The simplest way to watch live sumo from outside Japan is NHK World-Japan, which is free and in English. It shows a 27-minute highlights programme of every top-division bout each day, and broadcasts four days of each tournament live. Inside Japan, NHK carries every afternoon on TV, and the streaming service ABEMA shows every bout free, in Japanese. According to the Japan Sumo Association’s timetable, the top division starts at about 4:05 p.m. Japan time and finishes by 6 p.m. This guide sets out each option, what it costs and when to tune in.
📖 What you’ll learn
- Every official way to watch sumo, compared in one table
- What NHK World-Japan shows live, and on which four days
- How NHK and ABEMA cover a tournament inside Japan
- What time the top division starts in New York, Los Angeles and London
- Where to catch up on bouts you missed
- The 2026–2027 tournament dates, and when to watch in person
How to Watch Sumo Live: Your Options at a Glance
To watch sumo live, use NHK World-Japan anywhere in the world, or NHK TV and the free ABEMA stream inside Japan.
Watching sumo live means following a basho (one of the six 15-day Grand Sumo Tournaments held each year) as the bouts happen, on TV or online. The choice depends mostly on where you are. Japan’s domestic services are built for viewers in Japan, while NHK’s international channel is built for everyone else.
The second question is how much of the day you want. A tournament day starts in the morning with the lowest division, jonokuchi, and climbs through the ranks to makuuchi, the top division, in the late afternoon. Of the services in this guide, NHK World-Japan and JME show only makuuchi, and only ABEMA covers the whole day.
| Service | Live or later | Divisions | Language | Cost | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHK World-Japan | Live on 4 days; daily 27-minute highlights | Top division | English | Free | Worldwide, online |
| NHK (General TV, BS) | Live every day, from 1 p.m. | Afternoon, incl. juryo and top division | Japanese | Regular NHK TV in Japan | Japan |
| NHK ONE | Live and catch-up for the General TV part | From about 3 p.m., incl. top division | Japanese | See NHK’s guide | Japan only |
| ABEMA | Live every day, all day | All six, jonokuchi to the final bout | Japanese | Free | Built for Japan |
| JME Grand Sumo Channel | Highlight digests, not live | Top division | English | Not stated on JME’s guide | US and Canada |
| Official app and YouTube | Clips after the bout | Top two divisions | Mixed | Free, with paid app plan | Online |
The Japan Sumo Association’s own viewing guide (in Japanese) lists the domestic options: NHK BS from 1 p.m., NHK General TV and online from 3 p.m., NHK Radio 1 from 4 p.m., and ABEMA from the first bout to the last. It does not list an overseas streaming partner, so this guide sticks to broadcasters’ and the Association’s own pages.
Q. Is sumo free to watch online?
A. Yes. NHK World-Japan streams its English sumo programmes worldwide free of charge, including a daily highlights show and four live broadcasts per tournament. Inside Japan, ABEMA streams every bout of every division free. Free does not mean available everywhere: ABEMA and NHK ONE are made for viewers in Japan, and NHK ONE restricts use from overseas. The official app’s full archive needs a paid membership.
NHK World-Japan: Free English Highlights and Four Live Days
NHK World-Japan, NHK’s international service, broadcasts sumo in English free of charge, with daily highlights and four live days per tournament.
The daily programme is GRAND SUMO Highlights. Each episode is 27 minutes long and, in NHK’s own description, “features all top-division bouts” from that day. According to NHK World-Japan’s sumo page, it airs four times a day during a tournament, at 4:30, 8:30, 16:30 and 23:30 UTC. In September, that is 12:30 a.m., 4:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in New York.
The live programme is GRAND SUMO LIVE. NHK’s programme page lists live coverage of Days 1, 8, 14 and 15 of each tournament. It starts at 5:10 p.m. Japan Standard Time (JST), when the top-division bouts are well under way, and runs to the end of the day. On Day 15, the final day, it starts earlier, at 4:30 p.m. JST.
That schedule means you see the second half of the top division live, including the musubi-no-ichiban, the day’s final bout. On the final day you also see the closing stages of the title race.
You do not need a TV. NHK World-Japan’s FAQ says the channel is provided free of charge and streamed online worldwide, so a web browser is enough.
Missed the broadcast? Highlights episodes go on demand as soon as they finish airing. In NHK’s episode data for September 2026, each one is listed as available for about a week. The Day 1 live broadcast of the September 2026 tournament was also posted on demand. The FAQ notes that some programmes are left off on demand because of rights restrictions, so treat the archive as a bonus rather than a promise.
Q. Can I watch sumo live outside Japan?
A. Yes, on four days of each tournament. NHK World-Japan broadcasts GRAND SUMO LIVE in English on Days 1, 8, 14 and 15, starting at 5:10 p.m. Japan time, or 4:30 p.m. on the final day. It is free and streams online worldwide. On the other eleven days, its 27-minute highlights show covers every top-division bout, and each episode stays on demand for about a week. Japan’s domestic streams, NHK ONE and ABEMA, are not a reliable fallback abroad.
Sumo on TV in Japan: NHK General, NHK BS and NHK ONE
In Japan, sumo is on NHK every tournament day: NHK BS from 1 p.m., then NHK General TV from about 3 p.m. until 6 p.m.
NHK’s programme page (in Japanese) sets out how the afternoon is split. Coverage opens on NHK BS and BS4K at 1 p.m., in time for juryo, the second division. It moves to NHK General TV at around 3 p.m. and stays there for the top division until the end of the day. On September 15, 2026, for example, BS ran from 1:00 to 3:10 p.m. and General TV from 3:10 to 6:00 p.m.
The commentary is in Japanese. If you are staying at a hotel in Japan, NHK General TV is the channel to look for in the late afternoon.
NHK also streams the broadcast through NHK ONE, the service that replaced NHK Plus on October 1, 2025. There are two limits. First, the programme page ties its live and catch-up streaming to the General TV broadcast, and mentions no streaming for the BS part of the afternoon. Second, NHK’s NHK ONE guide (in Japanese) describes it as a service for Japan, and says use from overseas is restricted.
For radio, the Association’s viewing guide lists NHK Radio 1 from 4 p.m., which covers the top division.
Q. What channel is sumo on in Japan?
A. NHK. Coverage starts on NHK BS at 1 p.m. and moves to NHK General TV at around 3 p.m., where it runs until 6 p.m. The commentary is in Japanese. NHK ONE streams the General TV part of the day inside Japan, and NHK Radio 1 carries the top division from 4 p.m. For English commentary while in Japan, use NHK World-Japan’s online stream on its four live days.
ABEMA: Every Bout From Jonokuchi Up, Free but in Japanese
ABEMA streams every bout of a Grand Sumo Tournament free, from the lowest division to the final bout, with Japanese commentary.
That makes it the most complete way to watch. For the September 2026 tournament, ABEMA’s announcement (in Japanese) promised all bouts, from jonokuchi to the musubi-no-ichiban, streamed live and free across all 15 days. Its programme page also offers catch-up viewing and highlights.
The morning divisions are where you see newcomers and young wrestlers working their way up the ranks. No other service in this guide shows them.
ABEMA’s operator, CyberAgent, has reported record sumo audiences twice in a row (in Japanese): for the July 2024 tournament and the January 2025 tournament, each about 1.2 times the same tournament a year earlier.
The catch is location and language. ABEMA is built for viewers in Japan, and its help centre (in Japanese) states that some countries and some TV programmes cannot be viewed. The help page does not say which applies to sumo. When we opened abema.tv from a US connection on September 15, 2026, the site returned an error. Treat ABEMA as a service for when you are in Japan.
Q. Does ABEMA have English commentary for sumo?
A. We found no English commentary option in ABEMA’s sumo announcement or on its programme page; the coverage is made for a Japanese audience. For English commentary, use NHK World-Japan, which broadcasts four days of each tournament live and a daily highlights programme. ABEMA’s help centre also notes that some countries cannot view its programmes, so outside Japan it may not play at all.
What Time Is Sumo On? A Tournament Day in Your Time Zone
The top division starts at about 4:05 p.m. JST and ends by 6 p.m., which is overnight in the US and morning in the UK.
Japan does not use daylight saving time, so its times stay the same all year. Yours may not. The US ends daylight saving time on November 1, 2026, according to NIST, and the UK puts its clocks back on October 25, according to GOV.UK. The September and November tournaments therefore fall on different sides of the change.
The day itself follows a fixed pattern. This is the Association’s timetable for Days 2 to 12 of the September 2026 tournament in Tokyo.
Converted to your clock, the key moments look like this. The November tournament is held in Fukuoka, and its timetable was not yet published at the time of writing, so the November columns apply the Tokyo September times, with the last bout finishing at 6 p.m.
| Japan (JST) | New York, Sept (EDT) | Los Angeles, Sept (PDT) | London, Sept (BST) | New York, Nov (EST) | Los Angeles, Nov (PST) | London, Nov (GMT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2:35 p.m. Juryo bouts | 1:35 a.m. | 10:35 p.m. (previous day) | 6:35 a.m. | 12:35 a.m. | 9:35 p.m. (previous day) | 5:35 a.m. |
| 4:05 p.m. Top division | 3:05 a.m. | 12:05 a.m. | 8:05 a.m. | 2:05 a.m. | 11:05 p.m. (previous day) | 7:05 a.m. |
| 4:30 p.m. NHK World live, Day 15 | 3:30 a.m. | 12:30 a.m. | 8:30 a.m. | 2:30 a.m. | 11:30 p.m. (previous day) | 7:30 a.m. |
| 5:10 p.m. NHK World live, Days 1, 8, 14 | 4:10 a.m. | 1:10 a.m. | 9:10 a.m. | 3:10 a.m. | 12:10 a.m. | 8:10 a.m. |
| 6:00 p.m. Final bout ends | 5:00 a.m. | 2:00 a.m. | 10:00 a.m. | 4:00 a.m. | 1:00 a.m. | 9:00 a.m. |
In practice, UK viewers get the kindest slot: the top division live over breakfast. On the US West Coast, it runs from around midnight. On the East Coast, it lands in the small hours, when the daily highlights may be the easier choice.
The January 2027 tournament falls in standard time on both sides of the Atlantic, so the November columns apply to it as well.
Q. What time does the top division start?
A. At about 4:05 p.m. Japan time on a normal day in Tokyo, according to the Japan Sumo Association’s timetable, and it ends by 6 p.m. During the September tournament that is 3:05 a.m. in New York, 12:05 a.m. in Los Angeles and 8:05 a.m. in London. After the clocks change, US and UK times move one hour earlier.
Catching Up After the Day: YouTube Clips, SUMO PRIME TIME and the Official App
If you miss the live broadcast, the Japan Sumo Association’s YouTube channel and official app post individual bouts after they are fought.
The Association’s main YouTube channel uploads featured top-division bouts one at a time, each a minute or two long, plus some bouts from the lower divisions. Video titles are in Japanese. The Association does not publish an upload time, so check after the day’s session ends.
For English, the Association runs a second channel, SUMO PRIME TIME. The Japan Times reported its launch in August 2022, with veteran presenter Hiro Morita.
The official app, called Grand Sumo in English and made by Dwango, is the deepest archive. Its English page lists videos of top-division and juryo bouts, approximately 600 per tournament. Free users can watch one a day. A paid membership unlocks the rest.
In the US and Canada, JME’s Grand Sumo Channel offers daily highlight digests of every top-division bout, narrated in English. Despite the page’s title, the digests are highlights rather than a live feed. JME’s guide does not state a price.
Results come last. The Association’s English site posts each day’s results under “Today’s Bouts”, along with the day’s bout sheet in English.
| Catch-up option | What you get | Length | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| NHK World-Japan highlights (on demand) | Every top-division bout of the day, English | 27 minutes; about a week online | Free |
| Japan Sumo Association YouTube | Featured bouts, one video each | 1–2 minutes | Free |
| SUMO PRIME TIME (YouTube) | The Association’s English-language channel | Varies | Free |
| Grand Sumo app | Top-division and juryo bouts, about 600 per tournament | One bout per video | 1 free a day; membership for all |
| JME Grand Sumo Channel | Top-division digests, English narration | Daily digests | Not stated on JME’s guide |
Q. Where can I watch sumo in the US?
A. The free option is NHK World-Japan, which streams four live days per tournament and a daily highlights show in English. JME’s Grand Sumo Channel adds English-narrated highlight digests for viewers in the US and Canada. For single bouts, the Japan Sumo Association’s YouTube channels and the Grand Sumo app post clips after each day.
When to Watch: 2026–2027 Tournament Dates and the Days NHK Shows Live
The next tournaments run November 8–22, 2026, in Fukuoka and January 10–24, 2027, in Tokyo, according to the Japan Sumo Association.
Each tournament lasts 15 days, and each of these opens and closes on a Sunday. With NHK World-Japan’s live days fixed at Days 1, 8, 14 and 15, you can plan ahead from the Association’s official schedule.
| Tournament | Venue | Day 1 | Day 8 | Day 14 | Day 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo | Sept 13 | Sept 20 | Sept 26 | Sept 27 |
| November 2026 | Fukuoka Kokusai Center | Nov 8 | Nov 15 | Nov 21 | Nov 22 |
| January 2027 | Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo | Jan 10 | Jan 17 | Jan 23 | Jan 24 |
The dates in the table are Japan dates. In New York, every live broadcast starts in the early hours of the same day. In Los Angeles in November, the Day 15 broadcast starts late on the previous evening.
If you are new to the sport, a few minutes with our guide to sumo rules before Day 1 will make the bouts far easier to follow. The ranking system explains why the order of the day matters. Every date through 2027 is in our sumo tournament schedule.
Q. When is the next sumo tournament?
A. After September, the next Grand Sumo Tournament runs from November 8 to 22, 2026, at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. The one after that is at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo from January 10 to 24, 2027. NHK World-Japan’s live English days for November are November 8, 15, 21 and 22, Japan time.
Prefer the Arena? Watching Sumo Live in Person
The fullest way to watch sumo live is from an arena seat, where the day runs from the first bout to 6 p.m.
TV shows you the top division. The arena shows you the whole ritual around it: the dohyo-iri, the ring-entering ceremonies of the top two divisions, the salt and the pauses between charges, and the whole arena waiting on the final bout. The doors open at 8:45 a.m. on most days of the Tokyo tournament.
Tickets are sold separately for each tournament. Our guide to buying sumo tickets covers seat types, prices and sale dates, and Ryogoku Kokugikan explains the Tokyo venue.
Sumo occasionally travels, too. When the Grand Sumo Tournament came to London’s Royal Albert Hall in October 2025, Pluto TV streamed it live, and the BBC showed it on Red Button. Overseas events like that come with their own broadcast deals, separate from the six tournaments in Japan.
Summary
To watch sumo live, choose by location: NHK World-Japan anywhere in the world, and NHK or ABEMA inside Japan.
NHK World-Japan is free and in English, with live coverage on Days 1, 8, 14 and 15 and a 27-minute highlights show of every top-division bout on the other days. In Japan, NHK carries the afternoon on BS and General TV, and ABEMA streams every bout from jonokuchi to the final bout, free and in Japanese. The top division runs from about 4:05 p.m. to 6 p.m. JST, which is breakfast time in London and the middle of the night in the US. After the day, YouTube clips and the Grand Sumo app fill the gaps.
Read next: Grand sumo tournament schedule · Sumo rules explained · How to buy sumo tickets · Sumo rankings · What is sumo?
A sumo bout is often over in seconds, after minutes of preparation at the edge of the ring. That is why the clock matters more than the channel. Pick your service, set an alarm for the top division, and watch the day’s final bout as it happens.
