The Japan Sumo Association is to make a groundbreaking tour to South Korea in June next year, sumo officials said Tuesday.
A two-day exhibition is penciled in for Seoul. Sumo officials met at a JSA executive board of directors meeting to agree on details of the tour and are set to make an announcement after signing a contract.
The overseas visit will be sumo's 11th and first since the tour to Canada in 1998. It will also be the first tour in Asia since a visit to China in 1973.
The first overseas tour was in the former Soviet Union in 1965.
Sumo is broadcast on television via satellite in South Korea. Kasugao, a 25-year-old from Seoul in the juryo division, is the first South Korean to fight in sumo's top classes.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.