Sumo in Tokyo

For our first full day in Tokyo we attended a Sumo wresting tournament at the Kokugikan Sumo Stadium.

Upon arrival to the stadium, we were greeted by these colorful flags - or Nobori.
We spotted some amateur wrestlers heading into the stadium.
And we took in all the sights.


These were the "box" seats that we reserved. They were not comfortable for people not used to sitting cross-legged on the floor (or people over 4'11")! We managed somehow.

Soon it was time for lunch. I didn't know what to expect. The only stadium food I am familiar with is the Fenway Frank, so to be given these boxes was a pleasant surprise.
I started with a cider, which tasted a little like Sprite - but not as sugary.

Our meal consisted of yakatori and pork dumplings. And a few beers for good measure. This stadium food was fantastic. I loved the tiny container of mustard and soy sauce. I had a lot of fun with my dumpling condiments!







The tournament itself was exciting! I don't know anything about sumo wresting so I did a little research beforehand. Evan bought this book, and I scrolled through it to get an idea of what to expect. There are so many rules, but it's not a very hard sport to follow.

The best thing to know is that a sumo match is won when one wrestler forces the other outside of the circle or when a body part other than the bottom of the feet touches the ground. We were there for 4-5 hours and ended up seeing some very exciting matches! Most matches were 20-45 seconds long - but they take a while to get started since each wrestler tries to intimidate their opponent before they get started.






If you are ever in Tokyo - or anywhere else in Japan - I highly recommend checking out a sumo tournament!! It was fun, exciting, and a pleasure to experience that part of Japanese culture.