Where the Ring Once Stood — 170 Years of Otoi's Dohyo

Otoi Ozumo has continued for more than 170 years. In an earlier post, I told the story of how it began. This time, let me change the angle a little and trace where the ring itself has stood—how the venue has moved over the years.

Follow those changes, and strangely enough, you begin to see the history of the town itself. And I should say: I have stood on several of those rings myself, as a wrestler.

It Began in a Shrine

The very first Otoi Ozumo, it is said, was offered within the grounds of Mishima Shrine. A sumo born from a prayer to quiet the fires was first performed before the gods.

A Rice Field, and 150,000 Spectators

The earliest venue we have records of was a temporary arena, built in the early Showa era (the 1920s–30s) in a rice field beside the Ogata brewery.

Someone who was a child at the time once told me this: the spectator seating was a makeshift affair, planks nailed up at a slant. So many people crowded in that he, just a boy, couldn't get a seat—so he crawled underneath the stands and watched through the gaps in the boards.

Newspapers recorded as many as 150,000 spectators over two days. One hundred and fifty thousand, in a tiny town. In today's terms, perhaps it was something like the fever of a famous musician's concert. Otoi was an event of that magnitude—that powerful a draw.

A Ring on the Move

After that, the ring moved from place to place.

・In 1968, to the ground in front of the former Nomura Children's Hall.

・From 1973, to the open square before Nomura Public Hall.

・Later, it was also held indoors at the Public Hall, and under a tent set up in front of it.

This was around the time I first stepped onto the Otoi ring myself. In the tent before Nomura Public Hall, I wrestled in the elementary and junior-high divisions.

・From 1995, a large tent was raised on the grounds of the former Children's Hall.

That big tent, as it happens, had been bought secondhand from a circus troupe and put up fresh each year. Splendid as it was, I've heard it could be dangerous, too—buffeted and strained by strong winds.

The Birth of Otoi Hall

In 2005, a dedicated facility for the tournament—Otoi Hall (Otoi Kaikan)—opened its doors. From then on, Otoi was held there. Having a home of its own was a major milestone in this long history.

And Then, Beyond Disaster

But in July 2018, the West Japan floods struck the town. Otoi Hall, too, was damaged.

For the next two years, the tournament was held indoors at Nomura Public Hall (which was itself demolished in 2021).

Was it even right to hold a sumo tournament in the immediate wake of disaster? I'm told the organizers wrestled deeply with that question. And yet—they would not let the flame go out. I myself stepped onto that ring in the flood-stricken Public Hall, in the adult and youth division. To have stood on the dohyo under those circumstances is something I will never forget.

Afterward, Otoi Hall once again became the venue, and so it remains today.

The Place Changes; It Carries On

From a shrine's grounds to a rice-field arena, to sports grounds, to tents, and at last to Otoi Hall—the location of the ring has shifted with the times. But one thing has never changed: the will of this town's people to never let this sumo die.

Through every kind of setback, Otoi Ozumo remains, to this day, the pride and the symbol of Nomura.

As the Keeper of Zero, I too want to carry this ring on to the next generation. May Otoi always be the kind of event that makes someone, someday, want to peek up at it from beneath the boards.

ZEROSPHERE / The Keeper of Zero