The seated morning practice at Arashio stable

Why it is on the list

Arashio is a working sumo stable in Nihonbashi-Hamacho, where the wrestlers live, eat, sleep and train.¹ Anyone can watch morning practice through the stable's street window.²³ This tour seats at most six guests inside, behind a glass wall beside the ring, with a guide explaining each drill through earpieces, from the paired bouts to the closing butsukari-geiko.¹ The stable holds top-division wrestlers: Wakatakakage, who won the tournaments of March 2022 and May 2026, and Wakamotoharu, both sekiwake at best.³

It is the wrong morning for children under 11, who cannot join, and for anyone who cannot sit still and silent for about ninety minutes.¹ There is no practice in the odd months, when the grand tournaments are held.¹

How to get it

Book through the Chuo City Tourism Association's tour page, at least seven days ahead, choosing a date and the number of guests; the tour is JPY 15,000 a person, tax included, paid in full in advance and not refundable for a change of plans.¹ The guide meets the group at 07:45 at exit A2 of Hamacho Station on the Toei Shinjuku Line; practice runs from about 08:00, and the morning ends between 09:30 and 10:00, sometimes earlier.¹ The stable posts its practice calendar and notes that the schedule is not guaranteed; if the association cancels, it offers another date or refunds the fee.²¹

Discretion

Guests stay in their seats for the whole practice, keep quiet, and take off hats and sunglasses on entering. Video is not allowed; still pictures only, with the shutter sound and flash off. There is no food or drink inside.¹ The same practice can be watched free from the street, so there may be onlookers at the window outside.²