Chankonabe - Blog Posts

Ryôgoku Kokugikan

It's sumo season in Tokyo! Though, to be fair, it's sumo season three months per year, as this arena, the Kokugikan in Ryôgoku, on the East bank of the Sumida-gawa two stops from Akihabara on the Chûô-Sôbu line, hosts half of the year's six major tournaments.

It wasn't open when I visited Tokyo, so I didn't see inside, but even then, there are apparently, and unsurprisingly, a lot of sumo-related places to visit in Ryôgoku, like Ekô-in temple... and I missed them all! Well, apart from the odd statue.

I went to Ryôgoku area without a real plan, I wandered around and found some interesting places I'll get to another time, but one thing I think I planned was to try the "lunch of champions", the classic stew for sumo wrestlers: chankonabe, or chanko for short. It was rich and copious, as you'd expect, and, as I remember, I didn't quite finish it.