Key dates for the January 2027 tournament
The association's 2027 schedule and its January 2027 ticket page give these dates:
- 5 December 2026: advance ticket sales open.
- 21 December 2026: banzuke (ranking list) announced.
- 10 January 2027 (Sunday): opening day.
- 11 January 2027: Coming of Age Day, a public holiday, so weekend prices apply.
- 23 January (Saturday) and 24 January (Sunday): day 14 and the final day, now priced separately.
Neither page gives a sale time yet. For the January 2026 tournament, the Japanese sales page opened general sales at 10:00 Japan time, after four earlier lotteries for fan-club members and ticket-site users. Expect a similar pattern, but check the time when Ticket Oosumo posts it.
New prices from January 2027
The association is raising Tokyo prices from this tournament. Its price list PDF gives per-person prices, tax included, and adds a new Box SS tier for the first two rows. A selection, with the old weekday price for comparison:
| Seat (per person) | Weekday | Weekend and holiday | Day 14 and final day | Old weekday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tamari (ringside) | ¥25,000 | ¥27,500 | ¥30,000 | ¥20,000 |
| Box (masu) S | ¥18,000 | ¥20,000 | ¥22,000 | ¥14,000 |
| Box B | ¥11,000 | ¥12,500 | ¥14,000 | ¥10,000 |
| Box C | ¥9,500 | ¥10,500 | ¥11,500 | ¥8,500 |
| Chair A | ¥10,000 | ¥11,000 | ¥12,000 | ¥8,000 |
| Chair B | ¥6,000 | ¥7,000 | ¥8,000 | ¥5,000 |
| Chair C | ¥5,000 | ¥6,000 | ¥7,000 | ¥3,500 |
| Chair D, adult | ¥3,000 | ¥3,000 | ¥3,000 | ¥2,500 |
Box seats are floor boxes where you sit on cushions, and they are sold by the whole box. A four-person Box C therefore costs ¥38,000 on a weekday, ¥42,000 at weekends and ¥46,000 on the last two days. Chair D for children costs ¥500 on weekdays and ¥1,000 at weekends; the list also has cheaper Kids Box and Kids Chair B prices.
Which seat to buy
- First visit, tight budget: Chair C or D on a weekday (12–15 or 18–22 January). In January 2026, Chair D was sold only on Ticket Oosumo's website, as a QR ticket.
- The traditional experience: a Box C for four on a weekday. Two people can use a smaller box where one is offered; in January 2026 the site sold boxes for one to six people.
- The title decider: day 14 or the final day, which now carry the highest prices of the tournament.
How to buy
The association's How to Buy page sends overseas buyers to the Ticket Oosumo English site. The January 2027 purchase pages were not yet live on 25 October 2026, so the rules below come from the 2026 Tokyo tournaments and may be updated.
The Japanese site sold through more channels in January 2026: Ticket Oosumo and Ticket Pia online, a Japanese-language phone line (0570-02-9310, 10:00–18:00) and Seven-Eleven multi-copy machines. The Kokugikan box office did not sell advance tickets.
Same-day tickets and what to do if seats sell out
There is no guaranteed same-day allocation. The ticket site's wording for both 2026 Tokyo tournaments was that if tickets sell out before the day, nothing is sold at the Kokugikan box office. In January 2026, online orders stayed open until 17:00 on the day of the bout for any seats left.
If your dates sell out, check Ticket Oosumo's seat availability for other days, especially weekdays. Morning practice is a different and much more limited option, covered in our guide to watching sumo practice in Tokyo.
On the day: doors, children and re-entry
In January 2026, doors opened at 8:45 for most of the tournament, 10:30 on days 13 and 14, and 10:00 on the final day. The September 2026 page says bouts start in the morning and finish around 18:00, so a ticket covers the whole day. Re-entry was allowed once, returning by 17:00.
Everyone aged 4 and over needs a ticket, and there is no general child discount beyond the child seats above. Wheelchair seats are reserved by phone in Japanese only; the 2026 sale opened later than the general sale.
Getting to Ryogoku Kokugikan
The Sumo Museum page gives the arena's address as 1-3-28 Yokoami, Sumida-ku:
- JR Sobu Line, Ryogoku Station: about 1 minute on foot.
- Toei Oedo Line, Ryogoku Station, Exit A4: about 5 minutes.
There is no parking. Our Suica, PASMO and card-tap guide covers paying for both lines, and if you are flying in for the tournament, the Narita and Haneda transfer guide covers getting into the city.
