Sumo tournament tickets: how to get a seat

Three different things people call sumo tickets

A tournament seat, a stable practice visit and a sumo show are different products, and the booking page should say which one you are buying. A tournament, called a honbasho, is the professional sport: ranked bouts on set days in an arena. A morning practice visit takes you into a training stable to watch wrestlers train. A show is a staged evening, often with a meal, and is often performed by retired wrestlers. Only the first gets you a seat at a tournament, and this guide starts there.

Which seat: ringside, box or chair

The Association sells three kinds of seat. Ringside seats, called tamari, sit at the edge of the ring and are sold per person, but the official English ticket pages mark them as available only on the Japanese-language site. Box seats, called masu-seki, are floor boxes where you take off your shoes and sit on cushions. The basic rule is four people to a box, though some tournaments add boxes for fewer guests. Chair seats are stadium-style seats higher up. GO TOKYO calls the boxes a bit cramped by Western standards and suggests a table seat with chairs for a full day, and some tournaments add a pair seat with a table.

• Ringside: per person, Japanese-language site only
• Box: shoes off, cushions, four to a box as a rule
• Chair: per person, in the upper tiers
• Children aged 4 and over need their own ticket

Buying on the official site

Ticket Oosumo is the Association's official ticket site, and it has an English version. You pick a date and a seat category and pay by credit card, with a service fee per ticket on top of the seat price. The English page says tickets can only be printed at a Seven-Eleven in Japan, using the details in your confirmation, and your seat number shows when the ticket is issued. Purchases can't be changed or cancelled, and a lost ticket means no entry. If a tournament sells out, the official page says none are sold on the day.

When tickets go on sale

Each tournament's sale date is published in the Association's schedule, next to the first and last day, and the gap before opening day differs: some tournaments open about a month ahead, others about two months. Look up your tournament there rather than relying on a rule of thumb. The official pages price weekdays and weekends or holidays in separate categories, so decide which day you want before the sale opens. On the final day, the Emperor's Cup is presented after the last bout.

What one ticket covers on the day

A ticket covers every bout of the day, from the morning to the early evening, and the official pages say you can enter and leave during the matches. Re-entry rules differ by tournament, from a single return to none, so read the page for yours. The top-division bouts begin in the afternoon, so you can choose how much of the lower divisions to watch. The lower ranks fight first, and each wrestler in the top two divisions fights once a day.

What a guided package adds

Some tour providers sell a chair seat with a local guide. One Tokyo package of this kind pairs the seat with an English-speaking guide who gives an introduction to the ranks, rituals and rules before you enter, and helps with admission. Seat locations can't be chosen, and a booking covers up to three people, so a bigger group needs separate bookings that may not sit together. Plan on watching the bouts from your own seat, and check on the booking page whether the guide stays. Booked through GetYourGuide, it can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before, and you pay in your own currency.

Read the resale warning before you book

The official ticket pages say that resale or transfer of tickets without the organiser's permission is prohibited, with an exception for non-profit transfers between family, friends and similar contacts. They add that anyone who obtains tickets to organise tours or packages without the organiser's permission may be refused entry. That is a reason to ask any provider, before you pay, how its seats are issued. A package is not the same as a ticket from the official site, and the two should not be mixed up when you compare them.

A short checklist before you pay

Tournament seats, practice visits and shows are sold in different ways, and the details that trip people up are small ones: who the seller is, what the ticket is, and when you can still back out. Whichever route you take, confirm these points on the booking page before you pay, and keep the confirmation where you can open it without a signal:

• Which product it is: a tournament seat, a practice visit or a show
• The day and the seat type, and whether you can choose it
• How many people one booking covers
• How the ticket reaches you, and where you meet
• The cancellation terms, and whether photo ID is asked for

How to choose

Buy on the official site if you can be at the sale on the day it opens, want to pick your own seat category and don't need help. Book a package if your dates are fixed, you want an introduction and help at entry, and you want a cancellation window. If no tournament falls on your dates, neither route works. The table above sets the options side by side. Whichever you pick, tournament days are set by the Association, so confirm your day on its schedule first.

No tournament on your dates?

Tournaments run in six months of the year, so many trips miss one. Two things fill the gap, and they are not the same. A morning practice visit puts you in a stable's training room. Japan's national tourism organisation says casual, spontaneous visits are not encouraged, so most visitors go on an arranged tour. A show is a staged evening, usually with a meal, built for visitors. Neither gives you a ranked tournament bout, the ring-entering ceremony or the crowd.

Read next: See sumo when there's no tournament: shows and experiences

Who this isn't for

If your plans may change, official tickets can't be changed or cancelled, so a package with a cancellation window suits you better. If you want ringside, the English site won't sell it. If you are a group of four or more, some packages cap a booking at three, so check before you rely on one. And if you want only an hour or two of sumo, a tournament day is too long: a morning practice visit or a show fits better.

Read next: Watching sumo morning practice: what to expect and how to behave