We Went To Japan’s Grand Sumo Tournament… and THIS Happened

We Went To Japan’s Grand Sumo Tournament… and THIS Happened

Whoa, they’re throwing them. What do you guys eat? So, we just met real life sumos at 4 today. Okay, today we are at the Grand Sumo Tournament, an event that only happens a handful of times a year. We’re currently outside the IG Arena in the city of Nagoya. Sumo greats are going to battle each other out. So, yeah, we’re going to make our way in now. It’s extremely bright out here. It’s really sunny and it’s a very hot day. So, we’re going to get inside the nice air conditioned stadium. Tickets. It’s got a free guide book. This guy book looks so cool. Look at the design on that. And then I’ve been given this like looks very old school looking, black and white. It’s got the lineup of all the uh all the fights that are going on. Senior division, intermediate division, another one here, and then another intermediate division. I have no idea the format of it, how it works, but I just know it’s the lower bouts first, and then it’s the actual higher uh bouts later on in the day. We’re now stepping into the arena. Can’t wait. Oh, wow. That is insane. That’s so cool. Found our seats. A bad little spot for the day. It’s very quiet at the moment. There’s not many people here as it’s earlier on in the day. These are the lower bouts. So, as the day goes on, the busier it will get. The ring, the dojo, as it’s known, is a clay structure. It’s handmade and straw bales that go around the outside. Um, the bounce only lasts like 5 10 seconds maximum. It’s very quick, explosive, and yeah, it’s just the idea to push the opponent out of the ring or for the opponent to fall down. If you push the opponent down, then you’ve won. But before each fight, they do this like singing ritual. Uh this guy here in the yellow, every between every single fight, he does this little thing. So the actual stadium itself is pretty big. It’s 17,000 in capacity. You’ve got different sections here. So you’ve got like the seating area, then you’ve got ones there as a section of four where you sort of sit cross-legged, and obviously you got the ones right in front of the arena. We’ve gone for the ones just here, the actual seating ones, which are still a good view cuz you get like an overlooking view of everything. Yeah, it’s absolutely insane. Supposedly later on the atmosphere is going to get a lot more intense. There’s going to be people shouting and screaming for their favorite fighters. Right, I think we’re now making our way into the sort of medium level bouts or what I can assume that it is because it’s very difficult to tell um because everything’s sort of in Japanese, the announcements and everything. But yeah, I think throughout the day the sort of standards get better and better and the uh the crowds are noticeably getting a lot lot bigger. Um it’s a lot busier here now. Starting to get a bit more noisy and I think by the end of the day it’ll be probably packed. It’s sold out today anyway. So should be. But yeah, as you can see it’s a lot busier than earlier. Um we’re approaching 2:00 now anyway. So the actual event ends at around 6:00. So yeah, more and more people are getting in and it’s getting a lot more busier and hopefully the atmosphere will get much much better which would be cool. So I think they’re commencing the start of the intermediate division. So all the fighters walk out and they form like a circle and face the crowd. It’s pretty cool. So yeah, now we’ve got like a whole list of uh the intermediate fights are up next. I feel a bit cheap doing this, but I am on a serious budget. Apparently the war in Japan is very safe everywhere. So So I’ve been told anyway. was chilling. You know the movie. Where where um where are you from in Japan? Oko. Okaido. Hokkaido. Osaka. Oh, Yokohama. Yokohama. Oh, is that near Tokyo? Yokohama. Tokyo. Ninja. What do you guys eat? What do you eat? You like uh ramen? Chunk cho. Oh, is that got sumo food? Sumo food. Oh, sumo food. Small soup. Soup. Soup. Soup. Soup. Oh, nice. How many calories? Japanese guys. Right. Let’s ask him this. How many? Which one? This one. How many calories do you need in a day? Many. One million. One million. Million. A million calories. Wow. A million calories. 1 million. Sounds a lot. I mean, maybe. Maybe. I can’t believe it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Phoenix. Thank you. Good luck on your next Yeah. Good luck, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. So, we just met real life sumos that fought today. Did they win? No, they lost. They lost, unfortunately. But very cool to meet him in person. They are big boys. And uh the food they eat is actually here. I think they eat some sumo soup, which you can actually purchase here. So maybe uh maybe we could try some sumo soup. I don’t know. I reckon it’s quite a big portion to be honest. 1 million calories they said, which I I think I might have been lost in translation. What’s that? Probably not quite 1 million, but it probably is quite a lot of calories. I’ve now purchased myself some lemon drink. It’s about 7% alcohol- wise. Let’s give it a little taste. It kind of tastes like gin. I think it might be gin. Thank you. That was a good one. Okay, so they’re now bringing out the Mikui, which is like the pinnacle of sumo wrestling. These are the the top of the top, the best of the best in sumo wrestling. It’s the senior division. They’re now bringing out a load of them to do their sort of ritual before the actual fights. They come onto the arena and then make themselves in a sort of circular formation. Super cool. Not quite sure what we’re recording, but there’s lots of cheers here. We’re doing some sort of pre-fight ritual. Yeah, see if we can do this. Okay, so it’s moments just before the first senior division matchup that we’ve got here. The crowd has certainly picked up since the the lower division matches earlier on in the day. Many people screaming on their their favorite fighter. Here we go. Wow. Wow. That was very quick. That was over in a matter of seconds. That was intense. Wow. Cool, son. What? Oh. Oh, that’s probably the longest fight we’ve seen today. Well, I think they’ve got a fan favorite up next. The crowd are cheering for him. This might be Ura. He’s won six and lost three his last fights. The crowd’s going mad. Oh, they’re throwing their cushions into the arena. Insane. Absolute savings. Limbs. Absolute limbs. Oh, he’s been He’s been given a long sort of thing some sort of don’t know what it is. And he’s now performing some uh twisting it. Swizzling. I’m not quite sure. Oh, it’s quite impressive though. Super cool. What an experience. Still doing it. Everyone’s going. Yeah, that is a wrap. What a lovely day. It’s 11 minutes. Yeah, we’ve had a long old day. It’s a great experience. Recommend it. I didn’t know anything about it, but I now feel it’s exciting though, isn’t it? just blast into action and it’s over in 20 seconds literally. Yeah. So explosive. I think it’s cuz it’s so short. Just over, you know, 10 20 seconds. Yeah. It’s an easy watch and they all the rules are easy to understand. They all come up so quick. One after another after another. Yeah. Yeah. There’s not much breaks in between. Um especially in the lower bouts, it’s just in and out. Yeah. Cushions in the air at the end. Absolute scenes. It’s just cool as well cuz you’re in Japan and it’s quite the culture. Yeah. Yeah. Traditional. Been doing the sport for 1,500 years. So, there’s a lot of history behind it as well. Absolutely incredible. That was absolutely wild, guys. Seeing sumos in person. Um, just to see it firsthand. You know, it’s a big part of Japanese culture. It’s a very traditional sport and uh we’re very lucky to see that firsthand. Uh couldn’t actually film a lot when I came out. Want to do the outro then, but it was just very busy. Obviously, there’s lots of people in the stadium. It was completely packed. There was about 17,000 people and uh as you can imagine, it was very busy. But yeah, guys, it was such a good experience. We’re so lucky to have actually experienced it. Just an absolute great display of strength. Um so cool to see it. Like just felt surreal. But yeah, guys, we’re going to be posting a lot more videos in Japan, so follow along. And if you haven’t subscribed already, please can you subscribe? That’d be very good. Comment, like, and we’ll see you on the next

🎌 We Went to the Grand Sumo Tournament in Nagoya, Japan! 🏯

Sumo wrestling in Japan is unlike anything else — a powerful mix of tradition, ceremony, and raw strength. We spent a full day at the Grand Sumo Tournament in Nagoya, and it was one of the most unforgettable experiences of our trip so far.

From the opening rituals to the final, jaw-dropping bout (seriously — the crowd exploded), we were blown away by the energy and passion that sumo still holds in Japanese culture. We even got the chance to chat with real sumo wrestlers, which made the day even more special.

This ancient sport is more than just wrestling — it’s full of deep respect, rituals, and history that still thrive in modern Japan. Come along as we show you what a full day at a real sumo tournament is like — from the atmosphere to the action!
⸻

👍 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more real Japan experiences!

#travelvlog #Japan #sumo