11–25 January 2026 · Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo · winner: Aonishiki (12–3)
The New Year tournament opened 2026 with a final-day playoff and the confirmation of the sport's brightest young star.
Newly promoted ōzeki Aonishiki — born Danylo Yavhusishyn in Ukraine, of Ajigawa stable — finished tied at 12–3 with the rank-and-file wrestler Atamifuji. In the deciding playoff bout (kettei-sen), Atamifuji drove Aonishiki to the edge, but Aonishiki stayed low, switched direction and threw him down to take the Emperor's Cup.
It was Aonishiki's second straight championship, and made him the first newly promoted ōzeki to win a tournament in roughly two decades. By winning back-to-back titles first as a new sekiwake and then as a new ōzeki, he matched a feat not seen since the legendary Futabayama in 1937.
It decided: Aonishiki entered the year as sumo's clear rising force and an early yokozuna-promotion candidate.
8–22 March 2026 · EDION Arena Osaka · winner: Kirishima (12–3)
A "tournament of upsets" in Osaka delivered the season's signature comeback story.
Sekiwake Kirishima (Otowayama stable, Mongolian-born) dominated the first two weeks, building a lead so large he clinched the title on Day 14 even before losing his final bout to finish 12–3. It was his third career top-division championship and his first since 2023.
The win cleared the promotion benchmark — 34 wins across three tournaments, plus the championship — and returned Kirishima to ōzeki, a rank he had lost in 2024. He became only the third wrestler since the modern demotion system began in 1969 to climb all the way back to ōzeki after falling to the rank-and-file.
It decided: Kirishima was restored to ōzeki for May; Aonishiki was left one bad tournament from demotion.
10–24 May 2026 · Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo · winner: Wakatakakage (12–3)
The most wide-open tournament of the year — the top of the rankings gutted by injury — ended with a playoff and a long-awaited second Emperor's Cup.
Yokozuna Ōnosato withdrew before the basho with a rotator-cuff injury. Sole remaining yokozuna Hōshōryū lost his first two bouts, hurt a hamstring, and pulled out. Ōzeki Aonishiki was already out injured, and ōzeki Kotozakura withdrew mid-tournament — leaving Kirishima as the only ōzeki still wrestling.
Kirishima led the race deep into the second week, but komusubi Wakatakakage chased him down to finish level at 12–3 and won the deciding playoff on senshūraku, taking his second top-division championship, four years after his first. The long-shot challenger from Maegashira 13, Kotoeihō, faded to 10–5 — but took a Fighting Spirit prize for the run.
It decided: Wakatakakage vaulted back into the san'yaku picture — and Kirishima's 12–3 playoff defeat became the pattern of his season.
12–26 July 2026 · IG Arena, Nagoya · winner: Aonishiki (12–3)
A brand-new arena, a three-way playoff, and the fastest ōzeki comeback the modern rules allow.
For the first time, the July basho was held at the IG Arena — the climate-controlled, roughly 17,000-seat hall designed by architect Kengo Kuma — retiring the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium after six decades of notoriously sweltering Nagoya sumo.
The new building got a classic. Three wrestlers finished level at 12–3: ōzeki Kirishima, sekiwake Atamifuji, and Aonishiki — wrestling as a sekiwake just one basho after losing the ōzeki rank. Aonishiki won the three-way playoff for his second Emperor's Cup of the year, and his 12 wins cleared the 10-win bar that returns a just-demoted ōzeki to the rank immediately.
It decided: Aonishiki is back at ōzeki after a single basho away — and with two titles to nobody else's one, he owns the 2026 season so far.
13–27 September 2026 · Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo · winner: Ōnosato (12–3)
The Autumn tournament, the third and last Tokyo basho of the year, went to the yokozuna on the final day.
Ōnosato and ōzeki Aonishiki went into the final day level, and Ōnosato won their head-to-head bout to finish 12–3: his sixth top-division championship and his first in six tournaments. He did it as the only yokozuna in the ring, the first sole yokozuna to win a title since Terunofuji in July 2024. Aonishiki, chasing a third title of the year, finished one win short (Kyodo News via Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun, 27 September 2026).
On the same final day the newly promoted sekiwake Fujinokawa beat Atamifuji to finish 11–4. Both stay sekiwake on the November banzuke, which the JSA published on 26 October 2026; Churanoumi makes his komusubi debut there and Yoshinofuji returns to komusubi (JSA banzuke topics).
The next Tokyo tournament runs from 10 to 24 January 2027, with tickets on sale from 5 December 2026. A guided Tokyo tournament visit with tickets can be booked on GetYourGuide (Hakkeyoi may earn a commission; your price is unchanged), and the sumo tickets guide covers the official sale.
It decided: Ōnosato goes to Fukuoka as the reigning champion, and Aonishiki's bid for a third 2026 title moves to November.
8–22 November 2026 · Fukuoka Kokusai Center, Fukuoka
The season finale, by Hakata's harbour in Fukuoka.
The Kyūshū tournament closes the competitive year at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. Because it is the last basho, its results carry extra weight: the rankings it produces — the banzuke — set every wrestler's starting rank for the January 2027 New Year tournament, published on 21 December 2026.
Tickets: the official general sale opened on 19 September, and when we checked on 30 October 2026 Ticket Oosumo's English chart showed every class sold out and the venue box office selling nothing this year. The sumo tickets guide has what is left.
It is also where any season-long narrative reaches its conclusion: a yokozuna comeback completed, a promotion sealed, or a year of open, unpredictable racing confirmed.
Going to Fukuoka for it? A guided Kyūshū basho visit on GetYourGuide includes a reserved chair seat and a pre-entry briefing on rituals and rankings from an English-speaking guide, who then leaves you to watch from your seat. It is a new listing with no reviews yet; free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead. (Hakkeyoi may earn a commission; your price is unchanged.)
It will decide: the final 2026 standing of every wrestler — and the storylines sumo carries into 2027.