Sumo’s July tournament starts this Sunday
Sumo returns for the fourth grand tournament of 2025. The Nagoya basho (summer tournament) begins on Sunday, July 13 and runs until Sunday, July 28. The 15 day tournament will crown the newest makuuchi (top division) champion.
This tournament will be taking place at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan. This arena has just been completed and will be the permanent home of the yearly Nagoya basho, replacing the old Dolphins Arena (famous for its lack of air conditioning).
Preview and rankings
The 2025 Nagoya basho is a special tournament. It will feature two yokozuna ranked wrestlers competing, at the same time, for the first time since 2021. This was made possible by young phenom Onosato earning promotion to become the sport’s 75th yokozuna as reward for winning the previous tournament. He joins Hoshoryu in the yokozuna ranks setting up a mouth-watering rivalry between the two (a rivalry that was stoked by Hoshoryu defeating Onosato on the final day of the May tournament).
For a more in-depth preview, check out the following post “Five Reasons to Watch the 2025 Nagoya Basho”.
See below for the complete banzuke (rankings) for the top division for this tournament.
| East | Rank | West |
| Hoshoryu 🇲🇳 | Yokozuna | Onosato 🇯🇵 |
| Kotozakura🇯🇵 | Ozeki | |
| Daieisho 🇯🇵 | Sekiwake | Kirishima 🇲🇳 |
| Sekiwake | Wakatakakage 🇯🇵 | |
| Oshoma 🇲🇳 | Komusubi | Takayasu 🇯🇵 |
| Aoinishiki 🇺🇦 | M1 | Wakamotoharu 🇯🇵 |
| Oho 🇯🇵 | M2 | Abi 🇯🇵 |
| Onokatsu 🇲🇳 | M3 | Kinbozan 🇰🇿 |
| Hakuoho 🇯🇵 | M4 | Tamawashi 🇲🇳 |
| Hiradoumi 🇯🇵 | M5 | Meisei 🇯🇵 |
| Takerufuji 🇯🇵 | M6 | Gonoyama 🇯🇵 |
| Tobizaru 🇯🇵 | M7 | Endo 🇯🇵 |
| Sadanoumi 🇯🇵 | M8 | Ichiyamamoto 🇯🇵 |
| Ura 🇯🇵 | M9 | Chiyoshoma 🇲🇳 |
| Atamifuji 🇯🇵 | M10 | Roga 🇷🇺 |
| Takanosho 🇯🇵 | M11 | Tokihayate 🇯🇵 |
| Midorifuji 🇯🇵 | M12 | Asakoryu 🇯🇵 |
| Churanoumi 🇯🇵 | M13 | Shodai 🇯🇵 |
| Kusano 🇯🇵 | M14 | Fujinokawa 🇯🇵 |
| Kotoshoho 🇯🇵 | M15 | Hidenoumi 🇯🇵 |
| Kayo 🇯🇵 | M16 | Mitakeumi 🇯🇵 |
| Kotoeiho 🇯🇵 | M17 | Shishi 🇺🇦 |
For Combat Press’ latest 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 Nagoya 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.