Punches fly at the temple of sumo

Villagevoice

Of all the venues at Tokyo Olympics, Ryogoku Kokugikan has a feel all its own. Known as sumo’s spiritual home, this venue for Japanese traditional wrestling has been turned into a single-ring boxing hall. As you enter, you get the vibes of entering a hallowed turf. The high, domed ceiling soars above a ring in the centre. The ring is surrounded by multi-tiered, octagonal seating space. Banner portraits of famous sumo wrestlers hang from the walls. The usual elevated dirt ring, called a dohyo, is lowered underground when the hall, which can seat more than 11,000 people, hosts other events. For now, it’s a boxing ring.

The original Kokugikan, located a few hundred meters to the south, was a circular domed structure that seated 20,000 people. The present one was built in 1985 and renovated for the Olympics. There are no normal seats in the first tier of the stadium, but fenced floor seats. The seats around the ring, called Tamari, are costliest.

In a stadium bereft of spectators, the few people gathered for the boxing event have taken the coveted Tamari seats. Just behind those is another layer of floor seating, one step higher, called Masu. This is where I kick off my shoes and settle to watch the Pooja Rani bout.

Sumo’s popularity has been on a decline in recent times. “The younger lot is not drawn that much to sumo wrestling these days,” says Kogo Shioya, a sports journalist from Tokyo. Under sumo’s Shinto tradition, women are not allowed to enter the dohyo. “That has been a major talking point in Japan.”