Professional sumo runs to a fixed rhythm: six 15-day grand tournaments (honbasho), every odd-numbered month, always in the same four cities. Here is the whole 2026 calendar.
✦ The Nagoya tournament moves into the new, climate-controlled ~17,000-seat IG Arena, retiring the ~60-year-old Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium. Full season detail →
The top-division leaderboard as it stands. Loaded from live data when a tournament is in progress; during the break between basho, the most recent final standings are shown here.
| Wrestler | Rank | Record | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loading current standings… | |||
Live data: refreshes when a basho is in progress; otherwise shows the most recent final standings.
Yokozuna Ōnosato withdrew before the basho (rotator-cuff injury); Hōshōryū lost his first two bouts, hurt a hamstring and pulled out. For most of the tournament, sumo's two grand champions were both absent.
A genuine championship challenge from a low maegashira is one of sumo's classic underdog stories. When yokozuna and ōzeki are absent, the door opens for surprises and big rank promotions.
Every basho moves the banzuke. Ōzeki need 8 wins or face kadoban; sekiwake with a strong run can push toward ōzeki; two consecutive yūshō at ōzeki begin a yokozuna conversation.
During a tournament, the latest top-of-card bout from the Japan Sumo Association's official channel. Between basho, the most recent English recap from SUMO PRIME TIME, the JSA's English operation.
Every wrestler sits on one ranked sheet, the banzuke, rebuilt after each tournament. These are the named ranks at the summit of the top division. Together, ōzeki + sekiwake + komusubi are the san'yaku — the titleholders.
Below komusubi sit the rank-and-file maegashira (Maegashira 1 down to ~17), then the five lower divisions. How the ranking ladder works →
A season shaped by injuries at the very top — and by comebacks, a fall, a scandal and a new arena beneath them.
Both yokozuna — Hōshōryū and Ōnosato — withdrew injured from the May basho, and Ōnosato had already missed the one before. Sumo went a whole tournament with no grand champion competing. Their fitness for July, September and November is the question hanging over the rest of the year.
Kirishima lost the ōzeki rank in 2024. He rebuilt from the rank-and-file and won the March 2026 tournament outright — reclaiming ōzeki and becoming only the third wrestler since 1969 to regain the rank after being demoted that far. In May, he leads the race again.
The 22-year-old Ukrainian made one of the fastest-ever climbs to ōzeki and won January's tournament in his debut at the rank — a feat unseen in about 20 years. Then a broken toe and an ankle injury forced him out, and he is automatically demoted to sekiwake for July. His camp is already targeting an immediate return.
The recently retired yokozuna Terunofuji — now a stablemaster — was disciplined by the Japan Sumo Association in April for striking one of his own wrestlers. He was demoted in elder rank and given a three-month pay cut, a test of the sport's post-2010s stance against violence.
From July, the Nagoya tournament moves into the IG Arena — a climate-controlled, ~17,000-seat venue designed by architect Kengo Kuma — retiring the ~60-year-old hall that hosted it for six decades. It is the biggest venue change in modern sumo.
Enough to follow everything above. Want the deeper version? The Learn Sumo page explains divisions, ranks and tournament rules in plain language.
Two rikishi (wrestlers) face off in a clay ring, the dohyō. You lose if you step out, or if anything above your feet touches the ground. Bouts last seconds. "Hakkeyoi!" is the referee's shout urging stalled wrestlers on — it's where this site gets its name.
A basho is a grand tournament: 15 days, one bout per wrestler per day. Six are held a year. The wrestler with the most wins takes the championship — the yūshō — and lifts the Emperor's Cup.
From the top: yokozuna (grand champion), ōzeki, sekiwake, komusubi, then the numbered maegashira. Win and you rise; lose and you fall. A yokozuna can never be demoted — only retire.
15 days is odd, so you always finish above or below even. 8 wins = a winning record (kachi-koshi) and you move up. 8 losses = a losing record (make-koshi) and you slide down. Everyone is chasing eight.
An ōzeki who has a losing tournament isn't demoted straight away — he becomes kadoban, on probation, and must post a winning record next time or drop a rank. It is sumo's built-in second chance.
When a rank-and-file maegashira beats a yokozuna, he earns a kinboshi — a "gold star" — which even comes with a permanent pay rise. Giant-killing is rewarded for life.