is an indoor sporting arena located in Namba,

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It first opened in 1952 and the current building was constructed in 1987. It is the venue of a professional

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

tournament ( honbasho) held in March every year. The capacity of the arena is 8,000 people. Its total revenue for the 2006 fiscal year was 260 million yen, of which sumo provided 80 million. In April 2008 the

Japan Sumo Association The , officially the ; sometimes abbreviated JSA or NSK, and more usually called Sumo Kyōkai, is the governing body that operates and controls Professional sports, professional sumo wrestling, called , in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Min ...

made clear its surprise at plans by the prefectural government to demolish the gymnasium and sell the vacant lot. In March 2012, the arena was renamed after the naming rights were sold to sports apparel company BB Sports for the next three years. The name was changed back in April 2015, when BB Sports did not renew their deal. In June 2015,

EDION Corporation (short for "Exciting Discovery In One Network") is a consumer electronics retailer chain store, chain in Japan. It was formerly a holding company that operated multiple chain brands. As of 2023, EDION is the fifth largest electronics and home a ...

signed a three-year deal for the arena's naming rights, renaming it . It has hosted several professional wrestling shows, including Osaka Hurricane from 2005 to 2012, NJPW Dominion from 2009 to 2014, NJPW Power Struggle since 2011, and The New Beginning in Osaka since 2012. On October 12, 2019, the venue hosted the Rizin 19 mixed martial arts fight. On February 22, 2023, the International Lethwei Federation Japan held a

Lethwei Lethwei (; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) or Burmese boxing is a Full contact fighting, full contact combat sport originating from Myanmar and is considered as one of the most brutal martial arts in the world.} * * * * * * Lethwe ...

event called ''Japan 15 - Kizuna'' at the venue.

Cultural references

*The Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium is featured in the manga/anime series Fighting Spirit (''Hajime no Ippo'') as one of the venues the boxers fight at. It is also included in the video game adaptation of the series, Victorious Boxers.

Access

* Namba Station - Nankai Electric Railway (250m from South Exit), Osaka Metro (350m from Exit 5) * Ōsaka Namba Station - Kintetsu Namba Line, Hanshin Namba Line (600m) * JR Namba Station - West Japan Railway Company (JR West)

Kansai Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, which connects Nagoya Station with JR Namba Station in Osaka. It is jointly run by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), with the boundary between both compan ...

(

Yamatoji Line The is the common name of the western portion of the Kansai Main Line in Japan. The line is owned and operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It starts at Kamo Station (Kyoto), Kamo Station in Kyoto Prefecture and ends at JR Namba Stat ...

) (800m)

References

External links

Official website
Basketball venues in Japan Indoor arenas in Japan Osaka Evessa Sports venues in Osaka Sumo venues in Japan Lethwei venues in Japan Volleyball venues in Japan Boxing venues in Japan Judo venues {{japan-stadium-stub