My Asakusa Sumo Experience: Is It Worth Booking?

One thing I really wanted to see in Japan? Large nappy-clad men throwing salt at each other. 

Obviously.

Unfortunately, our dates in Tokyo didn’t coincide with a Grand Sumo tournament. But rather than accept that sumo wasn’t happening on this particular trip, I started looking at what else we could do.

That’s how we ended up booking the Asakusa Sumo Club Annex.

Our Asakusa sumo experience involved retired professional wrestlers, unlimited food, Japanese culture, plenty of audience participation and eventually, tourists voluntarily attempting to wrestle men considerably larger than them.

We weren’t really sure what to expect.

What we got was two hours of laughing, eating and learning a surprising amount about sumo without ever feeling like we were being taught anything.

Was it touristy?

Absolutely.

Did I care?

Not even slightly.

It ended up being one of the most fun evenings we had in Tokyo.

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What is the Asakusa Sumo Club Annex?

The Asakusa Sumo Club offers an interactive dinner show designed to introduce visitors to the world of sumo without needing to attend an actual professional tournament.

The show lasts around two hours and combines retired professional sumo wrestlers, a traditional Japanese dance, sumo demonstrations, plenty of audience interaction and a surprisingly good dinner.

What I liked was that we learnt loads about sumo without the evening ever feeling like a cultural lesson.

It’s difficult for something to feel too serious when two large men are pretending to pull each other’s underwear off.

I’d recommend booking at least a couple of weeks in advance if you want a specific date and time.

We left ours slightly too late for it to slot perfectly into our 5 days in Tokyo itinerary. Ideally, I’d book the show for the same day you’re exploring Asakusa. We didn’t manage that. We made it work.

Arriving at Asakusa Sumo Club Annex

The venue was pretty easy to find using Google Maps. We arrived early, were greeted enthusiastically and then had to make our way around the sumo ring dominating the centre of the room to reach our seats.

Despite booking the cheapest standard seats, our view was absolutely fine.

We were on a bench on the back row, with the business-class seats directly in front of us on comfy sofas.

The first-class seats were right at the front on plush red leather sofas.

Were they nicer?

Yes.

Did I spend the evening wishing I’d paid more for one?

No.

The venue is relatively small, so even from the back it feels intimate and you’re not particularly far from the action.

Unless having a plush red sofa with a glass of fizz as you walk in is very important to you, I’d happily book the standard seats again.

Dinner at Asakusa Sumo Club Annex

I’d deliberately booked the 6pm show because if someone is going to offer me dinner and entertainment simultaneously, I’m going to let them.

I was slightly sceptical about the food beforehand.

The standard meal is centred around chanko nabe, a traditional hot pot associated with sumo wrestlers, and everything I’d seen looked pretty meat-heavy.

As a vegetarian, naturally, my expectations weren’t particularly high.

I was expecting them to remove the chicken and hand me a bowl of bland broth.

I was very wrong.

You need to tell the venue about any dietary requirements in advance so they can prepare an alternative.

My vegetarian hot pot was genuinely delicious.

Chanko nabe is traditionally associated with sumo wrestlers, so eating it here obviously makes sense. Even better, the version served at Asakusa Sumo Club Annex is prepared by a former sumo stable chef.

More importantly for me, the vegetarian version didn’t feel like they’d simply removed the meat and hoped for the best.

Alongside the hot pot, I had a huge bowl of juicy edamame, inari sushi, French fries and a cupcake.

An eclectic combination.

I wasn’t complaining.

They skipped the chicken karaage for me, and you can order additional food directly to your table using a QR code.

Because the menu is all you can eat, this became dangerous remarkably quickly.

Honestly, I could have eaten the edamame and inari all night – and I kind of did.

Guests who pay for the more expensive seating packages get additional extras, which can include alcoholic drinks and a wagyu beef dish.

Our standard ticket included one complimentary drink and I didn’t feel like we were missing out.

By the time the entertainment properly started, my appetite was more than satiated.

Time for the sumos.

What happens at the Asakusa sumo experience?

Once everyone had eaten, our compere took over.

She was brilliant at getting a room full of complete strangers involved without making the whole thing feel painfully awkward – something I personally appreciate when the words “audience participation” are involved.

Before the wrestlers appeared, she gave us enough background about sumo to understand what we were about to watch.

And then things got much louder.

Watch a traditional Japanese dance

The evening started with a traditional Japanese dance performed by a geisha.

It was probably the only point during the entire show when the room was completely silent.

It was a lovely, calm introduction to the evening.

Things become considerably less calm afterwards.

Meet the sumo wrestlers

Next, the wrestlers arrived and suddenly we weren’t neutral spectators anymore.

Half the room was assigned one wrestler and the other half got his opponent.

It was giving sumo meets pantomime vibes.

Within minutes, perfectly normal adults were enthusiastically cheering for a man they’d only just met and booing the other side of the room.

Naturally, we joined in.

It was a lot of fun.

We also learnt a few Japanese words to shout at appropriate moments, including yoisho during the ceremonial stomping and ganbare, meaning something along the lines of “keep going”.

By the time the actual bouts started, everyone was far more invested than I think any of us had expected.

Learn how sumo actually works

Before this experience, my knowledge of sumo was approximately:

Big men.

Nappies.

Pushing each other.

It turns out there’s considerably more to it than that.

The wrestlers demonstrate their training routines, techniques and some of the rules of the professional sport.

Then they show us what happens when those rules are very deliberately ignored.

And this is where the comedy really starts.

The retired professional wrestlers have brilliant timing and mannerisms, and somehow the show manages to teach you how sumo works while you’re busy laughing at them.

Watch the wrestlers fight

After the demonstrations, there was a three-round match between the two wrestlers.

There is a comedy element to the evening, but don’t assume that means they’re pretending to wrestle.

When these guys actually grapple with each other, they’re definitely not playing around.

Having spent the previous part of the evening being encouraged to support our assigned wrestler, the entire room was suddenly extremely invested in the outcome.

Again, pantomime vibes.

Things about sumo that surprised me

Considering my sumo knowledge before this evening extended little further than “large men push each other around a ring”, I came away knowing considerably more than I arrived with.

There’s a lot happening before the wrestling even starts

One of the biggest surprises was how much ceremony surrounds an actual bout.

The salt throwing isn’t just for dramatic effect. It’s a purification ritual, and the wrestlers perform a series of movements before they even attempt to launch each other out of the ring.

Then there’s shikiri: the psychological stand-off before a fight begins.

There’s staring.

There’s crouching.

There’s intimidation.

And absolutely nobody appears to be in a hurry.

The bout itself only begins once both wrestlers have both fists down.

There are more rules than ‘push the other guy over‘

This was roughly what I thought sumo involved.

I was wrong.

Hair-pulling, eye-gouging and punching are all prohibited, although slapping is apparently fair game.

And that thing they’re wearing?

It’s not a nappy.

Common misconception.

It’s called a mawashi.

There are even rules about where you’re allowed to grab that.

Turns out ‘two men trying to push each other out of a circle’ is far more complicated than it looks.

The rituals have some wonderfully strange explanations

We also learnt about chiri-o-kiru, a gesture traditionally used to show that the wrestler isn’t carrying a concealed weapon.

Given the limited amount of clothing involved, this raised an obvious question.

I kept it to myself.

Mostly.

Most sumo wrestlers aren’t earning a salary

One of the things that surprised us most was learning how different the professional hierarchy is from sports such as football.

Only wrestlers who reach the upper professional divisions receive a regular salary.

For everyone else, sumo is a much less lucrative career than you might assume from watching the major tournaments.

Asakusa sumo show review: is it actually funny?

Very.

Although I’ll warn you now: some of it is a tad cringey.

This isn’t a serious cultural lesson where everybody sits quietly contemplating hundreds of years of Japanese tradition.

The wrestlers are performers as much as athletes during the show.

At one point they’ll be explaining the rituals of sumo.

At another they’ll be pretending to pull each other’s mawashi off.

But that’s why it works.

The show is light-hearted without making the actual sport feel like a joke.

It’s also interactive without being painfully forced.

Everyone gets behind their assigned wrestler, the compere keeps the room involved and the whole thing is extremely well paced.

It lasted around two hours.

But it felt much shorter.

The best part: fighting a sumo wrestler yourself

The absolute highlight came towards the end.

Members of the audience were invited into the ring to fight one of the sumo wrestlers.

Around ten people get the opportunity, with participants selected from both sides of the room. If too many people volunteer, lots are drawn.

Neither of us was brave enough. Or stupid enough. Depending on how you look at it.

Watching everyone else was pure entertainment.

Especially the children.

Tiny kids were throwing themselves at these enormous wrestlers as though the considerable size difference had simply escaped their attention.

The wrestlers were brilliant with them, dramatically stumbling backwards and letting them think they were winning.

It was hilarious and surprisingly lovely at the same time.

If you’re braver than we were, volunteer.

You’ll probably remember that long after you’ve forgotten what you ate for dinner.

What to expect at the Asakusa Sumo Club Annex

The whole Asakusa Sumo Club experience lasts around two hours.

That includes:

• An introduction to the history and traditions of sumo
• A traditional Japanese dance
• Training and technique demonstrations from retired professional sumo wrestlers
• An explanation of sumo rules and rituals
• Sumo bouts
• A Q&A with the wrestlers
• Audience participation
• An all-you-can-eat Japanese meal
• Photo opportunities with the wrestlers
• A commemorative printed photo
• A souvenir goodie bag

Two hours might sound like a long time, but the show moves incredibly quickly because something is always happening.

Which seats should you book?

We booked the standard seats, which were the cheapest option available.

They were great. I’d book them again.

The venue isn’t huge, so we could see everything perfectly well from our bench on the back row.

The more expensive business and first-class seats put you closer to the ring and come with more comfortable seating and, depending on the package, additional food and drinks.

If you want to be right in the middle of the action, upgrade.

If you just want to experience the show and don’t care whether your bum is sitting on plush red leather, standard is perfectly adequate.

I’d rather spend the difference elsewhere in Tokyo.

Is dinner at Asakusa Sumo Club good for vegetarians?

Based on my experience, yes.

But tell them in advance if you don’t eat meat.

I’d been worried that my vegetarian meal would feel like an afterthought compared with everyone else’s chicken-based chanko nabe.

It didn’t.

I had a proper vegan hot pot as well as edamame, inari sushi, French fries and a cupcake (vegetarian), and because the meal is unlimited I could order more of the things I particularly liked.

Which I did.

Repeatedly.

If you’re vegetarian, vegan or have another dietary requirement, I’d still contact them before booking if you’re concerned about exactly what they can accommodate.

But as a vegetarian, I left very well fed.

Is Asakusa Sumo Club touristy?

Completely.

Everyone in the room during our show appeared to be a tourist.

But I don’t think that’s the negative some people assume it is.

Of course tourists are the people most likely to want a two-hour introduction to the history, traditions and rules of sumo.

That’s exactly who the experience has been created for.

This isn’t a substitute for attending a Grand Sumo tournament.

If your trip coincides with tournament season and watching professional sumo is important to you, I’d look into tickets for the real thing.

But if your dates don’t work, like ours didn’t, or you want something more accessible, interactive and entertaining, the Asakusa Sumo Club does a very good job of introducing you to the sport.

Just go knowing what you’re booking.

It’s a dinner show.

It’s theatrical.

It’s deliberately funny.

And that’s precisely why we enjoyed it.

My Asakusa Sumo Club review: is it worth it?

Absolutely.

This was hands-down one of the most fun evenings we had in Tokyo.

We arrived not really knowing what to expect because there wasn’t loads of information online and we deliberately hadn’t sought out lots of reviews.

We wanted to be surprised.

We were.

What I hadn’t expected was how funny the evening would be.

We laughed throughout most of the show, learnt significantly more about sumo than I expected and ate far better than I’d anticipated as a vegetarian.

There are so many things to do in Tokyo, but I particularly liked that this gave us something completely different from temples, observation decks and wandering around the city.

Temples are wonderful.

Observation decks are wonderful.

Neon streets are wonderful.

But after several days of sightseeing, sitting down with unlimited food while two retired professional sumo wrestlers entertained us for a couple of hours was very welcome.

If you’re looking for an evening in Tokyo that’s entertaining, slightly ridiculous and genuinely memorable, I’d book it again without hesitation.

How to book the Asakusa Sumo Club Annex

We booked our Asakusa Sumo Club Annex experience online in advance.

Our standard tickets cost around £75 per person and included sumo entertainment, chanko-nabe dinner, one complimentary soft drink, traditional dance performance, commemorative printed photo and souvenir goodie bag.

I think it was well worth the price.

LUXURY SUMO SHOW OVERVIEW

SUMO SHOW EXPERIENCE

Duration: 2 hours
Time: Various times throughout the day
Booking: Advance booking strongly recommended
Highlights: Learn the rules of sumo, eat a traditional wrestler’s hotpot dinner, watch live demonstrations, chance to get in the ring and try out the sport for yourself, meet a geisha
Rating: 4.7 stars (check 900+ reviews here)
Price: Check price here!

BOOK THE EXPERIENCE NOW

I’d recommend booking at least two weeks ahead if you’re visiting during a busy period or need a particular show time.

Our show was sold out that day.

If you’re planning a longer trip around Japan, you can see exactly how we fitted Tokyo into our 10 day Japan itinerary. 

For the sumo show itself, I’d learn from our mistake and book it for the same day you’re already exploring Asakusa.

Senso-ji, Nakamise Shopping Street and the surrounding area can easily fill the earlier part of your day before finishing with the 6pm sumo show and dinner.

Much more sensible than travelling across Tokyo again because you left booking it slightly too late.

Not that we’d know anything about that.

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Read more about planning a trip to Japan:

• 10 Days in Japan in July for First-Time Visitors
• 5 Days in Tokyo: A First-Timer’s Tokyo Itinerary
• Where to Stay in Tokyo for the Best First Time Experience
• Park Hotel Tokyo Review: Is This Art Hotel Worth Staying At?
• 40 Things to Do in Tokyo on Your First Trip
• My Asakusa Sumo Experience: Is It Worth Booking?