SUPERSUMO Hawaii · Honolulu · 2027

Where courage and culture collide.

Fri 5 Feb 2027 Neal S. Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu
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壱The proposition

The oldest professional sport on earth. Never taken out of Japan. Until now.

Sumo is the oldest organised professional sport still contested today, and the only global-scale combat sport that has never been built for a world audience outside Japan.

SUPERSUMO brings it out and rebuilds it as a modern competitive league. Real competition, not entertainment wrestling. The ritual, the rank and the respect stay. The audience becomes global.

Two rikishi face off in a standing start before a red sun

Build the league

A modern, global sumo league with contracted athletes, a season and a champion.

Honor the sport

Respect for the tradition, while building real competition around it.

Inspire the world

Share the power of sumo, and the people inside the mawashi, with a global audience.

弐SUPERSUMO Hawaii

Sixteen rikishi.
One day.
One champion.

A live single-day tournament in Honolulu, and the first SUPERSUMO event anywhere. Hand-picked by Konishiki, the field fights double elimination until one rikishi is left standing.

16Rikishi in the field
2Losses and you are out
8,800Seats at the Blaisdell Arena
1Day of competition

Competition is Friday 5 February 2027. A second session on Saturday 6 February opens if Friday sells out. Ticketing details will be announced with our promoter, BAMP Project.

Ink illustration of two rikishi locked in a clinch in front of a red sun

Fight week
in Honolulu

The field lands from Japan a week out. Five days of community outreach, local media and promotion across Oʻahu, then the dohyo.

Sat · Jan 3030

The field arrives from Japan.

Sun Jan 31 – Thu Feb 431–04

Five days of community outreach, local media and promotion across Oʻahu. Meet the rikishi before they step on the dohyo.

Fri · Feb 505

Competition. Blaisdell Arena.

参The rules

Same ring.
New rules.

The SUPERSUMO rule set differs from Japan Sumo Association sumo. The field learns it together at a five-day training camp in Tokyo over Oshōgatsu.

01 · Start

Standing start

Rikishi begin standing rather than from the traditional four-point crouch. A new opening to the oldest contest in sport.

02 · Win

Out or down

The oldest rule stays. Force your opponent out of the dohyo, or make them touch the clay with anything but the soles of their feet.

03 · Format

Double elimination

One loss sends you to the elimination bracket. A second loss ends your night. Nobody goes home on one bad tachiai.

四Road to Hawaii

Five steps
to the dohyo

  1. 一Aug – Sep 2026

    Lock the talent

    Konishiki hand-picks the field with two senior rikishi advisors: sixteen competitors plus two alternates.

  2. 二Sep – Dec 2026

    Visas

    Every rikishi needs to be cleared to compete in the United States. This is the critical path of the whole project.

  3. 三1 – 5 Jan 2027

    Tokyo training camp

    Five days over Oshōgatsu. The field learns the SUPERSUMO rules, and we shoot entrance films, fighter profiles and personal histories.

  4. 四30 Jan – 5 Feb 2027

    Hawaii

    Arrival, fight week across Oʻahu, then competition at the Blaisdell Arena on Friday 5 February.

  5. 五Feb 2027 onward

    Broadcast and the League

    The live show becomes a 90 to 120 minute broadcast cut, and the launch point for the SUPERSUMO League.

五SUPERSUMO League

Hawaii is the proof.
The League is the point.

An eight-week season of individual competition. Sixteen contracted rikishi. Every competition weekend runs across two days, building to a final.

8Weeks of competition
16Contracted rikishi
2Days per competition weekend
六Broadcast

Sumo like you
have never seen it

A bout can be over in seconds. We build the broadcast to show every one of them: the angle, the force and the story of the people in the ring.

Concept replay. An AI-generated proof of concept for the SUPERSUMO broadcast layer, not event footage.
  • 01
    360° dohyo cameraEvery angle of the ring, every bout.
  • 02
    Super slow motionThe tachiai, frame by frame.
  • 03
    Referee camThe gyōji's view of the clash.
  • 04
    Force-plate dataThe power behind the impact, measured live.
  • 05
    3D animation and graphicsTechnique explained as it happens.

The field

Sixteen rikishi and two alternates, selected by Konishiki. Every athlete's story, background and ambition will be told here and on SUPERSUMO's channels as the field is announced.

七The principals

Built by people
who know the ring

Talent principal

Konishiki

Born on Oʻahu, and the first foreign-born rikishi to reach ozeki, sumo's second-highest rank. He selects and commands the SUPERSUMO field.

Operating partner · Executive producer

Kenneth K. Berger

Operating partner and executive producer of SUPERSUMO. Executive producer of the documentary GIANTS.

Promoter · Honolulu

BAMP Project

Hawaiʻi's leading festival and concert promoter, and SUPERSUMO Hawaii's promoting partner.

八Get in touch

Step into
the ring

FansBe first to hear when SUPERSUMO Hawaii tickets go on sale.Ticket alerts → SponsorsPut your brand on the dohyo, in the broadcast and across the League.Sponsorship → MediaPress, broadcast and platform enquiries.Media → PartnersInvestors, venues and anyone building the League with us.Partnership →

Or write directly: kberger@supersumo.org