Ryogoku

Ryogoku Kokugikan is Tokyo's national sumo arena, an 11,098-seat hall in the Sumida district that has been sumo's heartland since the Edo period. The current building, opened in 1985, hosts three of Japan's six annual Grand Sumo tournaments each year, in January, May and September, and doubles as headquarters for the Japan Sumo Association. It also contains the Sumo Museum. The surrounding streets are dense with sumo stables where wrestlers train and chanko nabe restaurants serving the stew associated with the sport.

Ryogoku Kokugikan stands in Sumida ward, next to the Edo-Tokyo Museum and a short walk from Ryogoku Station. The present hall, built in 1985 with 11,098 seats, replaced an earlier Kokugikan on the grounds of Ekoin temple, where fundraising sumo bouts date back to the Edo period. It hosts the Hatsu (January), Natsu (May) and Aki (September) Grand Sumo tournaments, with box, balcony and ringside seating options. Inside, the Sumo Museum displays woodblock prints and wrestlers' ceremonial aprons, generally viewable outside tournament days. The neighborhood around the stadium remains sumo's training ground, with active heya (stables) and chanko nabe restaurants nearby, plus a Sumo Association gift shop on site.