Sumo tickets Japan

Although perhaps not avid fans of full-contact wrestling, we were determined to view a sumo match during our first visit to Japan. There were no tournaments that thirty days therefore we took an extremely early train ride into a non-touristy part of Tokyo to view the wrestlers practice at a sumo stable. As luck will have it, training was canceled that time. Thankfully, our final day at Tokyo was during a Sumo Grand Tournament therefore we eventually had a chance to see Japan’s nationwide sport.

If you're contemplating checking out a sumo competition in Tokyo, Japan, below are a few tips to ensure an excellent experience:

1) always see Japan in the correct time.

Expert sumo tournaments take place in Japan six times each year, as soon as in every odd-numbered month. Each event starts and finishes on a Sunday and continues 15 times. The tournaments are held below: Tokyo (January, May and September), Osaka (March), Nagoya (July) and Fukuoka (November). The Japan Sumo Association official website lists the dates of upcoming tournaments in 2016, 2017 and 2018. If you are maybe not in Japan during a grand sumo tournament, consider attending an open amateur sumo competition or checking out a sumo stable to look at the wrestlers (rikishi) practice.

2) Purchase seats early, specifically for week-end suits.

We purchased our passes 10 times before our weekend in Tokyo along with a difficult time finding passes. Saturday was entirely sold out and although several solitary chairs had been on Sunday, none had been on first-floor. Tickets carry on purchase around 30 days prior to the first day of competitors, if you understand your routine there is absolutely no reason to wait. Here is the connect to the competition and purchase dates in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

You could possibly find general entry seats from the morning of this day you want to attend however, when you yourself have specific chairs at heart or you wish to attend a week-end match, it's always best to buy seats ahead of time.

3) Reserve seats on the web from abroad.

Tickets for the tournament in Tokyo may be purchased online using a credit card from the official website. You will receive an email confirmation of your transaction. The email states that your tickets will be available for pick-up at the stadium. The email also states that you must bring the credit card you used to purchase the tickets. Take this seriously. You must scan that credit card in a self-service ticket machine located outside the stadium to receive your tickets. We had a brief moment of panic as we forgot which card we used and had to try a few before the machine finally recognized our reservation.

If you would like to sit right in front of first floor although not cross-legged, you could think about purchasing a package chair and utilizing it for only one or two people. We can not remain cross legged for that several hours so that is what we might do whenever we ever before attend another sumo tournament. If you wish to sit in a chair, but nevertheless be regarding first floor, there are some 4 person boxes with chairs and a table at the very back of first-floor.

By the time we purchased our seats, just seat seating had been offered. Our assigned seating had been from the second row, section B. We arrived early to your arena and were able to sit-in the very first line regarding the second-floor overlooking the balcony. The ushers were checking tickets for entry into the first floor but not the 2nd flooring. When within your assigned floor, you'll be able to stay everywhere you need before the real seatholder appears.

5) many people show up around 2-4 pm.

Although there tend to be sumo suits from 8am to 6pm, most people show up in order to watch the top-division sumo wrestlers. Each day associated with the event begins with reduced unit wrestlers and accumulates towards top division since the time continues.

This is certainly a normal routine of activities that could be useful in determining just what time and energy to arrive:

8:00 was: The arena opens.
8:30 have always been: The lowest division matches begin. In the event that you reach now (or anytime before 2ish), you can watch the reduced division rikishi and to use a prime seat.
2:20 PM: Juryo entry ceremony. Wrestlers at this ranking and overhead are considered full-fledged specialists.
2:40 PM: Juryo suits begin.
3:45 PM: Makuuchi (top division) band entering ceremony.
4:15 PM: Makuuchi suits begin.
6:00 PM: competitors concludes, Bow-twirling ceremony.

Ring entrance service

6) if you're unhappy because of the seats you purchased, appear early.

As stated, ushers were checking seats for first floor but nobody monitors to ensure that you tend to be sitting in your designated seat. It is possible to go on to an improved seat before actual seatholder turns up. At that point, only politely apologize and move. While not as easy, we had been also able to enter the first-floor. During your bathroom break, we noticed an usher had temporarily kept his post and took the chance to try the container chairs. Since we surely got to the stadium early and managed to sneak into the first floor, we had been able to view the matches from many sides. Inside our viewpoint, best seating for a great view and good photos had been the box seats from the 1st flooring (especially in area A towards the leading) additionally the seat chairs in the internal end of the first line on the 2nd flooring chaired part A. in a few ways initial row for the second-floor had been better as there is no one walking prior to you to arrive at their chairs. once we had been sitting regarding first-floor, pictures had been extremely hard after 2:30 p.m. with everyone else online streaming past. As the stadium filled up for the top division wrestlers we made our way back to the second floor and found two random seats together. We got the effect that individuals usually only sit anywhere regarding the second floor.

7) The arena, Ryogoku Kokugikan, is very easily obtainable by general public transportation.

The stadium in Tokyo is found next to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, about a five minute walk from metro section. Eating and drinking is allowed and meals is available for sale at reasonable costs. You may leave and re-enter the stadium once if you wish to just take some slack or consume at a place restaurant rather.

8) The ceremonies between matches tend to be longer than the wrestling.

Each match is preceded by an elaborate ceremonial ritual concerning singing, salt-tossing and base stomping. The ceremonies tend to be much longer for top division wrestlers. We brought some reading product along once we read that it can get quite repetitive after a while but performedn’t realize that to be the way it is for all of us. Needless to say, we performed move seating several times so it ended up being interesting only seeing things from a different direction. The specific match often persists only a few moments.

Below are a few photographs we took of sumo wrestlers preparing to battle:

We in addition took a 3-minute movie of a match between reduced placed rikishi from start to finish:

9) not all the professional sumo wrestlers tend to be Japanese.

Unsure whenever we had been most surprised that some wrestlers had been trim and toned or by the range Western sumo wrestlers contending! We researched “foreign sumo wrestlers” as soon as we got house and discovered from last Japanese champion was at 2006.

If you are ever before in Japan during a grand sumo event, we recommend you check one out. Has others gone to a sumo competition if therefore do you relish it?

Shopping for other enjoyable activities to do in Tokyo, Japan? Consider visiting a bunny cafe or taking a train to Jigokudani to start to see the snow monkeys.
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