Sumo's Foreign Invasion

Mark Buckton
Sumo - still Japanese or truly International?

Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
A look at a rikishi of yesteryear with Umegatani II our man for June

Heya Peek
John Gunning
John attends asageiko at Takasago-beya to give us the first of his bimonthly looks at sumo's stables

Photo Bonanza
Kurt Easterwood & Quinlan Faris
Kurt & Quin treat us to some of the best sumo pics around - and seen nowhere else

May Basho Review
Lon Howard & John Gunning
Lon gives us his Natsu Basho summary and his take on upset of the tournament while John chips in with his 'gem' of the basho

Lower
Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila

Mikko provides his round up of the boys in Makushita and below at the Natsu Basho


July Basho Forecast
Pierre Wohlleben & Mark Buckton

Pierre predicts the Nagoya Basho banzuke while Mark previews the ones to watch next time out


Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein

Rhyme and reason behind the pre-tachiai rituals that mystified us all as beginners


Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Mikko walks us through A, B & C


Minusha
John McTague

John's unique view of news from outside the dohyo


Las Vegas Jungyo Teaser
Ngozi Robinson
Months away but like kids at Christmas we are still too excited not to mention it


Online Gaming
Moti Dichne
Hear from the founder of Guess the Banzuke (GTB) on exactly what makes it tick

Le Monde Du Sumo
The original team at MDS tells us how it all started



Sumo Mouse
Todd Lambert
Heya Links Galore and a focus on 3


Fan Debate
JR & EB square off: Right or Left - which should Asashoryu use when receiving kensho?


Let's Hear from You
What was it that made you a sumo fan?


Ngozi Asks
Question of the month - What is Sumo?


Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster

Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho's banzuke
  divisions yoritaoshi is relatively common, possibly due to the bigger differences in power and perhaps because lower division rikishi are more prone to try desperate tawara moves whereas sekitori know when to give up in impossible situations to minimize the risk of injury. In the great rivalry of the 1990s between yokozuna Takanohana and Akebono, yoritaoshi was surprisingly often the winning technique. Akebono beat Takanohana 5 times with yoritaoshi, while Takanohana overcame Akebono 3 times in bouts that were great battles to the end. Akinoshima used to try tawara tricks in most situations and as a consequence lost 40 bouts to an opponent using yoritaoshi. Of currently active rikishi, Tochiazuma has 15 losses to yoritaoshi, but almost all of them against high caliber foes.

Abisetaoshi is basically yoritaoshi inside the dohyo. Whereas, in yoritaoshi the loser always drops down outside the tawara, in abisetaoshi the collapse occurs inside the dohyo. The official definition doesn't even mention the belt grip as part of the technique, since the main factor is the collapse of the defender when the attacker drops his weight on top of him.
Abisetaoshi is very rare and often something unusual happens to the loser when abisetaoshi is the winning kimarite. Indeed, of the last eight abisetaoshi seen in Makuuchi, three were caused by injury and two others were slips or sudden balance problems due to attempts at bizarre moves. Abisetaoshi is more of an anomaly and rarely a true display of overwhelming power. On average abisetaoshi is seen only once every 500 bouts at Sekitori level.

Home