Sumo Wrestling at Ryogoku Kokugikan

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September 16th 2014

Published: November 9th 2014

This was one of the top three events on my agenda prior to arriving into Japan. When I thought of Sumo Wrestling, the only thing I could think of was a scene from a James Bond movie where he goes and watches one match while meeting someone. Thus, I had little idea of what to expect. It turned out to be a fairly interesting, but long day. There are some five or so Bashos (tournaments) every year a... Read Full Entry

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Doug Gschwind

Welcome to my travel blog. Thus far, I have shared a few of my recent trips, some highlights below : 1) Japan, Sep 2014. With the allure of a very foreign culture to me, non-English speaking, Hiroshima, Tokyo, Shinkansen (bullet trains), Tsukiji fish market, and Sumo wrestling, it was time for a two week break from life and traveled to Japan for the second half of September. Wow, what an amazing place, just loved every minute I spent there exploring. 2) On assignment in Berkeley, CA (Sep 2008 - Apr 2009). I explored the San Francisco Bay area in some detail during the weekends I was there ... full info

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Arriving Wrestler

Ticket Entrance

Sold Out!

Yep, from the signs on the board, your chances of getting a ticket at this stage were pretty slim. It was 16 Sep, which is the third column from the left.

Main Entryway

Life Size Cutouts

The white rope belt signifies a Basho winner

Preparing to Stomp

Upper level artwork, a photo

Concession Stand

Not yet open around 8:30am when this picture was taken

Sumo Annaijo Entrance

Lower Level Perspective

Japanese Style Seating

If you bought a ticket in this red padded area in advance, you bought the whole section, which amounts to four seats. I had a chance to score one of these seats on 15 Sep for 9500 Yen. So glad I didn't as I wouldn't have been comfortable enough to watch seated in that position for any length of time