Wintos
When a mascot chosen to represent Sagan Tosu, once again the team opted for the most obvious candidate -- Saga prefecture's official prefectural bird, the magpie (crow). The choice itself was a good one, since Japanese crows are huge, imposing and wickedly intelligent birds. The Japan National Team uses a similar mascot (though in the case of the Samurai Blue, it is a mythical animal called the "Yatagarasu", which has three legs, and is supposedly the servant of the Sun Goddess). Unfortunately, Tosu's efforts to design a mascot character based on the magpie did not work out as well as they did for the Samurai Blue. Perhaps one of the graphic designer had a bad dream about teenaged girls and prepubescent angst, and sketched out his imaginings on paper. In any event, the result was perhaps the most ridiculous mascot ever created.
The passing years have softened our perceptions of Wintos, and those of most Sagan supporters as well. Wintos-kun is now relatively well regarded, or at least tolerated, despite his rather silly appearance. A masked pink magpie? Good Greif! Oh, and in case you didnt catch it, his name is based on the words "Win Tosu". No subtlety there . . .
Sagan Tosu -- Team Uniforms (2001-present)
Click on the small pictures to see a larger-size image
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