In pictures: When sumo came to London as wrestling titans enjoy lime bikes and recreate the Beatles on Abbey Road
It marks the Grand Sumo Tournament's first visit to London since 1991
Sumo wrestling returned to London this week, seeing the colossal athletes take in the sights of England’s capital, including trips to Abbey Road, Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament as well as rides on lime bikes and the city’s iconic black cabs.
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For only the second time the Grand Sumo Tournament is being staged outside Japan with the five-day event concluding on Sunday as organisers look to capitalise on a worldwide surge in interest in Japan’s national sport.
London’s Royal Albert Hall also hosted the event in 1991 and this time 40 wrestlers (rikishi) were taking part with grand champion Onosato Daiki winning the main bout of the evening when he hurled Ura Kazuki out of the ring (dohyo).
Outside of the ring, the towering Sumo wrestlers made sure to enjoy all of London’s iconic sights, sounds and tastes - taking some fantastic pictures in the process.
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Pictures show the wrestlers riding lime bikes across the city, guzzling ice-cold pints of Guinness and munching on hot dogs in Westminster.
Tatsunami stable, a club that many of the wrestlers belong to, has been sharing updates of their historic trip on Instagram, writing: “It looks like everyone is enjoying the lush nature and beautiful scenery of London.
“It feels a bit strange to think of sumo wrestlers with their topknots walking around the streets of London, but we hope that the first Grand Sumo London performance in 34 years will be a huge success, and that it helps people overseas discover the appeal of sumo.”
The post shows the smiling sumo wrestlers exploring London’s winding streets, smiling as they feed squirrels and meeting the King’s Guard outside Buckingham Palace - all while wearing their iconic Japanese kimonos and traditional topknots.
The wrestlers have made sure to enjoy London’s culinary delights, visiting up-market steakhouse Hawksmore, where four of them ate rib and porterhouse steaks, oysters, lobster, mash, steak carpaccio, mackerel salad, lobster and mac & cheese.
They also visited ramen chain Bone Daddies, enjoying chicken wings and noodles.
"I gasped when they walked in,” one staff member told the Telegraph.
"They are so tall but gentle giants. It was lovely. They didn't speak much English but gave us thumbs up and smiles."
During Wednesday’s return to the ring, Ukrainian Aonishiki Arata was the notable winner as his excellent debut year in sumo continued when he defeated Atamifuji Sakutaro, despite conceding over six stones in weight.
It was one of several ‘David v Goliath’ size mismatches, the most extreme example of which was bout four when Tobizaru Masaya defied his eight stones and almost one foot disadvantage to toss Shonannoumi Momotaro on to the floor.
Towards the end of the interval, the crowd were reminded by the compere not to approach the dohyo because it is a “very sacred place”.
The Royal Albert Hall had to make significant adjustments to cater for the wrestlers, including bringing in new chairs capable of bearing 200kg in weight, as well as installing reinforced toilets.
Around 11 stones in rice has been eaten each day by the competitors with event organisers revealing that the wholesaler being used had run out of noodles because of the quantity ordered.
Sumo, which has a ceremonial-religious aspect and dates back more than 1,500 years, will be taken to Paris next year to continue reaching new audiences.