Street front of Kappo Yoshiba in the historic former Miyagino sumo stable , Asakusa & Sumida River.

©Rebecca Milner/Lonely Planet

Kappō Yoshiba

Asakusa & Sumida River

LoginSave

The former Miyagino sumo stable is the location for this one-of-a-kind restaurant that has preserved the dōyō (practice ring) as its centrepiece. Playing up to its sumo roots, you can order the protein-packed stew chanko-nabe (for two people from ¥5200), but Yoshiba's real strength is its sushi, freshly prepared in jumbo portions.

The lunch nigiri set menu (¥1000) is a bargain, but you'll probably want to come in the evening when the dōyō becomes a stage for traditional live-music performances.

At 7.30pm on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, former wrestlers sing sumo jinku (a type of folk song) for 15 minutes, while at 7pm on Tuesday and Thursday the female duo Kitamura Shimai plays a short concert on shamisen (three-stringed instruments resembling a lute or banjo). This is followed at 8pm by a pianist tinkling the ivories on the grand piano by the sushi counter (and stained-glass window of a sumo wrestler!).

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Tokyo, Ueno, Taito-ku: Tokyo National Museum, Honkan

    Tokyo National Museum

    1.6 MILES

    If you visit only one museum in Tokyo, make it the Tokyo National Museum. Here you'll find the world's largest collection of Japanese art, including…

  • April 29, 2018: The Robot statue in an open garden space at the Ghibli museum.

    Ghibli Museum

    12.68 MILES

    This museum is the heart of the Studio Ghibli world, a beloved (even 'adored') film studio responsible for classic, critically-acclaimed animated titles…

  • Shinjuku, Tokyo, Kanto region, Japan. Tiny alleys crowded with night bars and clubs at Golden Gai district.

    Golden Gai

    5.14 MILES

    Golden Gai – a Shinjuku institution for over half a century – is a collection of tiny bars, often literally no bigger than a closet and seating maybe a…

  • Tokyo, Japan view of Shibuya Crossing, one of the busiest crosswalks in the world. aerial, architecture, asia, asian, billboards, buildings, business, city, cityscape, commercial, cross, crosswalk, crowd, district, downtown, dusk, evening, famous, futuristic, japan, japanese, landmark, lights, location, metropolis, metropolitan, modern, morning, night, office, pedestrian, people, place, plaza, road, scene, scenery, scenic, shibuya, shopping, signs, skyline, skyscrapers, square, street, tokyo, twilight, urban, view, walk

    Shibuya Crossing

    6.1 MILES

    Rumoured to be the busiest intersection in the world (and definitely in Japan), Shibuya Crossing is like a giant beating heart, sending people in all…

  • Tokyo, Japan - May 6, 2017: Cup noodles Museum Front display in Yokohama.; Shutterstock ID 652705672; Your name (First / Last): Laura Crawford; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: BiA: Takayama, south of Tokyo POI images for online

    Cup Noodles Museum

    19.15 MILES

    This impressively slick attraction is dedicated to, you guessed it, cup noodles. But in reality, its focus is more broad, with numerous exhibitions…

  • teamLab Borderless

    teamLab Borderless

    4.09 MILES

    Digital-art collective teamLab has created 60 artworks for this museum, open in 2018, that tests the border between art and the viewer: many are…

  • Tokyo Imperial Palace, tokyo, japan 138905807 ancient, architecture, asia, asian, attraction, bridge, building, castle, city, edo, emperor, fort, fortress, historic, historical, history, imperial, japan, japanese, king, landmark, moat, monarchy, nijubashi, old, oriental, otemachi, palace, royal, royalty, stone, tokyo, tower, travel, urban, wall

    Imperial Palace

    2.74 MILES

    The Imperial Palace occupies the site of the original Edo-jō, the Tokugawa shogunate's castle. In its heyday this was the largest fortress in the world,…

  • Exterior of the Sensouji Temple. 1075025648 architecture, asakusa, asia, background, blue, buddhism, buddhist, building, capital, city, copy, cultural, day, destination, famous, god, japan, japanese, landmark, landscape, morning, old, people, pray, red, religion, senso-ji, sensoji, sensouji, shinto, shrine, sky, space, temple, tokyo, tourism, tourists, travel, worship

    Sensō-ji

    0.89 MILES

    Tokyo’s most visited temple enshrines a golden image of Kannon (the Buddhist goddess of mercy), which, according to legend, was miraculously pulled out of…

View more attractions

Nearby Asakusa & Sumida River attractions

1. Japanese Sword Museum

0.22 MILES

For visitors with a keen interest in Japanese sword-making – an art that continues to this day – this museum, which relocated to a new building in 2018,…

2. Kyū-Yasuda-teien

0.26 MILES

This late-17th-century stroll garden offers beautiful views across its central tidal pond and is well worth a visit if you're in the area. It used to take…

3. Sumo Museum

0.36 MILES

On the ground floor of Ryōgoku Kokugikan stadium, this small museum displays pictures of all the past yokozuna (top-ranking sumo wrestlers), or, for those…

4. Edo-Tokyo Museum

0.36 MILES

Tokyo's history museum documents the city's transformation from tidal flatlands to feudal capital to modern metropolis via detailed scale re-creations of…

5. Sumida Hokusai Museum

0.47 MILES

The woodblock artist Hokusai Katsushika (1760–1849) was born and died close to the location of this museum, which opened in 2016 in a striking aluminium…

6. Asahi Super Dry Hall

0.59 MILES

This jet-black, inverted obelisk, part of Asahi Beer's headquarters, was designed by Philippe Starck and completed in 1989; atop it sits a 'golden flame'…

7. Azuma-bashi

0.6 MILES

Originally built in 1774, this bridge was once the point of departure for boat trips to the Yoshiwara pleasure district, north of Asakusa.

8. Kaminari-mon

0.64 MILES

The Sensō-ji temple precinct begins at this majestic gate, from which hangs an enormous chōchin (lantern); look under this to see a beautiful carved…