Sumo Grand Tournament Schedule

Professional sumo in Japan runs on a fixed calendar: six 15-day Grand Tournaments (honbasho) each year, rotating between four cities — Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. Kyoto isn’t on the circuit, has never hosted a honbasho, and won’t in the foreseeable future. That’s not a matter of demand — it’s a matter of infrastructure and how the Japan Sumo Association organises itself.

Here is the full honbasho schedule, why the circuit skips Kyoto, and what your options are if your trip doesn’t align with a tournament.

The six honbasho at a glance

Each tournament runs for 15 consecutive days, always starting on a Sunday. Lower divisions wrestle in the morning. The top division (Makuuchi) bouts run from mid-afternoon into the early evening.

Why Kyoto isn’t on the rotation

Three overlapping reasons:

1. No dedicated sumo venue. A honbasho requires a permanent building with a raised clay dohyo, tiered seating around all four sides, traditional box (masu-seki) and balcony layouts, and the capacity to host daily crowds of 5,000+ for 15 consecutive days. Kyoto has beautiful cultural buildings but none designed around a permanent sumo ring. Building one would be unusual given how close Kyoto is to Osaka, which already has EDION Arena 90 minutes away by train.

2. No active professional stables. All 40-plus Japan Sumo Association–registered heya (training stables) are located in the Kanto region around Tokyo. That matters because the wrestlers live and train at their stables year-round, and the Association schedules honbasho in cities that can absorb the logistical overhead of moving 600+ rikishi, coaches, and staff. Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka are each the regional centre of their respective areas — Kyoto is in Osaka’s shadow.

3. Historic patterns. The four-city rotation was set in 1958 when the JSA expanded from four to six tournaments per year. The logic was regional coverage: Kanto (Tokyo), Kansai (Osaka), Chūbu (Nagoya), and Kyushu (Fukuoka). Kyoto already sits inside the Kansai region and is considered served by Osaka’s Haru Basho.

The closest Kyoto gets to professional sumo is the jungyo — regional exhibition tours the JSA runs between honbasho. Jungyo stops include cities like Yokohama, Sendai, Kobe, and occasionally Kyoto-area venues on an ad-hoc basis. These are one-day exhibitions, not tournaments, and they’re lower-intensity because wrestlers are resting between honbasho. You can see professionals, but not the real competitive stakes.

What each honbasho is actually like

Tokyo (Jan, May, Sep) — the main event

The Ryogoku Kokugikan holds roughly 11,000 spectators. Tickets range from around ¥3,500 for upper-tier (isu-seki) seats to ¥50,000+ for premium ringside boxes. The building sits a short walk from Ryogoku Station, and the Ryogoku neighbourhood is the sumo capital of Japan — multiple chankonabe restaurants, the Sumo Museum, and the stables that produce the wrestlers you’ll watch compete. For a full view of Tokyo’s sumo scene, see our sister site at Ryogoku Kokugikan.

Osaka (March) — the spring tournament

EDION Arena Osaka (still sometimes called the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium) seats around 7,000. The venue is smaller than Ryogoku, which means the acoustic intimacy is better — you can hear the impact of the hits. Tickets tend to be slightly cheaper and marginally easier to secure on short notice than Tokyo, though all honbasho are popular.

Nagoya (July) — the hot one

Since 2025, the Nagoya tournament has moved from the ageing Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium (also known as Dolphins Arena) to the new IG Arena (officially Aichi International Arena), which opened in June 2025 about 800 metres north of the old venue. Nagoya in July is hot — mid-30s °C typical — but the new arena is properly climate-controlled, with 14 rows of chair seating and no obstructing pillars, unlike the 59-year-old building it replaced.

Fukuoka (November) — the final tournament

The Kyushu Basho is the sixth and final honbasho of the year, held at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. It closes out the year’s rankings and has a slightly more relaxed end-of-season feel. Fukuoka itself makes a good weekend break from the other sumo cities.

Sumo divisions explained

Professional sumo has six divisions. From top to bottom:

1. Makuuchi (top division) — 42 rikishi total, split into five ranks (Yokozuna, Ozeki, Sekiwake, Komusubi, Maegashira)
2. Juryo — second division, 28 rikishi
3. Makushita — third
4. Sandanme — fourth
5. Jonidan — fifth
6. Jonokuchi — lowest

Only Makuuchi and Juryo wrestlers are considered sekitori (“those who have broken through”) — salaried professionals. Lower divisions earn stipends and rely on stable life. The Grand Champion rank (Yokozuna) sits at the apex of Makuuchi and is granted rarely; there may be one, two, or occasionally zero Yokozuna at any given time.

If your trip doesn’t align

Most travellers’ Japan itineraries don’t overlap with a honbasho. That’s fine — there are two realistic alternatives:

1. A Kyoto sumo show (year-round)

The Kyoto Sumoan show runs daily from 12:00, 15:00, and 18:00 (and a 21:30 late-night option), three minutes from the Imperial Palace. Ex top-division rikishi perform an authentic demonstration and real competitive bout, followed by a chankonabe meal and a ring challenge for up to 8 guests per session. This isn’t a tournament — the stakes are demonstrative — but the rikishi and the craft are the real thing.

See our Kyoto vs Osaka vs Tokyo comparison for how the show format stacks against honbasho.

2. An Osaka or Yokohama show

If you’re pairing Japan cities, the Osaka and Yokohama shows offer similar format — retired or semi-retired rikishi, live demonstrations, shorter than a full honbasho day. Format variations include whether chankonabe is included, whether the show has a geisha component, and whether the audience can enter the ring.

How to book honbasho tickets

The Japan Sumo Association releases tickets roughly six weeks before each tournament starts. Official distribution is through Ticket Oosumo (the JSA’s own ticketing system). Popular days — especially weekends and the final Sunday (Senshūraku) when championships are decided — sell out within hours of release. Secondary-market pricing on these days can be 3–5× face value.

Better strategy: target a mid-week day (Wednesday or Thursday) within the tournament. You see the same wrestlers, often the same ranking matches, at face value with broader seat choice.

Ready to Book?

Grand Tournament-sized sumo is unbeatable when the dates align — but outside those six 15-day windows, the year-round Kyoto option fills the gap without pretending to be something it isn’t. The Kyoto Sumoan show runs daily from $57 per person with free cancellation, and is the closest you’ll get to the real thing on a random Tuesday. See our rituals guide for what the ceremony actually means, or the three-city comparison for the full honbasho-vs-show breakdown.