Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BEST OF RYŌGOKU AND KIYOSUMI
National Sumo Stadium
Watch gargantuan fighters in action (see below)
Edo-Tokyo Museum
Spend a day exploring this huge collection (see below)
Tomoegata
Eat like a sumo wrestler (see p.151)
Popeye
Take on one of Tokyo's finest drinking dens (see p.169)
Kiyosumi Teien
Stroll about these enchanting gardens (see p.76)
6
Ryōgoku
he
Ryōgoku
area has just two sights - and one of those is only accessible for six weeks
of the year. But even if your visit does not coincide with a
sumo
tournament, it's still
worth coming along to see the fantastic
Edo-Tokyo Museum
, or to take a stroll down
the banks of the Sumida-gawa.
National Sumo Stadium and museum
྆ࠃࠃٕؗ
, Ryōgoku Kokugikan • 1-3-28 Yokoami, Sumida-ku • Museum Mon-Fri 10am-4.30pm; closed during tournaments; free •
Ryōgoku station
Three times a year major sumo tournaments fill the
National Sumo Stadium
, outside
Ryōgoku Station's west exit, with a two-week pageant of thigh-slapping, foot-stamping
and arcane ritual (see p.202 and box, p.76). The one-room historical
museum
beside
the stadium is for die-hard fans only; better to simply wander the streets immediately
south of the train tracks, which until recently housed many of the major “stables”
where wrestlers lived and trained. Though rising land prices have forced most of them
out, there's still a good chance of bumping into some junior wrestlers, with their
slicked-back hair and wearing their
yukata
and wooden
geta
, popping out to a store
- such as sumo-size clothing specialist
Lion-dō
(
ϥΠΦϯಊ
; Mon-Sat 9.30am-6.30pm),
southeast of Ryōgoku Station - or for a quick snack of
chanko-nabe
. If you're feeling
peckish yourself, try either the
Yoshiba
or
Tomoegata
restaurant (see p.151), two of the
best places to sample the hearty stew.
Edo-Tokyo Museum
ߐށ౦ژതؗ
, Edo-Tōkyō Hakubutsukan • 1-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida-ku • Tues-Fri & Sun 9.30am-5.30pm, Sat 9.30am-7.30pm •
¥600 •
T
03 3626 9974,
W
edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp • Ryōgoku station
You'll need plenty of stamina for the extensive
Edo-Tokyo Museum
, housed in a colossal
building (supposedly modelled on a
geta
) behind the Sumo Stadium, although the
ticket lasts a whole day so you can come and go. With plenty of information in
English, including a free audioguide, the museum tells the history of Tokyo from the
days of the Tokugawa shogunate to postwar reconstruction, using life-size replicas,
models and holograms, as well as more conventional screen paintings, ancient maps
and documents.
The museum starts on the sixth floor, where a bridge (a replica of the original
Nihombashi; see p.53) takes you over the roofs of some typical Edo landmarks - a
kabuki theatre,
daimyō
residence and Western-style o
ce - on the main exhibition
floor below. The displays then run roughly chronologically, with a particularly strong
treatment of life in Edo's Shitamachi, with its pleasure quarters, festivals and vibrant
popular culture, and on the giddy days after 1868, when Japan opened up to the
outside world.
Kiyosumi
The district of
Kiyosumi
gets even fewer travellers than Ryōgoku, but there's actually
more to see, with the beautiful
Kiyosumi Teien
gardens, the excellent
Fukagawa Edo
Museum
, the
Museum of Contemporary Art
, and a spate of galleries all vying for your
