Sumo Tournament Tickets 2026-2027: What Every Seat Actually Costs
- A solo weekday Chair C seat for the Tokyo tournament comes to ¥5,500 once the ¥2,000 overseas service fee is added.[1]
- The biggest line item is a Box C seat at a weekend Tokyo tournament: ¥38,000 for the whole 4-person box, before fees.[1]
- The cheapest realistic option is a weekday Chair C seat in Fukuoka: ¥2,000 face value plus fees.[2]
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The only official channel for overseas buyers is Ticket Oosumo English at sumo.pia.jp.[3] Every seat class has a fixed, dated yen price, and every online purchase carries a fee the price tables do not show.
Buy from Ticket Oosumo English, not a tour reseller, unless you land the same day
Ticket Oosumo English sells every seat class the Japan Sumo Association releases, at face value plus a flat ¥2,000 service fee per ticket.[1] Resellers such as Klook bundle tickets into guided tours with English support and no pickup hassle. That markup is worth paying only if you cannot collect a ticket at a Japan-based Seven-Eleven before your seat date. Ticket Oosumo English tickets must be issued in person at a Seven-Eleven inside Japan.[1] There is no e-ticket and no mail delivery, so this route does not work if you land the same day you plan to watch sumo.
The 2026-2027 schedule: dates, cities and sale-start dates
Six tournaments run through mid-2027, alternating between Tokyo and three regional cities.[3] Tickets for each tournament go on sale a few weeks to about five weeks before the first day, always through Ticket Oosumo English.
| Tournament | Dates | Venue | Tickets on sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | Sep. 13-27, 2026 | Tokyo (Ryogoku Kokugikan) | Aug. 8, 2026, 10:00 |
| November 2026 | Nov. 8-22, 2026 | Fukuoka | Sep. 19, 2026, 10:00 |
| January 2027 | Jan. 10-24, 2027 | Tokyo | Dec. 5, 2026 |
| March 2027 | Mar. 14-28, 2027 | Osaka | Feb. 8, 2027 |
| May 2027 | May 9-23, 2027 | Tokyo | Apr. 10, 2027 |
| July 2027 | Jul. 11-25, 2027 | Nagoya | May 15, 2027 |
All dates come from the Ticket Oosumo English schedule page.[3] As of late September 2026, the November Fukuoka sale window is already open, and January 2027 Tokyo tickets are not yet on sale.
What every seat class costs, Tokyo versus Fukuoka
Tokyo prices run higher than a regional tournament for the identical seat class. Chair Seats C at the September 2026 Tokyo tournament cost ¥3,500 on a weekday and ¥4,000 on a weekend or holiday.[1] The same category at the November 2026 Fukuoka tournament costs ¥2,000 on a weekday and ¥2,500 on a weekend.[2] Box seats scale the same way. A 4-person Box C costs ¥34,000 to ¥38,000 in Tokyo, and ¥32,000 to ¥34,000 for the same box class in Fukuoka.[1][2] Ringside seats (tamari) cost ¥20,000 per person at both tournaments, the priciest single-person category.[1] A wheelchair seat covering the user and one companion costs ¥8,000 at the Tokyo tournament.[1] Children age four and older need their own full-price ticket in every category.[1]
Cost per person, worked out for three scenarios (September 2026 prices)
Ticket Oosumo English charges a flat ¥2,000 service fee per ticket at every tournament. Fukuoka tickets bought through the advance lottery also carry a ¥550 special sales fee per ticket on top of that.[1][2] For a solo traveler at a weekday Chair C seat in Tokyo, that is ¥3,500 + ¥2,000 = ¥5,500.
| Scenario | Face value | Fees | Total | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo, weekday, Chair C, Tokyo Sep 2026 | ¥3,500[1] | ¥2,000[1] | ¥5,500 | ¥5,500 |
| Couple, weekend, Chair B, Tokyo Sep 2026 | ¥5,500 × 2 = ¥11,000[1] | ¥2,000 × 2 = ¥4,000[1] | ¥15,000 | ¥7,500 |
| Couple, weekend, Chair B, Fukuoka Nov 2026 | ¥3,000 × 2 = ¥6,000[2] | (¥2,000+¥550) × 2 = ¥5,100[2] | ¥11,100 | ¥5,550 |
| Group of 4, weekend, Box C, Tokyo Sep 2026 | ¥38,000 for the box[1] | ¥2,000 × 4 = ¥8,000[1] | ¥46,000 | ¥11,500 |
Booking the identical Chair B seats in Fukuoka instead of Tokyo saves a couple ¥3,900 in total, or ¥1,950 per person.[1][2]
A box seat is priced per box, not per attendee
The basic rule at both venues is that four guests occupy one box, and the box price does not change if fewer people show up.[1][2] A full Box C at the Tokyo weekend rate works out to ¥9,500 per person across four attendees. A couple who books the same box pays ¥19,000 per person, since the ¥38,000 box price splits across two people instead of four.[1] Fukuoka sells smaller Box S and Box A configurations built for two guests at ¥19,000 total, which fits a couple without paying for two empty seats.[2]
What pushes the price up
- Booking a weekend or holiday day instead of a weekday adds ¥500 to ¥1,000 per Chair seat and ¥2,000 to ¥8,000 per box.[1][2]
- Choosing Tokyo over a regional tournament for the identical seat class adds roughly ¥1,000 to ¥1,500 per Chair seat.[1][2]
- Buying a 4-person box for a smaller group means paying for the empty seats, since the box price is fixed.[1][2]
- Buying through Fukuoka’s advance lottery adds a ¥550 special sales fee per ticket on top of the standard ¥2,000 service fee.[2]
How to spend less
- Pick a weekday over the closing weekend: the same Chair C seat in Tokyo drops from ¥4,000 to ¥3,500.[1]
- Watch sumo in Fukuoka or another regional city instead of Tokyo for the same seat class, at roughly 20 to 40 percent less.[1][2]
- For a two-person group, look for the 2-guest Box S or Box A configuration at a regional tournament instead of a standard 4-person box.[2]
- Buy directly through Ticket Oosumo English rather than a bundled tour if you can collect the ticket at a Seven-Eleven before your seat date.[1]
How to buy on Ticket Oosumo English, step by step
- Choose your tournament and day on sumo.pia.jp/en, then select a seat class and pay by credit card, the only accepted payment method.[1]
- A ¥2,000 service fee is added per ticket at checkout, and purchases are capped at two tickets per person.[1]
- The purchase confirmation screen and email explain pickup. The ticket can only be printed at a Seven-Eleven inside Japan, not delivered by mail.[1]
- Print the ticket before entering the venue. A lost ticket cannot be replaced and admission is refused.[1]
- Purchased tickets cannot be changed, refunded or exchanged for a different date for any reason.[1]
Tournament-day basics: cash, transit, timing and re-entry
Ticket Oosumo English states that once a day sells out, no tickets are sold at the venue itself, so there is no walk-up fallback once online stock is gone.[1] Doors at Ryogoku Kokugikan open at 8:45 a.m. on standard days, with later 10:00 or 10:30 a.m. openings on the closing days of the September 2026 tournament.[1] Top-division wrestlers enter the ring around 2 p.m., and the day’s matches finish around 6 p.m.[1] Re-entry to the Tokyo venue is limited to once, and guests must be back by 17:00.[1] Load an IC card such as Suica or Pasmo before the trip; the train to either venue costs far less than a taxi. Food stalls and souvenir stands inside the arena are commonly cash-only, so carry yen alongside a card. For a broader look at trip-wide costs, see Honest Yen’s guide to hidden fees across a Japan trip, and for comparing ticket resellers on other activities, see the Klook vs KKday comparison.