I would think.
While we're taking a mental stroll through the neighborhood, there's another old-established shop just across the road in Midori that sells 
rikishi-sized footwear, geta, setta and zori; I did an interview once and the owner produced a special gaijin-sized zori -- long as a rikishi but 
thinner, as Japanese in general have relatively broad feet.  Down the main road in the block across from Liondo is an old tabi shop (ir was, last time I looked -- there's a lot of rebuilding going on).
They specialise in the made-to-measure split-toed cotton socks worn with formal kimono; they showed in the window the pattern for Konoshiki and older greats. (The upper-ranked 
gyoji also have made-to-measure tabi.

Doreen -- apologies in advance for typos-- I'm working on a very small window


Doreen Simmons
jz8d-smmn at asahi-net.or.jp