Ryogoku: While you're in the area

The Hatsu Basho takes place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Sumida, a historic neighborhood with good food and a handful of alternative attractions. Here's how to make a day of it.

Get your sumo on
The Tokyo Sumo Museum has been in its current location for a quarter of a century, though the exhibitions it houses date back several hundred years. Expect to see costumes, amulets, trophies, score cards and plenty of other things bound to delight fans of the world's most famous sport for obese people. Possibly of more interest are the sumo stables littered throughout the local neighbourhood, which hold daily training sessions from daybreak to around 11am, which passersby are able to observe - a genuine chance to get up close and personal with one of the aforementioned obese people.
Tokyo Sumo Museum location and details

Take your sumo off again
If you're all sumo-ed out, the Edo-Tokyo Museum is close enough to kill a few hours. This large museum’s outlandish architectural style may not appeal to everyone, but the building houses the city’s best collection of displays dealing with the history of Tokyo. Highlights include large-scale reconstructions of Nihonbashi bridge and a kabuki theatre, as well as detailed models of quarters of the city at different eras. Exhibits outline lifestyles and show how disasters, natural and man-made, altered the city’s landscape. Importantly for tourists, the English labelling is good. The 400-year-old Kyu Yasuda Teien is nearby, a pleasant little garden that makes an ideal spot for a picnic, weather permitting.
Edo-Tokyo Museum location and details

Eat & drink
There are plenty of restaurants around Ryogoku Station serving chanko nabe, the traditional high-calorie hotpot said to give sumo wrestlers their, er, figure, but Chanko Kirishima is recognised for its understated style (samurai armour notwithstanding) and sense of history; the owners are former wrestlers themselves. It's popularity makes it a crowded destination, but book ahead and prepare yourself for a meal fit for a very fat man indeed.
Chanko Kirishima location and details

Back to Tokyo sumo tournament: the Hatsu Basho in brief