| Description | Comb from 2025 Sumo Wrestling Tournament
There are four types of combs used for tying wrestlers' topknots which are all manufactured by Kushitome, founded in 1903. Third-generation owner Shingo Mori and his son Hideaki Mori skilfully make the combs in their home workshop.
The combs are made out of box-wood which has been air-dried for about a year, smoked in a kiln and dried in a room for three to five years. The combs are then cut from the wood. Each comb tooth is polished about 1,000 times with dried horsetail rushes.
This comb is a sukigushi comb which literally translates as "scooping comb" because the teeth are shaped like a scoop. It was used by a sumo hairdresser (tokoyama) whose job it is to style the topknots that define the appearance of every professional sumo wrestler. |