The dohyo-matsuri: the Shinto ceremony that consecrates the ring before every tournament
The dohyo-matsuri is a Shinto ring-purification ceremony held the day before a tournament begins. The three most senior gyoji, acting in the role of Shinto priests, dig a small pit at the center of the newly built dohyo and bury offerings in it - including washed rice, salt, dried chestnuts, kelp, and dried squid - before sealing the pit and formally consecrating the ring. The ritual asks the gods for a safe tournament and is performed before every honbasho, not only the ones a visitor happens to attend.
What you are seeing
- The ceremony takes place on the dohyo the day before day one, after the ring itself has already been rebuilt by the yobidashi.
- The three most senior-ranked gyoji perform the ritual dressed in formal Shinto-style robes, rather than the referees' usual tournament attire.
- A small pit is dug in the very center of the ring, the offerings are placed inside, and the pit is then covered over and sealed for the length of the tournament.
What to watch next
- You will not see this ceremony from your seat - it happens the day before the tournament opens and is not part of a ticketed day.
- Once the tournament starts, the center of the ring in front of you has the sealed offerings buried directly beneath it for all fifteen days.
- Compare it to the salt a wrestler throws before his own bout: that is a personal, repeated purification; the dohyo-matsuri is a single, formal consecration of the whole ring before anyone fights on it.
A common first-timer mistake
Assuming the salt thrown during bouts is the ring's only purification ritual. The dohyo-matsuri is a separate, more formal ceremony that consecrates the ring itself before the tournament even begins.
Words you may hear
- Dohyo-matsuri
- the ring-purification ceremony held the day before a tournament begins
- Kachiguri
- dried chestnuts buried as an offering; a name that plays on the word for 'victory'
- Yobidashi
- the ring attendants who hand-build the dohyo in the days before a tournament
Sources and review
Created and photographed in Ryogoku by a Tokyo-based spectator. Facts reviewed against Japan Sumo Association materials on 25 August 2026.