Before there was the question of how many tickets could be sold or which sumotori would appear there was the big question surrounding the Hawai'i Grand Sumo Tournament:

"Where will we find the dirt?"

"That was a very big question," said Wayne Miyao, who has helped coordinate the event. "People from Japan came to make sure the right kind could be found."

Problem solved: Organizers said 10 tons of soil, with what was deemed the right composition, were brought in from Halawa to build the dohyo (ring) on which Saturday and Sunday's matches will be fought at Blaisdell Arena.

"It has to be the right kind of soil," said Minezaki, the sumo elder overseeing the two-day process of raising a 2-foot-high, 18-foot-square, straw-encircled mound from the arena's floor.

In Japan, the Japan Sumo Association gets its prized soil of heavy clay composition from nearby Chiba. It is then hauled in four truck-loads to the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, where the January, May and September tournaments are held.

Importation of that much soil was impractical so officials scouted O'ahu to secure the right product.

Once it was located, several former Hawai'i sumotori agreed to help in the construction. "It was a way of helping give back to sumo and Hawai'i for all we have received," said Wayne Vierra, who competed as Kamikiiwa in the 1980s.

"It is good to be back around sumo again," said Troy Talaimatai, the former Ozora.

"It has been a while since I've been back up there on top of the ring," said John Feleunga, whose ring name was Takamio, and who pushed wheelbarrow loads of soil as the ring took shape.

The yobidashi, whose in-tournament function is to stand at the ring and announce the participants, coordinate much of the ring building, a practice that has changed very little in the 400 years that sumo has used a dohyo.

The yobidashi seek a balance between a surface that is not too hard and likely to be too slippery or to injure the sumotori and one that is too soft and will crumble. "It is very important to have it correct," said Jiro, a 47-year-old senior yobidashi with 30 years of experience.

The ring, into which dried squid, rice and dried seaweed are buried as ritual offerings, and sprinkled with sake, was hard-packed and watered yesterday. When it passes inspection this morning, it will be blessed by a senior referee, a spokesman said.

After being a sumotori, "seeing it from the other side, you appreciate the work that goes into getting the ring ready," Vierra said.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.