Five judges sit around the raised ring during professional sumo. Their announced positions are the front chief judge, the east and west waiting areas, and two seats on the far side beneath the red and white tassels. You do not need to find all five on your first day. Look beneath the red tassel on the far side of the ring. The judge there serves as timekeeper, and a raised right hand tells the gyoji that the preparation time is up.
Most first-time viewers see two wrestlers and one brightly dressed referee. Everyone below them can dissolve into a dark band around the clay. Then a close decision brings several officials onto the ring, and it seems as if they appeared from nowhere. They did not. They had been watching the same bout from five different seats.
Turn the formal introduction into a map
The Japan Sumo Association gives the wording used to introduce a judging team in the arena. In order, it names the chief judge at the front, one judge in the east *tamari*, one in the west *tamari*, one under the red tassel in the *gyoji-damari*, and one under the white tassel in the same area. That makes five.
*Tamari* means the space immediately below the ring where judges, wrestlers waiting for their turns and a standby gyoji may sit. The side opposite the official front is called *muko-shomen*, often rendered as the rear or far side. Because the standby gyoji sits there, its ringside waiting area is called the *gyoji-damari*.
The terms can feel like five pieces of vocabulary before you have even watched a bout. A simpler picture is enough: front, east, west, and two seats on the far side. The far-side pair can be separated by the colored tassels hanging from the suspended roof.
The timekeeper sits beneath the red tassel
One of the five judges keeps track of the wrestlers’ shikiri preparation period. The Association identifies that timekeeper’s position as the red-tassel seat in the gyoji-damari—on the eastern half of the far side. When the time limit has been reached, the judge raises the right hand to alert the gyoji.
This means you do not have to count four minutes for makuuchi, three for juryo or two for the lower divisions. Find the red tassel, move your eyes down to ringside, and wait for one hand. If it is visible, you can notice the transition to the final approach before the wrestlers return from their last salt throw.
Do not worry if a camera angle, graphics or the people in front of you block the signal. The gyoji will manage the next stage of the bout. This is a viewing clue, not information you must possess in order to follow sumo.
East and west are ring labels, not a compass test
The east and west sides of a sumo ring do not necessarily match geographic east and west in the building. They are assigned sides used for the wrestlers, the banzuke and the day’s ceremony. If you arrive with a map app open, it may point somewhere else entirely.
Use the venue’s labels or the four roof tassels rather than the street outside. The red tassel marks one of the ring’s directions and helps locate the timekeeper’s seat. Once one fixed seat makes sense, the rest of the layout becomes much less abstract.
Five separate views become one mono-ii conference
When a judge questions the gyoji’s decision, a *mono-ii* may be called. The ringside judges step onto the dohyo and confer. Video-room information can also be used, and the chief judge announces the conclusion. Possible outcomes include confirmation of the original decision, reversal, or a rematch when the wrestlers are judged to have gone down together.
The judges’ movement is easier to understand after you know their seats. Five people who were looking from separate sides bring those perspectives into one circle. That does not mean five views make every decision instantly obvious, nor should one television replay be treated as the final ruling. Wait for the chief judge’s explanation.
Detailed description of this diagram
Graphic: SUMO ARCHAEOLOGY CLUB · Figure source 1 · Figure source 2 · Figure source 3
The judges once sat on the dohyo
The Association says the predecessors of today’s ringside judges once watched from the dohyo itself. In the summer tournament of 1930, they moved below it and their number increased by one, creating the present arrangement. The stated motivation was to improve the audience’s view: large officials seated on an already confined platform had made the wrestling difficult to see.
That history reverses an easy assumption. The judges are not below the ring merely because that is the closest place to put them. Their placement also records a decision to open the raised stage to the wrestlers and to the audience’s sightline.
Watch one thing in the next bout
Find the red tassel and follow it straight down. During shikiri, watch only the judge in that area. If the right hand rises, return your eyes to the wrestlers and notice how the atmosphere tightens.
The people below the clay are not background decoration. One marks the end of preparation time; five watch the boundary from different directions; and, when necessary, they assemble to determine what happened. One red tassel and one raised hand are enough to reveal that the bout extends beyond the circle of straw bales.
Evidence limits and event-day fallback
Confirmed fact: A current Association explainer names five judging seats and the timekeeper under the red tassel. A 2025 historical explainer says predecessors moved below the dohyo in summer 1930 and gained one member; the organisation page states judging-department duties.
What remains unknown: Live personnel, exact seat dimensions/distances/obstruction, spectator sightline, visibility of a signal, scope of video use, conference content, votes and reasoning are not established. Five seats do not promise five geometrically distinct directions.
Reasoned inference: Finding one seat from the red tassel and viewing separate positions as inputs to a possible conference may make the flow easier to follow. Confidence is medium; this is neither a judging algorithm nor a mono-ii trigger.
Editorial suggestion: Start with the red tassel and one timekeeper action, then use the chief judge’s explanation and official result for the ruling. Do not decide it from one seat or screen angle.
Fallback: If the seat, raised hand or conference is blocked, leave it unseen and return to the gyoji, arena/broadcast explanation and official result. You need not identify all five to follow the bout.
Sources
- Japan Sumo Association quizzes No.930 and No.1210, and the Association’s organization guide (verified 3 September 2026).
Source links used for verification
Each link was used for the corresponding claim in this article; inclusion is not a blanket endorsement of the whole page.
Article verified:
- Japan Sumo Association quiz No.930: five judging positions and the timekeeperPrimary source (as checked for this article)
- Japan Sumo Association quiz No.1210: judges moved below the dohyoHistorical primary source (record from that period)
- Japan Sumo Association: Organization and duties of the judging departmentPrimary source (as checked for this article)