Sumo’s May tournament starts this Sunday
Sumo returns for the second grand tournament of 2025. The natsu basho (summer tournament) begins on Sunday, May 11 and runs until Sunday, May 25. Over those 15 days all the wrestlers within Grand Sumo will scheduled to compete across grand sumo’s six divisions of competition. The makuuchi is the top division, home to the highest ranked wrestlers in the sport. Whomever has the most wins at the end of Day 15 will win their division. In makuuchi the wins leader will receive the Emperor’s Cup.
This tournament will be taking place at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.
Preview and rankings
The 2025 summer (or May) tournament will see ozeki ranked wrestler Onosato looking for back-to-back titles. If he achieves that he will be promoted to become the sport’s 75th yokozuna. This would give us two active yokozuna in the sport for the first time since 2021. The 74th yokozuna Hoshoryu was promoted after winning the January tournament. He disappointed in his debut yokozuna tournament in March going 5-4 before pulling out due to injury.
The rivalry between Onosato and Hoshoryu is the leading storyline in this tournament. However, everyone in the top division is fighting for something.
For a more in-depth preview, check out the following post “Five Reasons to Watch the 2024 Natsu Basho”.
See below for the complete banzuke (rankings) for the top division for this tournament.
| East | Rank | West |
| Hoshoryu 🇲🇳 | Yokozuna | |
| Onosato 🇯🇵 | Ozeki | Kotozakura🇯🇵 |
| Daieisho 🇯🇵 | Sekiwake | Kirishima 🇲🇳 |
| Takayasu 🇯🇵 | Komusubi | Wakatakakage 🇯🇵 |
| Wakamotoharu 🇯🇵 | M1 | Oho 🇯🇵 |
| Abi 🇯🇵 | M2 | Gonoyama 🇯🇵 |
| Tamawashi 🇲🇳 | M3 | Hiradoumi 🇯🇵 |
| Takerufuji 🇯🇵 | M4 | Ichiyamamoto 🇯🇵 |
| Ura 🇯🇵 | M5 | Chiyoshoma 🇲🇳 |
| Oshoma 🇲🇳 | M6 | Tobizaru 🇯🇵 |
| Hakuoho 🇯🇵 | M7 | Churanoumi 🇯🇵 |
| Onokatsu 🇲🇳 | M8 | Kinbozan 🇰🇿 |
| Aoinishiki 🇺🇦 | M9 | Midorifuji 🇯🇵 |
| Meisei 🇯🇵 | M10 | Shodai 🇯🇵 |
| Endo 🇯🇵 | M11 | Shishi 🇺🇦 |
| Atamifuji 🇯🇵 | M12 | Takanosho 🇯🇵 |
| Tokihayate 🇯🇵 | M13 | Sadanoumi 🇯🇵 |
| Kotoshoho 🇯🇵 | M14 | Roga 🇷🇺 |
| Ryuden 🇯🇵 | M15 | Shonannoumi 🇯🇵 |
| Kayo 🇯🇵 | M16 | Nishikigi 🇯🇵 |
| Tamashoho 🇲🇳 | M17 | Asakoryu 🇯🇵 |
| Tochitaikai 🇯🇵 | M18 |
For Combat Press’s sumo power rankings, check out the below post:
Broadcast Details
Grand Sumo tournaments are all day affairs with the lowest division kicking off in the morning in Japan. The top division bouts are saved for last, during local prime time. The top division action usually begins at around 3 a.m. ET.
Grand Sumo highlights, with English commentary, can be found on the television channel NHK World (which is included in many cable TV packages), NHK’s JME.tv app, NHK’s official website and NHK’s official YouTube channel. These programs are broadcast on a 24 hour delay.
JME.tv broadcasts two hour long programs showing all the top division bouts along with the rituals in between. JME broadcasts those programs daily at 2 p.m ET/11 a.m. PT, 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT.
JME also broadcasts condensed highlights, in Japanese, after the third and fourth airings of the two hour broadcasts.
Sumo content on JME.tv is only available with a paid subscription, which costs $25 a month.
JME.tv can be viewed on desktop, mobile devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and most other smart TV set-ups.
You can watch sumo live through the Abema TV app. Abema costs around $8 a month and is entirely in Japanese with no English translations.
Matches can also be viewed on the official Grand Sumo app, which has some English translations. The Grand Sumo app features unavoidable spoilers. The free version includes ads, which are often twice as long as the actual bouts.
More sumo coverage on Combat Press
Combat Press will provide more coverage of the 2025 summer tournament. We will have results at the mid-way point and end of the tournament!
For more sumo news, and a daily results/recap newsletter, subscribe to Sumo Stomp! on Substack.