Sumo History 01
As rikishi grew heavier, how did winning styles change?
We compare makuuchi bodyweight and winning kimari-te across the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. Did changes in physique coincide with changes on the dohyo?
The short answer
Median bodyweight rose from the 2000s to the 2010s, then plateaued in the 2020s. Oshidashi still kept rising, so bodyweight alone cannot explain the change in winning style.
Median makuuchi bodyweight rose from 148.0 kg to 151.0 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 46.8% to 54.2%, then reached 55.7% in the 2020s. Most of the step-up occurred by the 2010s, followed by a plateau.
Winning shifted slightly from driving to pushing
We count makuuchi wins by rikishi assigned to each decade. Bars start at 0% and use 30% as full width.
Oshidashi
Yorikiri
Hatakikomi
Tsukiotoshi
Oshidashi rose from 19.4% to 25.0%, while yorikiri moved from 27.2% to 25.5%. This is a gradual shift in emphasis, not a clean break.
Heavier rikishi did not make spectacular techniques more common
Tsuridashi moved from 0.3% to 0.2%, and utchari from 0.1% to 0.2%. Added bodyweight did not coincide with more lifting or edge-reversal wins.
Oshidashi kept rising from the 2010s to the 2020s even as median weight levelled off. Changes in the tachiai, training, tactics, and physique together point to a greater role for direct forward pressure.
Method and limitations
The sample covers makuuchi from January 2000 through 2026 Nagoya Basho. Each rikishi is assigned once to the decade with the most makuuchi basho. Winning kimari-te sample sizes are 15602, 18948, and 11265 bouts.
Bodyweight is a single profile measurement, not a measurement from every basho.Only clearly invalid imported values were supplemented from SumoDB profile measurements for this article; The prediction database was not modified.This is therefore a comparison of each generation's physique composition, not a strict time series of every rikishi's weight at each basho.