Sumō, Japan’s national sport, comes to London this week, with a rare five-day sumō tournament at the Royal Albert Hall. This will be the second professional tournament to be held in England, the last event was held 34 years ago, as part of Japan Festival in London.
Sumō has also come to the V&A South Kensington, through a new display in the Toshiba Gallery of Japanese Art (Room 45). A selection of 19th century woodblock prints brings together wrestler portraits and match-day scenes, as well as depictions of wrestlers off-duty and actors disguised in their image.
The word sumō means ‘to strike one another’. Wrestlers will push, throw, slap and trip their opponents. A match is won by forcing the opponent out of the ring or by causing any part of their body, other than the soles of their feet, to touch the ground.
Sumō’s history stretches back more than 1,500 years. The earliest wrestling matches were performed to please the gods and ask for good harvests. These matches received the patronage of Japan’s imperial court. Sumō later became part of a samurai warrior’s training, forming the foundation for martial arts such as aikidō and jūdō. During the Edo period (1603 – 1868), sumō gained widespread popularity, developing into a professional sport enjoyed by the masses. Never slow to miss a commercial opportunity, publishers sold prints that fed the fame of sumō’s stars and embedded it into Japan’s popular culture.
The highest rank a wrestler can achieve is yokozuna. This means ‘horizontal rope’ and refers to the thick rope belt worn by grand champions for their ceremonial entrance into the ring. Five folded paper slips hang from this belt resembling the shimenawa rope and paper decorations that mark areas sacred to Japan’s Shintō religion. As with sports today, top wrestlers became known celebrities and fashionable figures. While some prints showed them at large in the city, others held them at their match day best.
Match-day prints capture the spectacle and excitement that drew the crowds. Matches were typically held in temple precincts, with profits used for construction projects or other worthy causes. From 1833, biannual tournaments were held at Ekōin Temple in the Ryōgoku district of Edo (present-day Tokyo). Ryōgoku continues to be a centre for professional sumō and is today home to the Ryōgoku Kokugikan stadium. Three of the six annual sumō tournaments are held at this national arena. The Royal Albert Hall will certainly offer wrestlers a change of scene.
A selection of sumō prints is now on display in the Toshiba Gallery (Room 45) until Autumn 2026.
