How do I get Grand Sumo tickets?

How does the sumo ticket ladder work?

Every tournament (basho) sells tickets through the same ladder, each rung opening before the next. For the November 2026 basho, re-verified on sumo.pia.jp/sumo11.jsp on 4 September 2026, the rungs are:

1. Fan Club 1st-round lottery (paid membership tiers): closed. Entries ran 11:00 JST 14 August to 11:00 JST 17 August; results about 18:00 JST 19 August; payment by 23:30 JST 21 August.
2. Fan Club 2nd-round lottery (adds the lower paid tiers): closed. Entries ran 11:00 JST 21 August to 11:00 JST 24 August; results about 18:00 JST 26 August; payment by 23:30 JST 28 August.
3. Ticket Oosumo advance lottery (free, open to anyone): closed. Entries ran 11:00 JST 28 August to 11:00 JST 31 August 2026; results about 18:00 JST 2 September; payment charged automatically to the winner's card by 23:30 JST 4 September.
4. Ticket Pia pre-reserve lottery (free, open to anyone): entries run 11:00 JST 4 September to 11:00 JST 7 September; results about midday JST 9 September. Registration is a free Pia account, and it covers masu box seats in several sizes plus chair seats, with some seat types in limited supply.
5. General sale: opens 10:00 JST on 19 September, first come, first served, while stock lasts on each match day.
6. Wheelchair seat reservations: a separate route confirmed on the organizer's schedule for prior tournaments; check the event page for this tournament's confirmed date once published.

The two free draws in the middle of that ladder are the headline: neither needs a paid membership, and both cover the same seats the general sale would offer, before the general sale gets them.

How do I enter the free ticket lotteries?

Two free draws sit in the middle of the ladder, neither needing a paid membership, both covering seats the general sale would otherwise offer.

The Ticket Oosumo advance lottery is closed for the November 2026 basho: entries ran 28 to 31 August 2026 (11:00 JST to 11:00 JST), results landed about 18:00 JST on 2 September, and winners were charged automatically by 23:30 JST on 4 September.

The Ticket Pia pre-reserve lottery is the current free route:

1. Register a free account at sumo.pia.jp (the site is in Japanese; browser translation works fine for the forms). Doing this between tournaments is the single best preparation, because entry windows run only a few days.
2. During the entry window, 11:00 JST on Friday 4 September to 11:00 JST on Monday 7 September for the November basho, pick your day or days and seat type, and submit a lottery entry.
3. Wait for the draw: results appear on your account page from about midday JST on 9 September for the November basho.
4. If you win, there is nothing more to do to secure the seats: payment follows the same automatic-charge pattern as the Oosumo round.

After both free lotteries, general sale opens 10:00 JST on Saturday 19 September and runs through each match day until 17:00 while stock lasts.

What is the Fan Club lottery, and is it worth paying for?

The Japan Sumo Association's official Fan Club runs two lottery rounds before the free lottery, and they are the earliest crack at tickets, including the ringside tamari seats that rarely reach general sale. Applying is free, but only paid membership tiers qualify: the 1st round is for the Yokozuna, Ozeki and Sekiwake courses, and the 2nd round adds the Komusubi and Makuuchi courses. As reported when the club launched, tiers ranged from JPY 550 per month (Makuuchi) to JPY 330,000 per year (Yokozuna); check current fees on fanclub.sumo.or.jp before joining, and note the free Juryo tier does not qualify for ticket lotteries. For one or two visits a year, the free lottery is the sensible route; the Fan Club makes sense for regulars who want the earliest pick or ringside. For the November 2026 basho both Fan Club rounds have already closed.

Can foreigners buy Grand Sumo tickets?

Yes. Anyone can enter the free Ticket Oosumo lottery with a free account, though the site is Japanese-language and tickets are issued in Japan. The official English-language site at sumo.pia.jp/en is built for overseas fans but carries no lottery: it sells first come, first served from the general-sale date, adds a JPY 2,000 fee per ticket, and tickets are printed at 7-Eleven stores once you are in Japan. For the November 2026 basho that general sale opens 19 September 2026.

What do sumo tickets cost?

Recent pattern at Fukuoka Kokusai Center: chair seats run about JPY 3,500 to 10,000 per person depending on grade, ringside tamari seats around JPY 20,000 per person (age 16 and up), and masu box seats, sold as whole boxes, roughly JPY 40,000 to 60,000 for a 4-person box. The 2026 price sheet for this tournament had not yet been posted at last check; treat these as the recent pattern rather than a confirmed figure, and check sumo.pia.jp for the published sheet once the entry window opens. Weekends and holidays price higher than weekdays. Winners pay face value plus issuing and system fees.

What are my odds in the lottery?

No official odds are published, and the draw is random. Weekends, the opening weekend and the final days are heavily oversubscribed, and recent tournaments have sold out entirely across all channels, including the July 2026 Nagoya basho and the September 2026 Aki Basho. Weekday sessions in the first week are usually the easiest wins in a basho where seats do last, so applying early in the lottery window matters more than which day you pick.

What if I miss the lottery and the general sale?

The only sanctioned secondary route is the official face-value resale service, which lists seats released by buyers who cannot attend. Outside that, unofficial resale sites and street sellers around the venue are unsanctioned and risky: tickets are issued through official channels and a bad ticket means no entry. Our what to do after missing a ballot guide covers the general fallbacks, and the Kyushu Basho event page tracks every date above with sources. The free calendar carries the lottery and sale dates for this and every basho we track, and updates itself as windows are confirmed.