Bout Review USA couldn’t think of a better place than this hall to start our new column.
By far, the busiest fight sports event hall in the world. Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
This place is undoubtedly a mecca for fight sports in Japan, averaging 20 plus fight events per months throughout the year. In December of 2004, there were 29 fight events held at this event hall. That is, we believe, truly amazing. (We are including pro-wrestling events in this statistic) Every boxer, kick boxer, MMA fighter almost always first dreams of standing in the middle of the ring right here in Korakuen Hall.

The hall is on the fifth floor of this, the oldest building in the Tokyo Dome City Attractions.

The hall opened its doors on January 15, 1962, but let us explain about Korakuen itself first. Korakuen Hall is located right next to the famous Tokyo Dome and there used to be an open door natural grass ballpark called Korakuen Stadium. The home of Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, the winning-est professional baseball team in Japan. Yes, it’s the team NY Yankees star Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui used to play for. Also, there is an amusement park called Tokyo Dome City Attractions and that, used to be called Korakuen Amusement Park. That’s right, Korakuen is one gigantic entertainment center built by Yomiuri, the owner of the biggest selling newspaper in the world, one of the largest national TV stations in Japan, and of course, the most popular baseball club in the country.
So the truth of the matter is that the main attractions of this entertainment center are, Tokyo Dome, Attractions (amusement park), newly built Tokyo Dome City hotel and the natural hot spring spa called La Qua, and all these shops between them, and the building that houses Korakuen Hall along with a sauna joint, bowling alley, and batting cage, which is the oldest in the property, and it seems, by far, from the eyes of the general public, the least interesting. But we believe this venerable building is the most fabulous of all because we are after all, fight fans.

So everything started back in September of 1937 when Korakuen Stadium opened but the history of Korakuen Hall begins in 1952. Yes, the hall itself opened in 1962 but we believe everything began when Korakuen Stadium hosted Japan’s very first world boxing title match on May 19th of 1952. There, Yoshio Shirai won his first world flyweight title in front of 40,000-plus fans. Then in November 15 of the same year, back in the same place, Shirai defended his title, and there, Yomiuri was convinced that the demand was there for professional boxing.
In 1958, Yomiuri founded what used to be a hall of Kodokan, Japan’s largest and oldest Judo organization, and converted the premise into Korakuen Gymnasium and in June 8, started hosting boxing events televised on national television. In this Korakuen Gymnasium, world champions like Fighting Harada or Hiroyuki Ebihara received enormous exposure and boxing became one of the most popular sports in Japan. Then finally in 1962, Yomiuri opened Korakuen Hall at its current location.

The hall has a capacity of little over 2,000. So approximately 40,000 fight fans enjoy fight sports every month throughout the year.

At first, this place was the capital of Japan’s boxing world but in the late 60’s started to host pro-wrestling events and soon after that, kick boxing events, and naturally, it became the sacred place for every fighter in Japan.
And now, MMA organizations such as Pancrase, Shooto, The Smack Girl, and MA events such as All Japan Kickboxing, New Japan Kickboxing, and of course, various boxing organizations are regulars at this event hall.

A little while ago, Bout Review USA seriously thought of negotiating with this event hall to build a little room in the attic to nest our man Fernando so he can live there just like that bete in “The Phantom of the Opera.”
A writer living and writing in Korakuen Hall must report everyday, and of course, their column would be called, “The Phantom of Korakuen Hall.” It could be an ideal life style for any MMA journalist, right?
And we believe this novel idea wouldn’t work anywhere else but here, in Korakuen Hall.

Korakuen Hall seating chart