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This week London is hosting a once-in-a-lifetime sporting event. The Grand Sumo Tournament is gracing the Royal Albert Hall, with more than 40 mighty maku-uchi rikishi [sumo wrestlers] battling it out in Kensington’s 154-year-old venue.
This is only the second time in history that the Nihon Sumo Kyokai (Japan Sumo Association) has held a Grand Sumo Tournament outside Japan. The last time was in 1991, when London’s Royal Albert Hall was also the venue.
Sumo dates back over 1,500 years, making it one of the world’s oldest sports. It’s a show of both awesome strength and grand ceremony – and, needless to say, it being in London is an absolutely massive deal.
Heading to see The Grand Sumo Tournament in London this week? Here’s a practical guide to the event, from timings to remaining ticket availability.
When is The Grand Sumo Tournament in London?
The event is in London for five days, from Wednesday October 15 to Sunday October 19 2025.
What time do doors open?
For evening events, doors officially open at 6.30pm. However, restaurants and bars all open at 5.30pm, and early restaurant bookings start from 5pm.
For the afternoon event on Sunday October 19, doors open at 1pm.
When will the event start?
The timings differ slightly depending on the day you’re attending.
For the evening events (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday), the event starts at 7.30pm. There will be a 25-minute interval at 9pm, and it’ll finish by 10.15pm.
For the afternoon event (Sunday), the competition begins at 2pm. The interval is at 3.20pm, and the approximate end is 5pm.
Last-minute tickets
There are some tickets remaining for The Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall. You can find those on the official website here.
What to expect
The aim of sumo is to get your opponent out of the ring, or to get them to touch the ground with any part of their body that is not the soles of their feet (with no punching, kicking, hair-pulling, eye-poking etc). Each bout lasts around four minutes, and each day attendees can expect to see about 20 bouts. Sunday is the final day, when prizes will be awarded.
But sumo isn’t just the wrestling – there’s loads of ritual and ceremony before each bout. You’ll see wrestlers crouching, touching the white lines, then scattering salt to ‘purify’ the ring. Wooden blocks will announce each rikishi [wrestler], followed by symbolic movements like clapping hands, wiping mouths and leg stomps.
Key sumo terms
Here are some key terms to know about at sumo:
- Maku-uchi rikishi – the wrestlers
- Basho – sumo tournament
- Dohyo – the ring that a sumo bout takes place in
- Gyōji – the referee
Who are sumo wrestlers?
Sumo wrestlers – or rikishi – number around 600 in modern Japan. Most of those are Japanese, though foreign wrestlers have featured in the sport (and achieved high rankings) for decades.
The sumo ‘grand champion’ is known as a Yokozuna, and there are two competing in London: Hoshoryu Tomokatsu and Onosato Daiki.
How the Royal Albert Hall is accommodating the sumo wrestlers
In an interview with the Guardian, Royal Albert Hall’s director of programming Matthew Todd revealed that the venue has had to buy chairs that can take up to 200kg in weight (current ones can only manage 100kg), and that they’ve had to reinforce the toilets. You can find the full preview – well worth a read, in our opinion – here.
The venue has apparently also taken out special insurance due to the risk of onlooking fans on ringside cushions getting squashed by wrestlers that stumble out of the ring.
How to watch coverage if you can’t get tickets
Can’t make it down to Kensington to see the sumo in person? Worry not, the event will be broadcast. On Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, live coverage will be shown by the BBC on Red Button One and Red Button HD. You can tune in from 7.30pm each evening here.
Day one recap
Before the opening night of bouts on Wednesday (October 15), the ring was purified and blessed by priests. Twenty matches followed, and in the biggest two bouts of the evening (featuring the two Yokozuna) both Hōshōryu and Ōnosato won.
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