The Grand Sumo Spring Regional Tour, which wound its way through the Kansai and Chubu regions over the past few weeks, has entered its final leg in Tokyo and the prefectures surrounding the capital.

With tickets for many of the stops along the way still having been available up to one or two days beforehand, jungyō (regional tours) remain perhaps the most accessible pro sumo events in 2025.

That’s particularly true for foreign visitors to Japan, as ticket prices for the regional tour are anywhere from 10 to 20 times cheaper than those for similar seats at the upcoming events in London and Paris.

In many ways, jungyō are a throwback to an earlier era in the history of Japan’s national sport and, while the bouts may not carry the importance of those that take place during official tournaments, they are something that all fans should try to experience at least once.

With regional promotional jaunts being a formative, but long-abandoned, feature of many sports — think the Chicago Bears' legendary 1925-26 barnstorming tour with Red Grange, which popularized professional football in the United States — the fact that you can still experience something similar in the 21st century is one of the points that makes sumo utterly unique.

Emperor’s Cup races in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka may get the headlines and prime-time coverage, but in out-of-the-way small towns across the nation, a more immediate and accessible sumo still exists.

Of course the grueling nature of jungyō — particularly those that take place during the scorching summer months — is well known and often a point of contention among wrestlers and commentators alike, but they are also an opportunity for lesser-known rikishi to have their moment in the spotlight.

“The local sandanme over the Edo ozeki” is a traditional sumo saying that describes how fans tend to have greater interest in lower ranked wrestlers who hail from their region compared with superstars of the sport from elsewhere.

It’s a psychological trait that jungyō utilize to full effect, with men hailing from stops along the route often being featured in various activities or doing better than would normally be expected when in or near their hometown.

Shorn of the intense pressure of needing to win to ensure favorable rankings positions (and the often dramatic changes that come with them), jungyō are far more relaxed and open.

Plus, given that outreach and, to a lesser extent, recruitment are intrinsic elements of the regional tours, opportunities to interact with rikishi are not only more common, but far more likely to be met with a welcome response.

Asking for photographs or autographs at grand tournaments can be hit or miss, with the stresses and strains of competition causing many wrestlers, even when they do acquiesce, to act in a withdrawn or distracted manner.

On jungyō, however, it’s not only possible to have long chats with many of the sport’s biggest names, but the “boys on tour” nature of the event often leads to them joking and playing around with fans — hamming it up for photos and displaying an unfiltered side of their personalities that isn’t normally seen.

Many elements of jungyō serve to remind fans of the human side of a sport whose inner workings still remain a mystery to the general public.

Because of social media restrictions, and the 24/7 nature of sumo life — with no separation between work and private time in regard to how much control the governing body has — wrestlers, while well known, don’t get the kind of individually focused exposure common to superstars in baseball or soccer.

On jungyō, however, there is a whole host of activities that break down those barriers and allow the true personalities of the wrestlers to shine through.

And even in a time when virtually unlimited access to information is available, and the ability to contact stables open to all, the importance of a physical presence in a location when it comes to recruiting cannot be overstated.

Seeing yokozuna Hoshoryu and ozeki Onosato battling it out on a ring in the same municipal arena or high school basketball gym that you practice in every weekend can have a huge impression on young athletes.

Speak to top rugby, football or soccer players and they’ll often say that their choice of college or professional team was influenced by an interaction that happened when they were a child. Whether a coaching clinic or a school visit by a star athlete, the impacts of in-person connections are long-lasting.

The impact isn’t all a one-way street, either.

For lower ranked rikishi – particularly those from stables without top stars – jungyō offer an extended opportunity to see how the elite wrestlers train and prepare. Being able to receive advice from and practice with a higher level of opponent can provide the impetus for a rise up the rankings.

The extended schedules of jungyō in recent years have sometimes led to concerns over exhaustion for rikishi, meaning the positive sides of a traditional practice often get overlooked.

Attend a regional tour event, however, and see and feel the positivity and enthusiasm of fans who only get to see one day of live sumo a year – if that – and you’ll understand that jungyō have a value that goes beyond simply nostalgia or outreach.

It’s in the remote towns up mountains and down winding narrow roads that the traditional spirit of sumo can most easily be accessed.