A few years ago I was lucky enough to make a visit to Akebono's sumo stable to watch the early morning practices. I was impressed by how strenuous the workouts were; back-to-back matches that had muscles straining while sweat poured down the faces and backs of the young sumotori in training. How, I wondered, do they ever get so fat? I'd heard about chanko nabe, the one-pot wonder dish that's supposed to restore lost nutrients while helping the wrestlers bulk up. But isn't it all veggies and fish? How do you get fat on this stuff? 

I decided to see for myself. Getting together a group of six, we made a reservation at Kita-no-Fuji in Higashi Nakano for the least expensive course (¥3300). I weighed myself in the morning, then headed off to Monzen-Nakacho where we spent the afternoon in admittedly less than strenuous exercise - crisscrossing the streets on a two-hour "Seven Gods of Fortune" temple walk, winding up back at the station for beers. 

Then on to Kita-no-Fuji where the food, in a word, is voluminous, as befits a restaurant decked out in sumo memorabilia. The seating is cramped - small tables with equally small cushions packed in together, but the food preparation is so interactive you soon forget the close quarters. 

Small servings of various appetizers, like the house special deep fried shrimp with lemon, is followed by enormous plates of sashimi. We washed it all down with cold sake, though even the practiced among us spilled copious amounts of it on our pants, trying to drink from overflowing glasses set in square wooden boxes. No matter; everyone in the place was so busy preparing their food we escaped notice. 

Our chanko fixings arrive. A pot of bubbling stock into which we toss cabbage, ground chicken balls, salmon and cod, tofu, onion and chunks of chicken, ending it all with noodles. Each person is presented with a small mortar and pestle containing whole sesame seeds; while the ingredients in the nabe bubble and cook, each diner grinds his or her own seeds. (There's an interesting Japanese euphemism surrounding this activity. Goma-suri - to grind sesame seeds - means "to brown nose.") The cooked proceeds of the nabe pot go into the mortar, resulting in a rich, sesame-flavored stew. 

Our party of six had shrunk to five so there was really too much food, but all of it was delicious. The bill, with sake and beer, came to about ¥4500 a head.