Ryōgoku Kokugikan and Sumo Museum

photo by Steve Cadman · CC BY-SA 2.0

photo by sodai gomi · CC BY 2.0

Sumo museum in the Kokugikan, since 1954: free outside tournaments, closed Sat/Sun/holidays

The museum occupies a single room on the ground floor inside the Ryōgoku arena, the same one where sumo tournaments are held three times a year (January, May, September). The display cases show, in rotation, the mawashi, the ceremonial loincloth, of former yokozuna, ukiyo-e prints of historic wrestlers and banzuke ranking boards: three exhibitions a year, so anyone who returns in another season finds different objects from their last visit.

The sumo museum opened in 1954, when the sumo association (Nihon Sumō Kyōkai) made its collection public at the old Kokugikan in Kuramae. The first arena named Kokugikan had been built in Ryōgoku itself in 1909, in the grounds of Ekō-in temple, where sumo bouts had been held since the eighteenth century; it burned down in 1917, was rebuilt twice, and in 1954 the association moved to Kuramae. In 1985 sumo returned to Ryōgoku, to the arena still in use today, and the museum followed it: it now occupies a room on the ground floor of the building.

ℹ️ 10:00–16:30, last entry 16:00 (sumo.or.jp, museum.or.jp, identical wording on both). Closed on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and over the year-end and New Year period. During the January, May and September tournaments it is open every day, but only with a tournament ticket; outside tournaments entry to the museum is free. A few minutes on foot from Ryōgoku Station (JR Sōbu and Toei Ōedo lines).

🚉 Ryogoku · 5 min walk

Sources: sumo.or.jp · sumo.or.jp · museum.or.jp · visit-sumida.jp

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