Going to a basho 観戦

There are six basho a year, each 15 days long, from a Sunday to a Sunday. Tokyo holds three of them, at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.

Each basho's general sale opens on a Saturday, about four to eight weeks before day 1. For both basho checked, January and November 2026, Ticket Oosumo opened its English sale at 10 am Japan time. For Hatsu 2027's sale on 5 December, 10 am in Japan is midday in Sydney.

Advance lotteries come first, and some seat types can sell out in them and never reach the general sale. For November 2026 the JSA listed four. The first two were for members of the official fan club. Ticket Oosumo's took entries from 28 to 31 August, and Ticket Pia's from 4 to 7 September. Ticket Oosumo's English site also ran an international one, with a 550-yen fee on each ticket bought through it.

The official seller in English is Ticket Oosumo. It sells online, so you can buy before you leave, and you print the tickets at a 7-Eleven once you're in Japan.

Tickets usually sell out, japan-guide says, and weekends and holidays are the hardest days to get. On 4 November the JSA listed every day of the November 2026 basho as sold out.

Don't count on buying at the door. For Fukuoka in November 2026, Ticket Oosumo says no tickets will be sold on the day. For January 2026, the Kokugikan's page said that once a day had sold out, its box office would sell nothing on the day.

Buy from the official seller. The JSA's terms ban reselling tickets without its permission, and Ticket Oosumo warns against resale sites.

Children from 4 need their own ticket, and for January 2026 there was no child discount. That basho's wheelchair seats, for a wheelchair user and one companion, could only be booked by phone, in Japanese.

Box seats, masu-seki, are on the floor. You take your shoes off and sit on cushions, and a box holds four people and is sold whole. Chair seats are like the seats at any stadium. Ticket Oosumo also sells A and S grades, which cost more. Its S boxes are on its Japanese site only.

A ticket covers the whole day. Bouts start in the morning and finish around 6 pm, and the doors open at 8:45 on most days.

The day climbs from the lowest division up, so the top divisionmakuuchi 幕内The top division: 42 wrestlers, from yokozuna down to the maegashira. More on makuuchi fights last. To see it, japan-guide suggests being in your seat from 3:30 pm.

You can leave and come back, but how often depends on the basho. Ticket Oosumo's page for Tokyo in January 2026 allowed it once, and its page for Fukuoka in November 2026 allows it as often as you like. Both ask you to be back by 5 pm.

It's on the Kokugikan's ground floor, a minute's walk from JR Ryōgoku Station, and entry is free. Outside a Tokyo basho it's usually open on weekdays from 10 am to 4:30 pm, with last entry at 4. During one it opens from 12:30 to 4 pm, and you need a basho ticket to get in. It shows woodblock prints and old banzuke, in displays that change.

A stable's training, keikokeiko 稽古Training. In a stable it starts early, around 6am. More on keiko, starts early, around 6 am. Few stablesheya 部屋A stable: the house where wrestlers train, and where the juniors live. More on heya take visitors. They aren't sightseeing spots, and you'd usually need someone with you who speaks Japanese and knows the customs. In practice that means a guided tour.

There's a free way to watch in Tokyo. Arashio stable in Nihonbashi has a big window onto the street, and its own guide gives viewing from 7:30 to 9 am, with no booking. It asks you to keep quiet and not to sit on the neighbours' stairs, and it warns that practice can stop without notice.

Stables close to visitors during every basho and for about a week after, one tour operator says. In November 2026 Arashio's own guide said it had left for Fukuoka for the basho, with no practice in Tokyo until December.