Honbasho

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A honbasho (本場所) is the term given to any of the six official professional sumo tournaments held each year. Only honbasho results matter in determining promotion and demotions for sumo wrestlers (or rikishi).

A literal translation of honbasho is "main (or real) tournament". This term is used to distinguish these tournments from display basho which are held a part of sumo tours, between the six major tournaments. Such display tournaments may have prize money attached but a wrestler's performance will not have any effect on their ranking. This type of sumo is often called hana-sumo (lit. flower-sumo) as it is not taken as seriously by the wrestlers.

Honbasho last for 15 days. Sumo wrestlers ranked in the top two divisions (makuuchi and juryo) wrestle once each day, while those of the lower divisions wrestle seven times, approximately once every alternate day. The first aim for most wrestlers is to achieve kachikoshi, or a majority of wins, and thus ensure a promotion for the next honbasho tournament. In addition for each division there is a championship prize for the wrestler with the most wins at the end. A playoff on the final day is used to decide the winner in case of a tie.

The six honbasho tournaments are:-

Honbasho	Month	City	Venue	Opening Day
Hatsu (Opening) Basho	January	Tokyo	Ryogoku Kokugikan	1st or 2nd Sunday
Haru (Spring) Basho	March	Osaka	Osaka City Gymnasium	2nd Sunday
Natsu (Summer) Basho	May	Tokyo	Ryogoku Kokugikan	2nd Sunday
Nagoya Basho	July	Nagoya	Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium	1st or 2nd Sunday
Aki (Fall) Basho	September	Tokyo	Ryogoku Kokugikan	2nd Sunday
Kyushu Basho	November	Fukuoka	Fukuoka International Centre	2nd Sunday