Sumo fans, can you help me add more sumo stuff to my itinerary?
I’m incredibly fortunate to be in a position where I will be spending approximately 165 days travelling all over Japan in 2026-7 (not all in one go). I’m hoping that fellow sumo fans may be able to recommend places to go and things to see that a huge sumo fan might get a kick out of.
I am hoping to attend at least one day each of the September, November, January and March bashos and perhaps a jungyo event or two in between. I also have all of the sumo stables on my Google map.
These could be little things. E.g. Restaurants run by retired rikishi, places where we can buy sumo related souvenirs, statues of rikishi, museums that have sumo-related items etc. Anywhere in Japan is possible, as we’ll be travelling pretty extensively. If anyone has any tips for places where I might find sumo gachapon (besides the Kokugikan) that would also be greatly appreciated.
I’ll start by sharing some of the things I’ve enjoyed:
The Yokozuna and Ozeki memorials at Tomioka Hachimangu
Takahashi, a cool little shop in Ryogoku selling all kinds of sumo trinkets
Toshida- Also in Ryogoku. This shop sells Japanese sweets and snacks with sumo themes. The ones I bought were adorable and delicious.
Ryogoku station and the surrounding area has a lot of sumo-related stuff to see and buy.
Kidonanzoinmae station in Fukuoka prefecture has a kesho mawashi worn by Hakuho on display. It’s worth checking out if you’re visiting the temple anyway.
Kanazawa station also has a display of cardboard cut outs of sekitori from Ishikawa prefecture. When we were there last that was Onosato, Oshoumi and Kagayaki. Not sure if they’ve put Enho back up again, but he should be going back on display too.
There’s a bar not far from Skytree called Maru Shikaku that has a load of sumo memorabilia and rikishi themed cocktails. The hachiyamamoto was delicious!