Basho attendance

[sesom 55]

Watching sumo is no. 5 on the list of what tourists want to do most when visiting Japan

Most tourists appearance at a basho is just a joke. They know nothing about sumo, they leave after one hour before the best fights start, they make jokes about the rikishi and sumo and people who really love sumo can't get it a ticket. I sat behind some americans in March and changed my seat, because they were so annoying.

[CT3* 331]

And then there are those of us who travel to Japan FOR sumo!

[orandashoho 720]

It would certainly be one of the reasons for me visiting Japan, if I ever do.

[Akinomaki 40,038]

On my tourist visa application I always put "sumo kansen" as the reason for the visit.

Makes the immigration people give an astonished comment.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,038]

Another fact about increased interest in sumo by foreigners.

Apparently the "Will Call" ticket machine next to the ticket office is for foreigners only, maybe exclusively to print out a ticket they have bought via Internet from the official PIA ticket site.

Tickets collected there were 2527 for the Hatsu basho, 3257 for Natsu and this basho with data from day 7 it were 3564.

Especially from the US and Australia and also from Canada, where rikishi appear in the CM by car maker Subaru.

http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/column/sumo/news/1543615.html

[Akinomaki 40,038]

All days sold out of course as was inevitable.

The TV ratings for the Aki basho in the Kanto region (with Tokyo)

Day 1 was not in the top 30, only 12.7% (10.3 Osaka)
Day 4 first half was moved to NHK-E and had 6.6%, while the rampaging National Diet had 6.7%
http://www.sankei.com/west/news/150919/wst1509190015-n1.html

Makuuchi 2nd half in the top 20 rankings of different programms

Day 5 was 10th with 14.3%
Day 4 and 8 12th with 14%
Day 6 and 7 17th with 13.7%
http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/20150928/geo15092810000020-n1.html

Day 14 was 3rd with 16.9%
Day 15 4th with 16.3%
Day 13 7th with 15.4%
Day 12 8th with 15.4%
Day 11 14th with 14.4%
Day 10 15th with 14.1%
Day 9 joint 17th with 13.8
All days of the last week in the top 20 and 4 in the top 10 - quite a popularity jump
http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/20150930/geo15093010000022-n1.html

[Akinomaki 40,038]

Advance sales for Kyushu have begun. About 550 had lined up before sales started at 9 a.m. JST today, a slightly longer queue than last year with about 500, which was twice as the year before that. The full house banners were down each day since last year's Kyushu day 12. Kyushu responsible Nishonoseki-oyakata (ex-Wakashimazu): "Inquiries by phone are plenty as well. The momentum from the Aki basho continues." "To have the full houses continue, we want local Kotoshogiku (he's from Fukuoka prefecture) to go for it like last basho."

http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20151003k0000e050168000c.html

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nnp/f_toshiken/article/198954

Days 14 and 15 are already sold out: http://sumo.pia.jp/vacant/va11.jsp

Edited October 3, 2015 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,038]

Now days 7 and 8 are also sold out, but: day 14 and even 15 had 4-masu seat-boxes available again (then gone again, then more available again). Individuals can't cancel and give back their tickets, maybe tour providers or the like can - but it looks rather like someone hasn't payed for the ticket and it has become vacant again.

http://sumo.pia.jp/vacant/va11.jsp

Edited October 16, 2015 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,038]

Day 1 had 6800 spectators, no sell-out was announced, but the full house streak continued to 80 days - and that was it.
Sales for Kyushu are always the worst: day 2 did end the streak of full houses since last Kyushu day 12.
At the current pace we might only have sell-outs on the already advanced tickets sold-out week-ends and maybe day 13.

http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/sumo/2015/11/09/0008551620.shtml

[Akinomaki 40,038]

Day 6 had only the 2nd full house of the basho, with about 5600 spectators (80% of the 6986 capacity), but for Kyushu one on day 6 is the first for 19 years. Days 10-13 will very likely have full houses, the week-ends are sold-out.

In between 1998 and 2013 there were never more than 5 full houses in a basho, last year had 7 and this year has a good chance to see a double digit number of man-in onrei, after 18 years again.

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2015/11/13/kiji/K20151113011502250.html

[Akinomaki 40,038]

The basho recap from my daily pic-posts.

Day 1 full house with 6800 spectators

Day 2 4200 spectators

Day 3 4321 spectators

Day 4 4538 spectators

Day 5 4703 spectators

Day 6 full house with 5600 spectators

Day 7 first sell-out (6986 spectators)

Day 8 2nd sell-out, 4th full house

Day 9 full house with 5849 spectators

Day 10 6th full house with 5620 spectators: 10 or more full houses this basho are guaranteed now

Day 11 full house with 5932 spectators

Day 12 full house with 6112 spectators

Day 13 full house with 6605 spectators

Day 14 3rd sell-out

Day 15 11th full house and 4th sell-out

The weekly top 20 TV rankings of different programs:

week 1 http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/20151111/geo15111110000021-n1.html

Day 1 was 13th with 15.3%

week 2 http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/20151118/geo15111810000001-n1.html

Day 8 11th with 15.9%

Day 7 18th with 14.4%

week 3 - all days in the ranking http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/20151126/geo15112610000002-n1.html
Day 14 5th with 17.0%, the most this basho
Day 15 7th with 16.4%

Day 11 9th with 16.2%

Day 13 13th with 14.8%

Day 10 14th with 14.7%

Day 12 16th with 14.4%

Day 9 18th with 14.0%

Edited November 27, 2015 by Akinomaki

[hamcornheinz 839]

So thats 85 out of 90? damn, so close.

[Akinomaki 40,038]

86

[torquato 1,075]

42

But I don't know the question.

[Akinomaki 40,038]

Ticket sales for Hatsu have started last Saturday.

Already the weekends, the holiday on day 2 and day 13 are sold out and no A seats and A masu seats are left for any day. The others may take a while, but complete sell-out seems possible again.

http://sumo.pia.jp/vacant/va01.jsp

Several sold-out seats reappear also this time

Edited December 14, 2015 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,038]

The top 30 TV ratings of different programs has ozumo on position 19:

the best ratings this year had day 14 of the Hatsu basho with 22.1%

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2015/12/29/kiji/K20151229011766870.html

[hamcornheinz 839]

I always wonder, and forgive me if this has been discussed before, isn't 4-6 basically when people are driving home from work? Isn't, say, 8-10 a far better time-slot?

[Akinomaki 40,038]

1st sell-out of the basho today + the imperial couple.
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/01/10/kiji/K20160110011835410.html
The weekends, the holiday on day 2 and day 13 were sold out early and all A seats and A masu seats.
After that only day 12 and the B masu seats got completely sold.
It doesn't look like a complete sell-out is possible anymore, but 15 days of full house are very likely again.

http://sumo.pia.jp/vacant/va01.jsp

[Akinomaki 40,038]

The end of the sell-out streak on day 3 for Tokyo at 22: a bit more than 500 tickets were left unsold, a full house with 10242 of 10816 possible spectators.

Hakkaku is satisfied nonetheless: "We mustn't be fixated on sell-outs." http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20160112/sum16011220500009-n1.html

Edited January 12, 2016 by Akinomaki

[orandashoho 720]

There could still be late ticket sales on the day itself.

[Akinomaki 40,038]

The basho finished with 11 sell-outs (10816) and the other 4 days were really full houses as well:
Day 3 with 10242, day 4 with the same 10242 (could be a Sanspo error though), day 5 with 10332 and day 10 with 10809 spectators.

TV ratings known so far (from the top 30 weekly TV rankings of the Kanto area, average from the 2nd half of makuuchi)
Day 1 with 13.1% was as 31st just outside the top 30
http://www.sankei.com/entertainments/news/160114/ent1601140001-n1.html
Day 2 was 20th with 15.1%
Day 8 16th with 16.0%
http://www.sankei.com/entertainments/news/160120/ent1601200001-n3.html

The last week should have more, so far for day 15 we have 24%, with a peek of 29.2% at 17:27h JST, when Kotoshogiku was shown leaving through the hanamichi.
The locals in Fukuoka had 32.2%, with a peek of 38%, Kansai had 22.6% with a peek of 24.8%

Day 15 ratings for all basho of last year were all below 20%
Hatsu: 14.7%
Haru: 17.8%
Natsu: 19.2%
Nagoya: 14.5%
Aki: 16.3%
Kyushu: 16.4%

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/01/25/kiji/K20160125011919711.html

[tenshioka 7]

There is something that scares me about future of sumo. I think isn't a sport for young people. Seem the new generations are really interesting in football or rugby (baseball). I know a lot of japanese young people in the city where i'm living and the majority aren't interesting in sumo. I love this sport and i'm really worried about that.

I think sumo needs urgently a good japanese rikishi to engage again the young fans.

[WAKATAKE 2,644]

There is something that scares me about future of sumo. I think isn't a sport for young people. Seem the new generations are really interesting in football or rugby (baseball). I know a lot of japanese young people in the city where i'm living and the majority aren't interesting in sumo. I love this sport and i'm really worried about that.

I think sumo needs urgently a good japanese rikishi to engage again the young fans.

Endo? Mitakeumi? Kisenosato? Ichinojo? Oosunaarashi? Ikioi?

Have you not heard about "Sujo" which are female sumo fans (すー女)? How is it that sumo last year had full houses the first five basho of 2015 and 2/3 of Kyushu and it is still not popular? I see that sumo is making a comeback especially with all the scandals that hit the NSK within the last ten years. Sumo has it's share of young rikishi, Hakuho isn't the only thing keeping it alive you know. These rikishi are popular and just need to time to get better. The circle of life is always rotating, and there will be a new ozeki and yokozuna to move up the ranks. Believe me, sumo is as popular now as it was during the Taka-Waka days.

[Doitsuyama 1,173]

There is something that scares me about future of sumo. I think isn't a sport for young people. Seem the new generations are really interesting in football or rugby (baseball). I know a lot of japanese young people in the city where i'm living and the majority aren't interesting in sumo. I love this sport and i'm really worried about that.

I think sumo needs urgently a good japanese rikishi to engage again the young fans.

The "majority" never was interested much in sumo. And as was already said, the biggest crisis is long over as Endo more than proved that a Japanese rikishi mustn't necessarily be good to engage young fans. And in fact pre-depression Ichinojo showed that even foreign rikishi can conjure up quite some hype. Back in Aki 2004 I had no problem getting cheap tickets for all 15 days - no chance for this now.

[Asashosakari 18,959]

Believe me, sumo is as popular now as it was during the Taka-Waka days.

I think that's going overboard a bit. Ticket sales might be very good again now, but sumo certainly isn't back to being constantly front and center in the news yet, AFAICT. Admittedly, perhaps the media landscape has changed too much since the mid-90s for that to happen again anyway.

At least all the online sports papers have re-established separate sumo sections over the last few years, so there's that. For a while there was a disturbing trend of sumo news simply getting dumped into the "other sports" areas.