The Grand Sumo Tournament comes to London for the second time outside Japan in this sport

London- The world of professional sumo wrestling left Japan for the second time in its centuries-long history on Wednesday night, as wrestlers faced off in a specially constructed ring in the middle of London’s Royal Albert Hall.

The emblematic venue of the British capital hosts the Great Sumo Tournament —the most important competition in this sport that is approximately 1,500 years old — for the second time, drawing more than 44 professional wrestlers, or Rikishi, to compete in 100 matches over five days. The only other time the tournament was held outside Japan was in 1991, when it was also held at the Royal Albert Hall.

There are unique challenges in bringing sumo to London, as Japan’s contemporary national sport has its roots in two millennia of tradition, interwoven with the Shinto religion and therefore treated with the utmost respect and protection to ensure compliance with its rituals and rules.

“One of the things we’ve worked very hard on is making sure we have a good understanding of the cultural and religious significance that sumo has,” Matthew Todd, director of programming at the Royal Albert Hall, told News themezone.

He said attention to detail was “really critical to the authentic presentation we can do here.”

That meant shipping 11 tons of clay from Japan to build the ring, or dohyo, in the center of the concert hall, where wrestlers compete. The containers were at sea for three months making the trip. A large team of ring attendants (yobisdashi) also had to make the trip from Japan. — along with 11 interpreters to help them communicate with British workers.

The roof of the dohyo, now suspended from the ceiling of the Albert Hall, was built in Britain, but its design is taken directly from traditional Japanese Shinto shrines, which Todd says “helps show that this is a sacred area”, where sacred routines and ceremonies are carried out as part of the tournament.

It’s a vital step, he said, to ensure Shinto gods are given due respect before fights.

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Sumo is deeply intertwined with Japanese culture and religion in ways that many Western sports fans may find difficult to understand. According to legend, it originated as a ritual to ask the gods for a bountiful harvest, but over almost 2,000 years it transformed into the sport it is today, attracting competitors primarily from Japan, but also from around the world.

Many of the most recent champions have been from Mongolia, and this year’s tournament features two rishiki from Ukraine. While Americans have competed successfully in previous tournaments, there are no American rishiki competing at this year’s event in London.

The nuances of the wrestling competition itself can also be difficult to fully understand, with 82 winning techniques called kimirate, numerous ranks and divisions, and a host of other rules. So to help translate all of this for a largely Western audience, in-ear English commentary is offered at the Royal Albert Hall, along with video replay screens to describe and explain the matches, which can sometimes end in just seconds when a competitor is forced out of the ring.

The wrestlers themselves live an incredibly regimented life. They are prohibited from driving cars and, somewhat contradictorily, from eating breakfast, and are usually required to take a long nap after their large lunch, to help them gain weight.

The average weight of a rikishi is approximately 330 pounds, but some tip the scales at 550.

They have been granted permission during their visit to the British capital to enjoy, however — Organizers are likely to see the value in some degree of publicity.

In the run-up to the tournament, social media platforms were filled with photos and videos of fighters dressed traditionally in kimonos touring London.

The Albert Hall will also feature two yokozuna, the highest-ranking sumo wrestlers, this week. The word yokozuna is usually translated as grand champion, but is literally translated as “horizontal rope”, referring to the special rope they wear around their waist to show their rank.

Once a rishiki is promoted to the rank of yokozuna, he retains it until his retirement. In nearly 400 years of professional sumo, only 75 men have achieved the vaunted grand champion status. The honor typically requires not only multiple consecutive championship victories, but also the approval of a dedicated council that judges rishiki on their wrestling skills, but also on a variety of other personal attributes.

The tournament will end on Sunday, when the wrestler with the most wins in the ring will be crowned this year’s champion.

The field is considered wide open this year, but many, especially in Japan, expect 25-year-old Yokozuna Onasato, the country’s first major champion in almost a decade, to emerge victorious.

In:

• sumo wrestling
• Great Britain
• United Kingdom
• Japan