Sumo wrestlers bring 1,500 years of tradition to London as the sport has an international moment

Rishikis from Japan's Sumo Kyokai, Daisuke Kitanowaka, right, and Akira Fukutsuumi pose for a photo call outside of London's Royal Albert Hall in London, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Thomas Krych / AP Photo)

LONDON — London's Royal Albert Hall, the gilded concert venue known for an annual “Rule Britannia” singalong, is preparing to host a different kind of spectacle: Sumo wrestling.

Camera shutters clicked furiously and reporters “ahhhed” in delight Wednesday as wrestlers Daisuke Kitanowaka and Akira Fukutsuumi demonstrated a sideways stamp and put on an exhibition of heavyweight grappling to promote a tournament scheduled for next October.

It marks only the second time an elite five-day tournament will be held outside Japan. The first was in 1991 at the same venue.

Organizers are hoping to whip up the kind of excitement that was generated three decades ago, when the deeply ritualistic sport attracted sell-out crowds and a national television audience.

“It wasn’t just an event here at the hall,’’ said James Ainscough, chief executive of the Royal Albert Hall. “It became a national moment. People talked about it in the workplace. You could see kids acting it out each day in playgrounds the length and breadth of the country. So it’s a huge honor and a huge matter of excitement to welcome it back in 2025.’’

A variety of factors, including a series of sumo wrestling scandals, the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, delayed the sport’s return to London. But organizers believe the time is right because sumo is having a bit of a moment.

Two Netflix series have introduced audiences to the intricacies of the sport, which has roots stretching back 1,500 years. Earlier this year, Hanshin Contents Link opened a sumo hall in Osaka, Japan’s third-largest city, that entertains foreign tourists with explanatory exhibitions and actual bouts.

Organizers of the London event say they hope to show Japan’s rich culture as well as its traditional sport that pits two huge men clad in very little against each other in a test of strength and technique.

On hand Wednesday was the winner of the previous U.K. tournament, Nobuyoshi Hakkaku, nicknamed “bulldog’’ by British fans in 1991. Now the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association, he reminisced about how the only thing that made him really nervous was preparing for a victory speech in English.

Japan’s ambassador to the U.K., Hiroshi Suzuki, also made an appearance, a reflection of the event's importance to the nation. Organizers promised that spectators also would see exhibitions of Kabuki theater and other Japanese traditions.

But the main attraction were the wrestlers.

Kitanowaka and Fukutsuumi gamely tried to show off their sport. Clad in their mawashi, or ceremonial aprons, they faced off on a mat in front of several dozen journalists. The big men slammed into each other with an “oomph” as flesh slapped flesh. A grunt or two broke the silence.

No sweat was evident. It was over in a flash.

Then they went outside, dropping their robes and exposing their flesh to the frosty November air as they entered and exited a classic London black cab for photographers.

Nothing seemed to bother them. Not the cold. Not the demands to stand this way or that. As the concert hall loomed behind them, they did their best to be sumo diplomats.

“Sumo has a wonderfully intriguing collection of culture and ritual and sport and excitement,’’ Ainscough said. “And to bring sumo back to the Royal Albert Hall again doesn’t just create a sporting moment, it creates a moment where we can learn and be inspired by another culture and another set of principles to live by. It’s a moment where we can all grow closer together.’"