January 2027, the Hatsu Basho
The New Year tournament runs from Sunday 10 to Sunday 24 January. General sales open on Saturday 5 December 2026. Several Japan travel guides single out the January tournament as the one that sells out on the first day of sales, together with weekend days and the final day of every tournament. In 2027 the January tournament has three weekends: the opening Sunday, 16 and 17 January, and the closing weekend of 23 and 24 January.
For the guided tournament day, the group seats for January arrive between late November and mid-December. Booking before that is possible; you learn your seat once the allocation is in.
May 2027, the Natsu Basho
The summer tournament runs from Sunday 9 to Sunday 23 May. Its general sale opens on Saturday 10 April, in the middle of the cherry blossom weeks, so a spring trip to Tokyo can include the sale day but not the tournament. Golden Week (29 April to 5 May 2027) falls in the days just before the opening, when the stables prepare and the shows are in heavy demand.
The guided tour expects its May seats between 21 March and 11 April. Late March and early April have no tournament in Tokyo at all: the wrestlers compete in Osaka from 14 to 28 March.
September 2027, the Aki Basho
The autumn tournament runs from Sunday 12 to Sunday 26 September, with general sales from Saturday 7 August. Group seats for the guided tour come in between 25 July and 15 August. After September, the next tournament in Tokyo is January 2028; its dates have not been published yet and will be added here when the Japan Sumo Association announces them.
Read the cancellation terms before you book the guided day
The guided tournament day cannot be cancelled once booked. The listing names one exception: if no tickets are allocated for your date, you are offered a rebooking or a refund. The seats are chairs on the second floor, not a box at the ring; the option you book decides the class.
How the guided day gets its seats
The operator does not hold tickets when you book. It works with group allocations that the sumo association releases four to seven weeks before a tournament, and the exact meeting point in Ryogoku is sent by e-mail at least a week before the date. The listing asks guests not to go straight to the hall. The day lasts about four hours, and up to 20 guests sit together with the English-speaking guide, who talks to them through audio headsets. A booklet with the current banzuke, the ranking list, is included; a meal is not, though a chanko dinner with a vegetarian version can be added at checkout. The same operator runs these days at all four tournament cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka), so check that your booking is for the Tokyo date you want. When we checked the listing in October 2026, it said guests book it 86 days ahead on average, which for January points to booking in October.
A tournament day at the Kokugikan
A tournament day starts in the morning with the lowest divisions, in a hall that is still mostly empty. According to visitor guides to the Kokugikan, the top-division wrestlers enter the ring in ceremonial dress at around 15:40, their bouts follow, and the day ends with the bow-twirling ceremony at 18:00. One of these guides notes that tour groups usually arrive in the early afternoon, ahead of that ceremony. You may leave the hall and return once during the day. Food and drink from outside are generally not allowed, but bento boxes, yakitori and bowls of chanko are sold inside.
Seats in the Kokugikan
The hall has box seats (masu) shared by four people and chair seats in several classes on the upper floor. The guided day uses the chair seats. Its standard option puts the group in B or C class chairs on the second floor, in the case of B class between rows 7 and 11, and its premium option in S or A class chairs, which are closer to the ring. You pick the option when booking; the exact seats arrive with the group allocation. Everything happens indoors, so weather plays no part in a tournament day.
No tournament during your stay
Outside the three tournament fortnights, Tokyo still has two kinds of sumo to book. The sumo shows run all year with former wrestlers, but they are demonstrations; the operators state that they are not a real tournament. Morning practice in a stable shows real training, and the weeks before a Tokyo tournament are the usual time for it. During the 15 tournament days and for 7 to 10 days afterwards the stables do not hold it.
Outside Tokyo, the 2027 tournaments are in Osaka (14 to 28 March), Nagoya (11 to 25 July) and Fukuoka (14 to 28 November).
