Meanings
- pluralplural onlygovernmentSmall enlargements at the cardinal points of the dohyo; originally the entry and exit points.
Just outside the circle the cardinal directions are marked by four tokudawara. It is only on these that the contestant can step outside the ring and not be deemed to have lost.
2000, Tony Allan, Realm of the Rising Sun: Japanese Myth, page 511 more example
In fact, the sumo ring is not exactly round. Instead, the ring is broadened at four points by the width of a small rice bag (see fig. 1). These four rice bags placed at the cardinal points of the ring are called toku-dawara (lucky straw bags).
1976, The East, volume 12
Origin
- Japanese徳俵“special rice bale”
- Englishtoku-dawara
Borrowed from Japanese 徳俵 (tokudawara, “special rice bale”).
More words from Japanese
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
toku-dawara. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toku-dawara
“toku-dawara.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toku-dawara. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toku-dawara,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toku-dawara.
Source: toku-dawara on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.