Welcome back to another edition of Technical Readout. Today, we’re diving into an incredible show of brute strength. In the November 2021 basho in Kyushu, Terutsuyoshi put away Ishiura. The win wasn’t meaningful and didn’t show off a clutch, in the moment, mentality. Instead, what Terutsuyoshi shows off an incredible feat of strength that is more akin to a strongman competition rather than a sumo bout. Let’s dive in.
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Terutsuyoshi: A Show of Strength
Right off the bat, the two rikishi smash heads in the center of the dohyo. Ishiura has the inside hand advantage on his right side and Terutsuyoshi slaps it down. Notice how Terutsuyoshi keeps his head on top of Ishiura, keeping his center of gravity higher and pushing Ishiura’s lower.
Now, Terutsuyoshi has the inside hand advantage where Ishiura was looking for. As Terutsuyoshi circles away from the edge of the dohyo, he takes his right hand and grabs the mawashi of Ishiura with his right hand. He steps in looking for a lift and doesn’t quite have the leverage where his left hand is, which is still under the right armpit of Ishiura. He then tries for a snap down to get Ishiura to the ground but to no avail.
Here is where the magic happens. Terutsuyoshi gives up the arm position on his right hand, as you can see when he pulls it out, and goes to a belt grip on the opposite side. He keeps his chest on top of Ishiura, putting him in a bad position. Instead of pulling down again, Terutsuyoshi uses his chest and the back where Ishiura is touching his chest as a fulcrum and lifts on the mawashi grips, picking Ishiura’s feet off the ground. The crowd gasps with wonder at the show of strength.
Terutsuyoshi sees the pickup and position he has and lifts up Ishiura once more. This time, he steps to the edge of the dohyo once more and sets Ishiura out of bounds, winning the match.
The feat of strength here is absolutely insane. You can see the look on Ishiura’s face that he couldn’t believe what just happened either. It was truly an incredible performance by Terutsuyoshi.
