Grand Sumo at the Ryogoku Kokugikan

I've been wanting to do something as a tourist for quite a while. And there was a leaflet advertising Sumo near the shoe-rack in my guesthouse. I finally read it and found that there are three tournaments in Tokyo a year, January, May and September. The January one ended today (Sunday 27th). All the reserve-able tickets were gone, and very expensive anyway. The alternative is turning up on the day when the box office opens (8.20am) and trying to get one of the 350 same-day unreserved tickets they sell.

So I got up at 7 yesterday and took the subway the three stops to Ryogoku. I'd been told you could see the arena from the JR Ryogoku station, and the subway station was right next to the train station. So I emerged, expecting to just walk and find it. But no such luck. What I headed for was the Edo-Tokyo Museum, which I'm sure would have been fascinating, but it wasn't what I was after.
I eventually found the place, doing that old trick of going the right way, then turning back, only to return there a few minutes later.

I joined the queue at 8.40 and was given a preliminary ticket numbered 306, so they really do sell out quickly. The ticket cost me Y2,100 (just over £10) so it's very reasonable for a whole day of Sumo.

The whole time I was queuing, there was a man beating drums on the top of this tower, which added a lot of atmosphere to the event. The street outside the stadium was adorned with colourful banners displaying names of wrestlers.
Even though I had to be there early to buy my ticket, the first preliminary bouts didn't start until 10.40 so I had time to burn. I saw on a map that Ryunosuke Akutagawa (one of my favourite Japanese authors, second only to Haruki Murakami) grew up in a house nearby, so I went to investigate. I passed a potted flower that looked suspiciously like a cauliflower, but took a photo of this statuette with wrestlers' handprints embedded instead.
It took me forever to find the place, and several trips back to look at the map, to find this plinth by the roadside. The kanji proclaims 'Ryunosuke Akutagawa lived here'.
And there's his address: Ryogoku, 3-choome, 22.
There's a note on the mailbox for his house: "A mailbox is the 'face' of your entrance. It greets happy messages with a lovely smile". I wonder what it does for bills...
Unfortunately, his old house has become a fast food restaurant. That's Westernisation for you!
Walking back, I saw this sign outside a cafe saying 'Happy Nuts Fair', advertising a type of coffee. That's the level of humour I'm used to.
I went into the grounds of the Ryogoku Kokugikan at about 10 to have a wander round before the first match of the day. Apparently the ticket gates are manned by past Sumo greats! Of course, I had no idea who I was served by! There's a shrine outside the main entrance.
As I had time to kill, I went up onto the rooftop plaza and had a look at the roof and the view.
In the main entrance hall, there is a display case at the back spanning the length of a wall. In the centre is the trophy that the winner of the tournament is presented with.


There is a Sumo museum attached to the stadium. Entrance is free and the items inside are very interesting, although it's a pretty small museum, just one room. But a very pretty room.
This is a loincloth worn by a previous yokozuna (grand champion). Who would win in a competition? A Sumo or Tarzan?

This corridor was lined with stalls selling bento boxes, unfortunately you have to pre-book them.
I queued for about half an hour to taste chanko, the traditional stew dish eaten by wrestlers. It was very nice, and only cost Y200 (£1)!
A wrestler makes his entrance through the South Gate. Most arrived on bikes - no limos here!
Once the preliminary bouts (between trainees yet to be ranked) began, I found my seat. My ticket didn't prescribe an exact seat, just a row. I was in Floor 2, Row 14, which turned out to be the highest row in the place, very far from the action! So I apologise if some of my photos and videos are a little hard to make out. I tried my best. These seats were, incidentally, the most uncomfortable. Below me there were soft red velvety ones, then on the first floor there were boxes with tables and chairs, rows of mats in little sections seating 2-4 people and then "courtside" mats, where people could actually see the wrestling up close. I wouldn't want to sit that close though, you'd get salt and Sumos thrown at you!
Around the top of the stadium (just above my head) were portraits of previous champions. They were made by adding oil paints to photographic images. Cheating if you ask me.
The stadium was very empty all morning, no one seemed very interested in the early bouts, they wanted to see the juryo and makuuchi bouts (the higher ranks).
The ring is made of mud and sand (and salt I'd imagine after all of it was thrown around!).
The preliminary bouts started.
The average match was about 10 seconds long. The shortest were about 2 seconds where one charged and the other moved, sending the charger flying into the audience. The longest one was one of the very first of the day - it lasted about 2 minutes!
The wrestlers had very specific routines they performed before the actual fight, as these two videos show.



The loser takes the walk of shame.
The next wrestlers queue up waiting for their turn.
They prepare by raising their legs and arms. They face each other and try to psych the other out by stamping and clapping.
Then they crouch and prepare to fight.
Action shot! The winner uses the old shove-and-win technique.
Two wrestlers struggle with each other. Several times it looked like they weren't even moving, just hugging each other. But I was quite far away. Even when he wasn't fighting, one Sumo was so still he looked like he was a cardboard cutout.
More and more people arrived as the day went on.
Sumo has direct links to Shinto and it retains this link by having the Shinto-style "roof" above the ring. There are four coloured tassles at each corner; red, green, black and white, representing the seasons.
The higher level wrestlers (juryo) arrive and make their entrance, standing in a circle.

The stadium started to fill up then.
A lot...
The announcer would sing the name of the team (either East (higashi) or West (nishi)) and then the name of the wrestler. They have specially trained high-pitched voices, and are ranked similarly to the Sumo wrestlers, the best last. But I still think the first one was the best.
At about 4pm, the yokozuna entered and drew spirited cheers from the crowd, stamping their feet and clapping their hands.



The flags then came down round the "roof", making it look very impressive.
The highest level wrestlers that wrestled that day were the makuuchi, who took a lot longer to actually fight! They would go through a ritual of stamping, staring at each other and throwing salt up to three times before charging. It was funny when one wrestler threw a huge handful of salt onto the ring and got a massive cheer, then lost in the first few seconds.
Salt is thrown to purify the ring before a fight. And the wrestlers stamp to scare away evil spirits, as well as each other.


They looked thrilled to be there. The score was kept using a board on either side of the stadium. Two red lights would appear on either side of two Sumo's names written in kanji, either East or West, when those two were fighting and then stay lit on the winning side afterwards. I am happy to say that my team won. Go higashi!
After the final match, a lower-ranked wrestler stepped into the ring and performed the bow-dance (yumitori-shiki).


I left at about 6pm. What a great day! It was so Japanese, and something I'd wanted to do for a long time. If you get the chance, definitely try to see a match or two, or seven hours worth, you know, whatever. There are other Grand Sumo tournaments in Osaka in March, Aichi in July, and Fukuoka in November.