To provide a sintering method by which temperature is raised to a sintering temperature in a short time and cracks caused in a ceramic defatted body can be prevented.

The method includes a step of shaping a ceramic row material and defatting the same to make the ceramic defatted body 10 and a sintering step of sintering the ceramic defatted body 10 in a continuous sintering furnace 20. A lower plate 30 and an upper plate 31 are arranged on the bottom face of the ceramic defatted body 10 and on the upper surface of the ceramic defatted body 10, respectively, electrodes 50, 51 for energizing are brought into contact with the upper plate 31 and the lower plate 30, respectively, resistance heating mechanisms 40 are arranged above the upper plate 31 and below the lower plate 30, respectively, a preliminarily heating step of 1,500 to 2,000 °C is carried out by the resistance heating using the resistance heating mechanisms 40 and a high temperature sintering step of holding the temperature at 2,000 to 2,300 °C is carried out using the resistance heating using the resistance heating mechanisms 40 and directly energizing heating for energizing the ceramic defatted body by applying the lower plate 30 and the upper plate 31 together in the sintering step.