Friday, 29 March 2024


Before . . . . . . . . . After

Yuto-kun

Yuto-kun, Thespa Kusatsu's mascot began life as just a kid playing football, as you can see from the original mascot, above. In keeping with the theme of the hot spring resort where Thespa got its start, the name "Yuto" is derived from two words that both refer to hot water ("Yu" and "Toh"). The original design was clearly an amateurish job, and it is no surprise that his image was refurbished after the team joined the J.League. However, it was not until lhe late '00s that the club began to describe Yuto as a "lion boy" (based on the lion-dog (shishi) image that also appears on its team crest and other design features of the team). Since Ryukyu FC already has a Lion-dog as its mascot, Yuto-kun probably will never be redesigned to look quite like the lion-dog on the team emblem. However, he has undergone a metamorphosis that makes him look less like a boy, and sort of half-devil (oni) half-lion.


Thespa Kusatsu -- Team Uniforms (2005-present)

Click on the small pictures to see a larger-size image

2005 (H) 2005 (A) 2006-07 (H) 2006-07 (A) 2008 (H) 2008 (A)
2009 (H) 2009 (A) 2010 (H) 2010 (A) 2011 (H) 2011 (A)
2012 (H) 2012 (A) 2013 (H) 2013 (A) 2014 (H) 2014 (A)
2015 (H) 2015 (A) 2016 (H) 2016 (A) 2017 (H) 2017 (A)
2018 (H) 2018 (A) 2019 (H) 2019 (A) 2020 (H) 2020 (A)
2021 (H) 2021 (A) 2022 (H) 2022 (A) 2023 (H) 2023 (A)