Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Arena — Attraction in Tokyo

I spent six days here during the 2017 Natsu basho, and had an absolutely wonderful time.

I'm reasonably sure there are no bad seats in the house. This is a small arena by American standards. It seats about 11,000, but many of those seats are on the tightly packed floor where the audience sits on cushions Japanese-style four to a box. You would probably halve its capacity by installing all Western-style seating, as they feature in the upper level. So even in the nosebleed seats, you're not all that far away from the action. Although I never sat in the unreserved seats that are the very farthest back, I sat in both the upper level A and B sections and always had an excellent view.

Here are some hints to maximize your sumo viewing pleasure:

The action starts at 8 am with the lower division competition. If you think your tolerance for sumo will be limited, don't show up then even though it seems you'll be getting the most for your money. You'll get tired of it well before the most exciting and important bouts of the day, which take place in the upper division starting about 4 pm.

But if you do show up early, be aware that they don't bother checking tickets for the lower level seating until about 1 pm. That means you can just walk into the lower section and watch from very close-up until the real seat holders come in. The place is practically empty for lower division competition, and most of those present will only be true sumo lovers and quite knowledgeable if you have any questions. Early action may be difficult to follow though, since they only publish the bout schedule (torikumi) for the lower divisions in Japanese. Bout schedules for the upper two divisions -- Juryo and Makuuchi -- are available in English. But don't sit in on the green cushions. Those are for sumo stable supporters, and it will be very noticeable that you don't belong.

It might seem more desirable to sit up front all the time, but unless you're used to sitting Japanese style it can get very uncomfortable after about an hour. I'd recommend section A arena-style seating if you can get it.

In common with arenas everywhere in the world, you pay a premium for food and drink. But it's not as much of a premium as I've experienced at, for instance, NBA games, so it's not as bad as you might expect, and the food is actually pretty good. However, if you want beer I recommend buying cans rather than draft as it's a better value. Canned beer can be had at any stand where they also sell...

Seeing Sumo was a truly amazing experience. Getting good tickets was very hard (I stayed up for the minute they went on sale over a month ahead of time, and still ended up having to buy them from a re-sale site) and ended up being expensive, but it was so so worth it. The matches were incredible, some over in seconds, others taking over a minute. And all the ceremony was fascinating and so cool to see sport combined with ceremony and tradition. Some tips that are true of the September 2019 season (and likely future to):

-The opening time was 8am. This just means you can show up then, not that you should. There were lower ranking matches where you can sit essentially in any close seats you want in the morning and early afternoon. -Your ticket pays for the entire day and there are matches every couple minutes with only a few longer breaks. -The higher ranking matches began in the afternoon with the final match ending just before 6pm. -You only get 1 re-entry to the grounds. So consider seeing some early matches in the close seats around 10am, getting lunch around 12pm, and coming back around 2pm for high ranked matches. -Boxes are very small by American standards. So prepare to get cozy. They're also close and you can eat food at them, so I definitely recommend a box if you can afford it. -You can apparently nice order food ahead of time to pick up and eat at your seats. If you didn't order ahead though, there are still some meh bentos and beers you can buy day of. -There's a Sumo museum (only accessible once you're in with a ticket). It's tiny, but worth visiting at some point in the day to get a feel for the tradition and ceremony you are witnessing. -Watch up on Sumo ahead of time to know how it all works. Begin Japanology has a wonderful in depth look (just YouTube it).

Go see Sumo! You...

Dear tourists, i won't recommend you to buy tickets or have any contacts with tge service buysumotickets. We booked a sumo training experience in advance and had the most awful exp ever in Japan. We are used to respect in this wonderful country but this attitude ruined everything. The situation: three months before the trip to Tokyo we booked tickets to sumo training, there was only one option of tickets and the notice that children are allowed on responsibility of parents that they wont shout. We have two kids 6 y.o. and 1,5 y.o. I want to note that in most causes you don't pay for kids till 7 y.o., unless otherwise stated. This day we came on the meeting with the group to go on this occasion (we had to wake up at 6 a.m. and ride 1,5 hours on the metro). The leader of the group from the very begginnig started to behave himself rudely, at first he arqued with other family, who had a booking on this date, but he told them, that he arbitrarily changed the dates and they have to come in a week !!!!! For people, who are on holidays in Japan its a big deal (this people were from France), so this people just had to go away( they payed 200$!!).. Than he started to talk to us in a very rough way, that we payed only for two adults, more people not allowed, we had to asked about it before. That our 1,5 daughter, that was in sling is also a person and he doesnt believe that she will stay silent ( during this conversation she wanted to sleep so stayed calm). Than he started to shout on us in the presence of our children.. it was awfull situation and we just go away.... this guy is absolutly stunning and disrestpectful and he ruined my dream to visit sumo training in Japan. I dont know if i will ever go to Japan again, cause this trip was really expensive. Shame on this...