Tokyo Olympics: Village voices – Punches fly at the temple of sumo

Of all the venues at the Tokyo Olympics, Ryogoku Kokugikan has a different feel. Known as sumo’s spiritual home in East Tokyo, it’s a venue for Japanese traditional wrestling that has been turned into a single-ring boxing hall. As you enter, you get the vibes of entering a hallowed turf. Three Grand Sumo tournaments are held here.

The arena with a capacity of 11,098 houses a sumo museum. When the Kokugikan is used for events other than sumo – like professional wrestling, concerts, etc., the entire dohyo ring is lowered underground. Now the boxing ring has taken its place.

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At the original Kokugikan, located a few hundred meters to the south, a circular domed structure seated 20,000 people. It was damaged during World War II and later made into a Memorial Hall. The present one was built in 1985. It was renovated for the boxing event of Tokyo Olympics.

Inside, large portraits of sumo wrestlers are hung from the wall. There are no normal seats in the first tier of the stadium, but Tamari and Masu seats – fenced floor seats that offer you the comfort of leaving your shoes and sitting cross-legged – have enough space to enjoy matches. Tamari seats are the costliest and closer to action and in a sumo season it is difficult to obtain them unless you get it from a sumo sponsor or know the right people. You can get a ticket on the day of the match if you reach early enough and count on your luck. You also have food served for these sittings.

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In the empty stadium, there are media persons, photographers and some contingent members filling up some of these seats, enjoying boxing matches in sumo style. I took one of the Masu seats to watch Pooja Rani’s first bout. The instruction is pasted on each of the seats, ‘please remove your shoes’.

Sumo’s popularity has been on a decline in recent times and the sport has also got into controversy for its gender-biased tradition. “The younger lot is not drawn that much to sumo wrestling these days,” says Kogo Shioya, a sports journalist.

Under sumo’s Shinto tradition, women are not allowed to enter the elevated dirt ring, or dohyo. It has often sparked controversy. “That has been a major talking point in Japan, though in season you can still see the Kokugikan full during sumo matches. The atmosphere is great.”