Grand Sumo Tournament comes to London for the second time outside Japan in the sport's 1,500

London — The world of professional sumo wrestling stepped outside of Japan for only the second time in its centuries-long history on Wednesday night, as fighters clashed on a specially constructed ring in the middle of London's Royal Albert Hall.

The iconic venue in the British capital is hosting the Grand Sumo Tournament — the roughly 1,500-year-old sport's most important competition — for the second time, drawing more than 44 professional wrestlers, or rikishi, to compete in 100 bouts over five days. The only other time the tournament was held outside Japan was in 1991, when it also came to the Royal Albert Hall.

There are unique challenges in bringing sumo to London, as the contemporary national sport of Japan is rooted in two millennia of tradition, interwoven with the Shin