Two stations called Ryogoku
JR Ryogoku on the Sobu line and Ryogoku on the Toei Oedo line are separate stations. The Kokugikan is about a minute from the JR station and about five minutes on foot from exit A4 of the Oedo line station. Both practice visits on this page meet at the Oedo line station, at exits A3 and A2, so plan your route to the Oedo line station rather than the JR one.
The Sumo Museum at the Kokugikan
The Japan Sumo Association runs a small museum on the ground floor of the Kokugikan. Entry is free. On regular days it opens from 10:00 to 16:30 with last entry at 16:00, and it closes on Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays and over New Year. On tournament days it opens from 12:30 to 16:00, and only people with a tournament ticket can get in, because the museum sits inside the arena. The museum's own calendar lists extra closures for exhibition changes.
That makes a weekday practice visit and the museum an easy pair. The Air Choice visit meets at 07:45 and lasts about two hours, so it ends shortly before the museum opens at 10:00.
Tournament weeks in Ryogoku
In January, May and September the Kokugikan hosts the tournaments, and the stables close their practice to visitors for the 15 days and usually for seven to ten days afterwards. The guided tournament day meets in Ryogoku at a point sent by e-mail and lasts about four hours. Dates, sale days and how its seats are allocated are on the tournament page for 2027.
SUMOLAND for groups and special diets
SUMOLAND is the show venue in Ryogoku itself. It seats guests in boxes for up to six people and prepares vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free food on request, which none of the Asakusa shows offers in that range. After the chanko the guests pound mochi. Its listing calls it a sumo wrestling experience, but it is a show like the others; the dinner show comparison has its menu next to the rest.
The practice visits themselves, with the rules at the ring and the weeks when stables do not train, are on the morning practice page.
