Sumo History 01
As rikishi grew heavier, how did winning styles change?
Makuuchi bodyweight and winning kimari-te, decade by decade from the 1950s through the 2020s.
The short answer
Median bodyweight rose from 109 kg to 152 kg. Oshidashi climbed from 6.7% to 25.0%, while tsuridashi fell from 4.5% to 0.2%. Rikishi grew larger, but lifting wins nearly disappeared.
Median makuuchi bodyweight rose from 109.0 kg to 152.0 kg
We use the median so one exceptionally heavy rikishi cannot dominate the comparison. Bars start at 0 kg and use 200 kg as full width.
The share at 150 kg or above rose from 8.0% to 57.0%. The sharpest shift came between the 1970s and 1990s, when median bodyweight moved from 123.0 kg to 146.5 kg.
Oshidashi nearly quadrupled as tsuridashi faded
We count makuuchi wins by rikishi assigned to each decade. Bars start at 0% and use 40% as full width.
Oshidashi
Yorikiri
Hatakikomi
Tsukiotoshi
Tsuridashi
Oshidashi rose from 6.7% to 25.0%. Yorikiri peaked at 36.1% in the 1980s, then fell to 25.5% in the 2020s.
Heavier rikishi did not make spectacular techniques more common
Tsuridashi fell from 4.5% to 0.2%, and utchari from 3.0% to 0.2%. Greater bodyweight did not bring more spectacular wins.
What increased was oshidashi: direct forward pressure. The figures likely reflect changes in the tachiai, training, and tactics as well as bodyweight.
Method and limitations
The sample covers makuuchi from January 1950 through 2026 Nagoya Basho. Each rikishi is assigned once to the decade with the most makuuchi basho, and winning kimari-te use the same grouping.
Bodyweight is a single profile measurement, not a measurement from every basho. Current profile weights were refreshed for 42 makuuchi rikishi from SumoDB. Retired rikishi use the profile values retained in the database; clearly invalid imports were supplemented from the same source. The prediction database was not modified. This compares the physique of each generation; it is not a strict basho-by-basho bodyweight series.