Sumo, explained from Japan.
Wrestlers, rankings, techniques and the customs around the ring. Written and edited in Japan from the Japan Sumo Association’s own announcements, ranking sheets and tournament records — and put into plain English.
Next tournament
- First day
- Final day
- Banzuke announced
- Countdown
Latest articles
All articles ≫
30 August 2026Sumo Rankings Explained: How the Banzuke Actually Works
29 August 2026Ryogoku Kokugikan: Inside Japan’s National Sumo Hall
27 August 2026How to Buy Sumo Tickets in Japan: Prices, Seats and Timing
27 August 2026Rikishi: What a Sumo Wrestler’s Life Is Really Like
27 August 2026Yokozuna: Sumo’s Highest Rank, Explained
27 August 2026What Is Sumo? A Beginner’s Guide to Japan’s National Sport
What do you want to know?
Start from what you came for
Sumo BasicsWhat sumo is, how a bout is won, and how a fifteen-day tournament runs.
RikishiThe wrestlers themselves: how they live, how they train, and who is worth watching.
RankingsThe banzuke ranking sheet, the six divisions, and what promotion actually takes.
Watching SumoTickets, venues, seats, and what a day at the Kokugikan is really like.
Sumo CultureThe salt, the belt, the stables, and the rules that are not in the rulebook.
Records & DataWhere results, rankings and historical records are published, and by whom.
The current banzuke
How ranking works ≫July 2026 Tournament — Nagoya BashoNext banzuke announced 31 August 2026.
East
Rank
West
HoshoryuTatsunami stable / Mongolia
Yokozuna
OnosatoNishonoseki stable / Ishikawa
KirishimaOtowayama stable / Mongolia
Ozeki
KotozakuraSadogatake stable / Chiba
AtamifujiIsegahama stable / Shizuoka
Sekiwake
KotoshohoSadogatake stable / Chiba
WakatakakageArashio stable / Fukushima
Sekiwake
AonishikiAjigawa stable / Ukraine
YoshinofujiIsegahama stable / Kumamoto
Komusubi
OhoOtake stable / Tokyo
FujinokawaIsenoumi stable / Kyoto
Maegashira 1
TakanoshoMinatogawa stable / Chiba
East
Rank
West
GonoyamaTakekuma stable / Osaka
Maegashira 2
ChuranoumiKise stable / Okinawa
HiradoumiSakaigawa stable / Nagasaki
Maegashira 3
HakunofujiIsegahama stable / Tottori
DaieishoOitekaze stable / Saitama
Maegashira 4
IchiyamamotoHanaregoma stable / Hokkaido
UraKise stable / Osaka
Maegashira 5
OshomaNaruto stable / Mongolia
ShodaiTokitsukaze stable / Kumamoto
Maegashira 6
FujiseiunFujishima stable / Kumamoto
KotoeihoSadogatake stable / Chiba
Maegashira 7
TakayasuTagonoura stable / Ibaraki
WakamotoharuArashio stable / Fukushima
Maegashira 8
RogaFutagoyama stable / Russia
FujiryogaFujishima stable / Aichi
Maegashira 9
TobizaruOitekaze stable / Tokyo
AsanoyamaTakasago stable / Toyama
Maegashira 10
ChiyoshomaKokonoe stable / Mongolia
WakanoshoMinatogawa stable / Tochigi
Maegashira 11
MitakeumiDewanoumi stable / Nagano
AsahakuryuTakasago stable / Mongolia
Maegashira 12
AbiShikoroyama stable / Saitama
NishikifujiIsegahama stable / Aomori
Maegashira 13
TakerufujiIsegahama stable / Aomori
KinbozanKise stable / Kazakhstan
Maegashira 14
ShishiIkazuchi stable / Ukraine
OnokatsuOnomatsu stable / Mongolia
Maegashira 15
KazumaKise stable / Osaka
DaiseizanArashio stable / China
Maegashira 16
AsakoryuTakasago stable / Osaka
East
Rank
West
AsasuiryuTakasago stable / Osaka
Juryo 1
KyokukaiyuOshima stable / Mongolia
TokihayateTokitsukaze stable / Miyagi
Juryo 2
SadanoumiSakaigawa stable / Kumamoto
RyudenTakadagawa stable / Yamanashi
Juryo 3
DewanoryuDewanoumi stable / Mongolia
TomokazeNakamura stable / Kanagawa
Juryo 4
ToshinofujiIsegahama stable / Mongolia
KitanowakaHakkaku stable / Yamagata
Juryo 5
OshoumiNaruto stable / Ishikawa
ShonannoumiTakadagawa stable / Kanagawa
Juryo 6
KazekenoOshiogawa stable / Ehime
TamawashiKataonami stable / Mongolia
Juryo 7
MeiseiTatsunami stable / Kagoshima
MidorifujiIsegahama stable / Shizuoka
Juryo 8
HatsuyamaTamanoi stable / Tokyo
ShirokumaNishonoseki stable / Fukushima
Juryo 9
NishinoryuSakaigawa stable / Osaka
HitoshiOitekaze stable / Tokyo
Juryo 10
TamashohoKataonami stable / Mongolia
KagayakiTakadagawa stable / Ishikawa
Juryo 11
EnhoIsegahama stable / Ishikawa
TohakuryuTamanoi stable / Tokyo
Juryo 12
KayoNakamura stable / Okinawa
ArashifujiIsegahama stable / Fukuoka
Juryo 13
HakuyozanTakadagawa stable / Yamagata
TochitaikaiKasugano stable / Saitama
Juryo 14
NishikigiIsenoumi stable / Iwate
YokozunaOnosatoNishonoseki stableThe 75th yokozuna, from Ishikawa, and the fastest climb to the top rank the modern sport has seen.
SekiwakeAonishikiAjigawa stableFrom Ukraine, and the quickest riser on the sheet. Three championships already, the last of them in Nagoya.
SekiwakeWakatakakageArashio stableA technician among giants. Two championships, and a long climb back after a knee injury dropped him out of the top division.
MaegashiraHakunofujiIsegahama stableFrom Tottori, and the most talked-about young wrestler on the sheet. Five kinboshi already.
East outranks West at the same rank. The whole sheet is redrawn and reissued before every tournament, and the names above are the two salaried divisions — the sekitori.
Start here
The questions people ask firstHow sumo works
Six things that explain most of itThe ringA circle 4.55 metres across, marked out in rice-straw bales on a clay platform. Step outside it, or touch the clay with anything other than the soles of your feet, and the bout is over.
Winning a boutThere is no time limit and there are no rounds. Most bouts are decided in a few seconds. The Sumo Association recognises 82 named winning techniques, but a handful of them account for most results.
Fifteen days, six times a yearA tournament runs fifteen days. Wrestlers in the two salaried divisions fight once a day, and eight wins is the line: eight or more is a winning record, seven or fewer means falling down the sheet.
The banzukeThe ranking sheet, redrawn and reissued before every tournament. Everyone in the sport is on it. East outranks West at the same rank, so East Yokozuna is the highest place on the sheet.
Six divisionsMakuuchi, Juryo, Makushita, Sandanme, Jonidan, Jonokuchi. Only the top two are salaried; those seventy or so men are the sekitori, and they are the ones you see on television.
StablesEvery wrestler belongs to a stable and lives in it. Wrestlers from the same stable are not matched against each other during a tournament, except in a play-off for the championship.
How a bout is won
The six finishes you will see most
Oshidashi押し出し · frontal push outThe most common finish of all. Hands on the chest, no grip on the belt, and he walks him straight out.
Yorikiri寄り切り · frontal force outThe textbook win. Take a grip on the belt, get your hips under his, and carry him over the bales.
Tsukidashi突き出し · frontal thrust outA volley of open-handed thrusts to the chest and throat that never lets him settle. Pushing, not gripping.
Oshitaoshi押し倒し · frontal push downThe same push as oshidashi, carried on until he goes down rather than out.
Yoritaoshi寄り倒し · frontal crush outA belt grip driven through to the end, so that he falls at the edge instead of stepping over it.
Tsukitaoshi突き倒し · frontal thrust downThrusting hard enough that he is knocked down where he stands.
A bout ends the moment a wrestler steps out of the ring or touches the clay. The Sumo Association names 82 ways of making that happen; the six above cover most of a tournament.
The tournament year
2026New Year BashoFinished
11–25 January
Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo
Spring BashoFinished
8–22 March
EDION Arena Osaka, Osaka
Summer BashoFinished
10–24 May
Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo
Nagoya BashoFinished
12–26 July
IG Arena, Nagoya
Autumn BashoNext
13–27 September
Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo
Kyushu Basho
8–22 November
Fukuoka Kokusai Center, Fukuoka
Six tournaments a year, fifteen days each, always starting and ending on a Sunday. Three of them are in Tokyo and the other three move around the country.
A day at the tournament
Doors at eight, last bout at sixFrom 8:00
Doors openThe lowest divisions fight first, in a hall that is nearly empty. This is the cheapest time to be here and the easiest time to get close to the ring.
Around 14:15
Juryo ring-entering ceremonyThe second division files onto the clay in embroidered aprons, and then fights. The hall starts to fill.
Around 15:40
Makuuchi ring-entering ceremonyThe top division does the same, and the yokozuna performs his own ceremony afterwards, in the white rope.
Around 16:15
The top-division boutsAround twenty bouts, one every couple of minutes, each one preceded by salt and staring.
Around 17:55
Musubi-no-ichibanThe final bout of the day, traditionally the highest-ranked wrestler on the sheet.
Around 18:00
Yumitori-shikiThe bow-twirling ceremony that closes the day. Most of the hall stays for it.
Times are approximate and shift a little from tournament to tournament. One ticket covers the whole day, and you can come and go.
Watching sumo in Japan
All guides ≫
Go and see it for yourself.
Tickets go on sale about a month before each tournament and the good seats go first. How to buy them from outside Japan, which seat is worth the money, when to arrive, and what the day looks like from the first bout to the last.