is an indoor sporting arena located in

Namba Namba (, ) is a district in Chūō and Naniwa wards of Osaka, Japan. It is regarded as the center of Osaka's ''Minami'' ( :ja:ミナミ, "South") region. Its name came from a variation of '' Naniwa'', the former name of Osaka. Namba hosts som ...

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 A , or Grand Sumo Tournament in English, is an official professional sumo tournament. Only ''honbasho'' results matter in determining promotion and relegation for '' rikishi'' (sumo wrestlers) on the '' banzuke'' ranking. The number of ''honbash ...

) 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 The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. T ...

, 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 Osaka Hurricane was the annual flagship professional wrestling event produced by Osaka Pro Wrestling between 2003 and 2012. The event was held during the month of February. The event was considered the biggest event of Osaka Pro. It was introduced ...

from 2005 to 2012, NJPW Dominion from 2009 to 2014,

NJPW Power Struggle Power Struggle is an annual professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event has been held since 2011 and aired domestically as a pay-per-view (PPV). From 2012 to 2014, the event also aired outside Japan as an int ...

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 International Lethwei Federation Japan, also known as ILFJ, is a Japanese Lethwei promotion company with headquarters in Tokyo. History In 2016, the ILFJ acquired a ‘’Grade-A’’ promoter licence from the Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Fede ...

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 ''Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory'', known as simply ''Victorious Boxers'', is a boxing video game developed by New Corporation for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is based on the '' Hajime no Ippo'' franchise. The game was releas ...

Access

Namba Station is a name shared by two physically separated railway stations in the Namba district of Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan, operated by Nankai Electric Railway and the Osaka Metro. The name "Namba Station" can also refer to the entire station complex as a ...

Nankai Electric Railway is a private railway in Japan, founded in 1884. The name ''Nankai'' (which means "South Sea") comes from the company's routes along the Nankaidō, the old highway that ran south from the old capital, Kyoto, along the sea coast. Nankai predate ...

(250m from South Exit),

Osaka Metro The is a major rapid transit system in the Osaka metropolitan area of Japan, operated by the Osaka Metro Company, Ltd. It serves the city of Osaka and the adjacent municipalities of Higashiosaka, Kadoma, Moriguchi, Sakai, Suita, and Yao. ...

(350m from Exit 5) *

Ōsaka Namba Station is a major railway station on the Kintetsu Namba Line and Hanshin Namba Line in the Namba district of Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is adjacent to Namba Station and JR Namba Station. Trains of the Nara Line depart from and arrive at the stati ...

Kintetsu Namba Line The is a Japanese railway line owned by the Kintetsu Railway. The line connects Fuse Station in the eastern suburbs of Osaka to Kintetsu Nara Station in the historic city of Nara, Nara, Nara, though operationally, the line begins at Ōsaka Nam ...

Hanshin Namba Line The is a railway line operated by the private railway operator Hanshin Electric Railway connecting Amagasaki Station in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and Ōsaka Namba Station in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. History The , the pre ...

(600m) *

JR Namba Station is a railway station in Namba, Naniwa Ward, Osaka, Japan, adjacent to Namba Station (Nankai Railway, Osaka Subway) and Ōsaka Namba Station ( Kintetsu, Hanshin Railway) operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). JR Namba is the wes ...

West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

(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