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As a sumo wrestler, it takes speed and precision to succeed in the ring, and to keep your fans supplied with autographs.

When sumo wrestlers want to give a memento to their supporters, they don’t just sign an autograph placard, like regular Japanese celebrities. To drive home just how massive these athletes are, a sumo wrestler’s autograph is usually accompanied by a tegata, or inked handprint.

▼ The tegata of retired sumo wrestler Terao

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But even if you’re a diehard sumo fan, you’re probably not going to show up at the arena with a big enough ink pad to cover your hero’s entire hand. Because of that, sumo wrestlers generally make their tegata in advance if they know they’re going to be in a position to hand them out.

Having attained the title of yokozuna, the highest possible rank in the sumo world, Hakuho Sho, who competes under the name Hakuho, has a larger fanbase than most other wrestlers. That, in turn, means he needs to make an extra-large batch of tegata ahead of the upcoming March Tournament, set to start on Sunday in Osaka.

Thankfully, he seems to have the production process down to a science, as shown in this video he recently tweeted.

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The Mongolian-born yokozuna taps out a steady rhythm, slapping his hand down again and again as an assisting wrestler removes the hand-printed cards from the stack one by one. On this day, Hakuho had a total of 1,500 teagata to get through, which is why his entire team of helpers numbers five, with one person bringing in blank cards, another adding them to the to-be-stamped-pile, and the final two stacking the stamped placards as they’re tossed their way.

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With the six sumo wrestlers working together in such efficient harmony, we’re sure Hakuho finished the stamping process in no time, leaving him with plenty of time to get back to training for the tournament, perhaps by polishing his “deceiving cat” technique.

Source: Japaaan
Top images: Twitter/@HakuhoSho69
Insert images: Wikipedia/Malnova, Twitter/@HakuhoSho69