Sumō is hitting the road, with exhibitions planned in London in 2025 and Paris in 2026. Journalist Nagayama Satoshi looks at the history of these overseas goodwill trips and their role in fostering understanding of Japanese culture.
Sumō Returns to London and Paris
The announcement that a sumō exhibition would be held in London in 2025 was greeted with excitement by British fans and those curious about Japan’s national sport. The demonstration, only the second since 1991, will take place at Royal Albert Hall, which, coincidentally, served as the model for the original Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, the home of sumō in Japan, built in 1909.
A sumō exhibition will also be held in Paris in 2026, marking more than 30 years since the sport last came to the City of Lights in 1995.
Kitanowaka (right) and a lower-ranked wrestler alight from a London cab in front of Royal Albert Hall in a photo taken as part of a publicity tour in December 2024 for the upcoming sumō exhibit. (© Getty Images)
The two events will be the first time in 12 years that sumō has traveled abroad since an exhibition tour in Jakarta in 2013, and the first time in 20 years since a sumō exhibited in Las Vegas that a tour is being undertaken under the banner of international friendship. In the intervening years, a number of scandals—illegal sports betting, hints of match-fixing, and so forth—have shaken the sumō world. There was also the COVID-19 pandemic, which curtailed sumō excursions abroad. At a press conference in London for the tour, Japan Sumō Association chair Hakkaku remarked that the sumō exhibition in that city will highlight Japan’s culture and he expressed his hope that audiences would wholeheartedly enjoy the spectacle.
The Stars of the 1991 London Exhibition
Grand Sumō’s previous visit to London was in 1991. At the time, Takahanada, who later rose to be yokozuna Takanohana II, had distinguished himself in the ring and sparked a sumō boom in Japan. London spectators had looked forward to seeing him but were disappointed when a bout of conjunctivitis sidelined the wrestler. The spotlight instead focused on Chiyonofuji, who had just retired from the rank of yokozuna after losing to Takahanada in the May tournament that year.
From left: Wakahanada, Akebono, and Mainoumi, rikishi who later became some of the most accomplished wrestlers in sumō, enjoy sightseeing in London after the October 1991 exhibition. (© Kyōdō)
But the rikishi attracting the most attention was the Hawaiian-born ōzeki Konishiki, all 254 kilograms of him, along with other behemoths such as Mitoizumi and fellow Hawaiian Akebono. Spectators also cheered feverishly for technique-oriented grapplers Mainoumi and Wakahanada (later yokozuna Wakanohana II), who had just won all three prizes—the shukunshō outstanding performance prize, the kantōshō fighting spirit prize, and the ginōshō technique prize—at the most recent tournament in September.
At the conclusion of the London tourney, then JSA chair Futagoyama noted with satisfaction that the wrestlers had succeeded in putting on matches in essence the same as in Japan and that they had fulfilled their roles as goodwill ambassadors.
Overseas Tours Go Back to Meiji Times
Sumō has been exhibited in London as far back as the Meiji era (1868–1912). In 1910, 35 wrestlers were dispatched to the Japan-British Exhibition, an event commemorating the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The group was from the Kyoto-based sumō association, the major sumō grouping at the time, and included yokozuna Ōikari. Following their four-and-a-half month stay in London, the tour travelled to Paris and other European cities.
The Kyoto sumō association wrestlers participating in the Japan-British Exhibition in London in 1910. (© Nagayama Satoshi)
Sumo in Paris
Sumō tournaments have been staged in Paris twice up to now, in 1986 and 1995. On the occasion of the 1986 tourney, the newspaper Le Figaro described sumō as “a sport connected with Shintō beliefs” and “not merely a physical contest,” suggesting that in France, the sport was viewed as having a spiritual aspect.
A full house takes in sumō in Paris in October 1986. (© Kyōdō)
Former President of France Jacques Chirac was a great aficionado of sumō. As mayor of Paris, he brought the sport to the city in 1986, and once again in 1995 in his capacity as French president. He felt a deep affinity for sumō and was even quoted as saying that everything he needed in life he had learned from sumō.
The two yokozuna Takanohana II (left) and Akebono meet then-French president Jacques Chirac during a visit to the Élysée Palace in October 1995. (© Kyōdō)
The 1995 Paris tournament had an unpropitious start: A warehouse at the airport caught fire the day after the wrestlers’ arrival, destroying the decorative belts and other accouterments stored there. The JSA hurriedly shipped replacements and the exhibition took place as planned, although many wrestlers were saddened that their favorite items had been lost.
The three-day tournament attracted over 10,000 spectators. Yokozuna Akebono won the round-robin competition on the first and third days and yokozuna Takanohana on the second day, setting them up for the final clash on the third day. The winner of that match was Akebono, who prevailed with a yorikiri frontal force-out.
Practice Session at the White House
The United States has also showed interest in sumō since the late nineteenth century. The great yokozuna Hitachiyama led a group of jūdōka and sumō stablemates to the country in August 1907, becoming the first rikishi to set foot there.
Wearing a flesh-colored undershirt, Hitachiyama performed a ring-entering ceremony in front of then-US president Theodore Roosevelt and went through a practice session to introduce sumō highlights. By some accounts, Hitachiyama was mistaken for a pregnant woman because of his topknot and rotund belly. Moving on to New York, Hitachiyama participated in a strength-matching contest with legendary strongman the Great Alexander.
The Great Alexander (back row, second from left) matched strengths with Hitachiyama (back row, right) in 1907 in New York. Jūdōka and rikishi who were part of the group sit in the front row. (© Nagayama Satoshi)
Incidentally, The Wide West, a western set for theatrical release in autumn 2025, tells the story of rikishi traveling in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. Former sekiwake Ichinojō appears in the film, which is based on the travels of Hitachiyama in the United States during that time.
By the 1920s, Japan was becoming increasingly militarized, and sumō tours abroad had been discontinued, except to Korea and northeastern China, which were then under Japanese occupation. Foreign tours did not resume for some time after the end of World War II.
Overseas Touring Steps Up
Sumō touring abroad picked up again after 1951 and the signing of the Treaty of San Francisco, when Japan regained its place in the international community. In the 1960s, three rikishi, accompanied by a sumō elder, visited Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago over a six-month period to introduce Japanese culture through sumō, a low-key approach that differed from the full-scale tours that take place today.
After 1958, when the current six tournaments per year format was adopted, taking sumō abroad became more common, partly as a result of the Japanese economy’s strong growth. Overseas introductions to sumō to foster goodwill, as well as commercial tournaments, became regularized and frequent.
Many prominent world figures have shown interest in sumō. Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and the late Princess Diana attended the May 1986 tournament at Tokyo’s Kokugikan. Former Beatle Paul McCartney attended November tournaments in Fukuoka in 2003 and 2013 and even publicized his album “New” with a kenshōkin prize money banner at the latter. More recently, US President Donald Trump attended a match in May 2019 with former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō and presented the US President’s Cup to winner Asanoyama on the tournament’s final day.
Paul McCartney (center) visits the Fukuoka Kokusai Center to view sumō at the November 2013 tournament. (© Nagayama Satoshi)
Top-Ranked Rikishi Fan Sumō Fever
As the October London tour approaches, two ōzeki, Ōnosato, winner of the March 2025 tournament, and Kotozakura, are rikishi whom I hope will someday rise to the top rank. Currently, only Hōshōryū is at the pinnacle of the sport.
Many Japanese are avidly following sumō now, and I hope that overseas fans will manifest similar enthusiasm. Ōnosato is most likely to perform his ring entrance ceremony in unryū style, contrasting with the showier shiranui style of Hōshōryū, both spectacles which are sure to delight foreign audiences.
Sumo’s overseas tours have been effective in introducing Japanese culture to people in many cities around the world. Rikishi, in their distinctive topknots and clad in cotton kimono have been warmly welcomed as ambassadors of Japan’s ancient sport and inheritors of this distinctive cultural aspect of Japan. They will no doubt perform their role well in London this year and in Paris in 2026.
Yokozuna Asashōryū greets fans on the last day of the tourney held at the Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles in June 2008. (© Kyōdō)
(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: In February 2025, Tochitaikai [left] and a fellow rikishi pose in front of the Eiffel Tower during a publicity tour for the Paris 2026 sumō exhibition. © AFP/Jiji.)
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