Mawashi

A series of stiffened silk fronds of matching colour called sagari (下がり) are inserted into the front of the mawashi.

For senior sekitori in the top two divisions, this belt is coloured white, and it is worn with one end distinctively looped at the front.

Rikishi ranked in the lower professional divisions wear a black cotton mawashi both for training and in competition.

Amateur sumo wrestlers wear a cotton mawashi of any color without the looping accorded to the senior professional's training garb.

He may wear it loosely to make it more difficult to be thrown, or he may wrap it tightly and splash a little water on it to help prevent his opponent from getting a good grip on it.

[4] However, for most of sumo's history, whether or not a wrestler's mawashi came off during a bout was considered irrelevant, and the policy of disqualification only came into place when Japan began adopting European attitudes towards nudity.

[5] Yokozuna have matching sets of three keshō-mawashi, with two being worn by his wrestler "assistants" (his tachimochi and tsuyuharai) during his ring entrance ceremony.