Hoisting the opponent up and carrying him out is a sure way to get cheers and applause from the crowd. This is even more so in sumo where weight plays a significant role and opponents tend to be on the heavy side making lifting moves more demanding. On the other hand, a mawashi enables quite decent grips for heavy lifts. There are four official techniques that include lifting the opponent off the ground and either carrying him out or slamming him down. Tsuridashi, tsuriotoshi, okuritsuridashi and okuritsuriotoshi are the featured kimarite in this issue.

Only tsuridashi is somewhat common, depending on the definition of ”common” of course. Since the 1990 Hatsu  basho, the proportion of tsuridashi bouts in makuuchi level sumo has been around 0.6% and even that figure overestimates the current situation due to the decrease in tsuridashi frequency compared to early 1990s. Why isn’t tsuridashi seen more often, then? Probably because of its substantial stress on the lower back, the weight of opponents and the fact that if the attacker is in a position where tsuridashi becomes a viable option, he usually is in such a strong position already that the more traditional and safe yorikiri is the kimarite of choice.

In tsuridashi, the attacker has a grip on his foe’s belt, or, in highly unusual cases, an arm-hook hold squeezing the opponent’s arms from above, and from one of those positions, he hoists the opponent up and carries/places him outside the dohyo. The best position from which to perform tsuridashi is, naturally, a morozashi-grip where both hands are gripping the opponent’s belt from the inside of the opponent’s arms. From this very advantageous position, the attacker can control the situation better and have a deep hold quite effectively. However, as pointed out above, gaining morozashi is already a very decisive moment in the bout, and rarely is one unable to go for a yorikiri win. There are some exceptions to this rule of thumb. Former ozeki Takanonami was one of the only rikishi who won many bouts by tsuridashi when his opponent had morozashi. Takanonami simply used his classic kime-arm hook hold to squeeze the arms of his attacker, and then lifted him up and out. Of the current rikishi, Baruto has a similar reach and enough power to go for a fairly identical move. Tsuridashi from a regular one hand inside, one hand outside grip is rarer as it enables the opponent to wriggle much more and use his own mawashi grip better to block the lift. Sometimes it is seen on the edge, where the attacker finishes a yorikiri drive by using his stomach to hoist the opponent over the tawara.

One variation of tsuridashi is a reaction to an opponent’s throwing attempt. The best example of this was seen in the 2004 Nagoya basho. On day 11, when Asashoryu went for a throw, Kyokutenho reacted to Asashoryu’s body’s twist by immediately taking a strong hold of his belt, easily lifting him up and rushing him out in an unusually effortless manner, in the blink of an eye.

A strain to the back is a clear danger when performing tsuridashi. Lifting a 150 kg (330 lbs.) immobile and unresisting rikishi from a morozashi grip is easy for makuuchi level rikishi, but the situation changes fully when the opponent resists and continuously moves his centre of gravity. The rapid and unexpected shifting of the “mass center” of his opponent creates quite a stress on the lifter’s back. Some rikishi have even told of hurting their backs in tsuridashi. The grip is usually relatively far from one’s own torso and hence creates sub-optimal kinetics and lifting conditions, predisposing the lower back to unwanted stress. It would be a very rare and unlikely sight to see a rikishi suffering from lower back problems, and yet going for tsuridashi. One also needs to have a solid lower body and strong trapezius muscles to execute the art of  tsuridashi.

Tsuridashi is a power move, but not only the enormously powerful rikishi go for it. Some rikishi of the past 15 years that have developed a liking for the technique are the “king of tsuridashi”, Kirishima (29 tsuridashi since Hatsu 1990, and even more before then), Takanonami (19, many from a kime-hold), Kotoryu (14, mostly from morozashi) and Asashoryu, who has seven tsuridashi wins to date. Baruto shows promise in tsuridashi and Hakuho definitely has this technique in his repertoire.

Tsuriotoshi is the extreme version of tsuridashi. It uses the same technique except that the attacker slams the opponent down on his back or side. Morozashi is basically a must in order to be able to go for this technique. It often has a clear “showing off” or “payback” aspect after a surprising or a bad earlier loss to the opponent. Only seven tsuriotoshi have been witnessed in makuuchi since Hatsu 1990. The last three bear Asashoryu’s signature. Twice in 2004 he found his way to an extremely deep morozashi against Kotomitsuki and would have won easily with pretty much any technique available, but he decided to go for the impressive one.

Okuritsuridashi and okuritsuriotoshi were added to the official kimarite list in 2001. The only difference from tsuridashi and tsuriotoshi is that the attacker is behind the opponent and performs the technique from there. Two official okuritsuridashi have been seen in makuuchi since its implementation in 2001, but Kyokushuzan had already beat Takatoriki in 1999: after spending a long time behind him in a certain winning position “Shuzan lifted Takatoriki high and placed him outside the dohyo, to the amusement of the audience. Back then it was registered as a tsuridashi. Okuritsuriotoshi is the ultimate ”piss off”-technique and  one could mistake it for a humiliation attempt. The defender is in a totally helpless position and yet the attacker puts extra effort in tilting the lift so that the defender lands on his back or side.


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