Giant Killers: Sumo

Enhō the Little Giant

Sumo. A sport dating back to 720 BC, it is steeped in tradition and a proud symbol of Japanese strength, honor, and conservation. It is the sport of giants.

Sumo is fought without weight classes but the average competitor is over 6 feet tall and 300 lbs. Sumo is fought in a small ring (known as a dohyō), where being forced out of the ring or to any part of your body that is not your feet results in a loss. A larger body means more momentum to aid them in pushing, slapping, shoving, and throwing. Sumo wrestlers are highly explosive, muscular, and flexible athletes despite what many assume and train harder than just about any combat athlete.

Disclaimer: The video clips included in this article are not owned by the author. They are included for educational purposes only to illustrate key moments in the fighter’s career and demonstrate aspects of mixed martial arts techniques and strategies. All rights to the video content belong to their respective owners.

In a contest where getting barreled over means an automatic loss, the small man is fighting an uphill battle. Enhō Akira one of a few men throughout sumo history who have sought to defy the odds. Standing at 5’6 and weighing just over 200 lbs, Enho might seem like a large shorty compared to the average man but he is incomparably small in the world of sumo.

Enhō has a friendly competition with his mentor, the greatest sumo wrestler of all time, Hakuhō Shō

Though riddled with injuries after hard losses and not to compete until 2024, Enhō has some of the most incredible victories I have seen in sumo. His diminutive stature within the sport is not well suited to charging at his opponent’s head on and forcing them out of the ring.

Much of his style actually incorporates elements of Western wrestling with mawashi (the belt diaper) grips that allow him to trip, throw, and off-balance his opponents. With techniques suited to his size he is able to compete with men that outweigh him by more than 100 lbs and win matches with less prominent sumo techniques.

Shitatenage

The shitatenage is Enhō’s preferred technique. Shitatenage is known as an “underarm throw”. It involves getting an underhook grip on the mawashi from behind, a front grip on the mawashi, and elevating a leg between the opponent’s to bring them forward and over their hips.

The way in which he commits his entire body weight to the throw is reminiscent of an uchimata / whizzer kick. The primary difference is that instead of overhooking the opponents arm to bring them down, Enhō commits to an underhook mawashi grip.

This suits him being shorter than just about every single rikishi he faces. Enhō comes in low and is able to get his underhook grip quickly. With his hips far and weight driving into his opponent they cannot easily attain grips on his mawashi.

With his underhook mawashi grip and an overhand mawashi grip from the front Enhō begins circling to the outside. Obtaining a dominant angle is where Enhō really shines. Due to the insane size differential between him and his opponents he will almost always lose a head-on battle. Instead he begins circling to the side once his grips are established.

Once he is side on with his opponent he steps and places his thigh firmly in front of his opponent’s knee. This creates a post that prevents his opponent from stepping to regain his balance. As Enhō throws his opponent with mawashi grips his leg post elevates their leg and sends their hips over their head.

While momentum is a gift for pushing and thrusting in sumo, that same momentum makes Enhō’s opponents careen over his knee with little effort as he pulls them over it.

Enhō’s scissor step adds additional power to his throw as well. This step provides him a strong base from which to throw his opponent while creating the knee post.

While many rikishi can simply use the underarm grip to throw their opponent raw, Enhō’s knee post is both a clever and necessary element to off balance his opponent, bring one of their feet in the air, and their body to the clay.

The little giant is not a one trick pony however.

Single-Legs

Enhō’s wrestling prowess struck me while watching his matches. Just as with his preferred shitatenage there are advantages to coming in low on your opponent. He prevents their grips on his head, underhooks, and overhooks by hand fighting on the outside. Once a path clears he commits to the legs.

Something rarely seen in professional sumo due to the size of the competitors, Enhō has frequently attempted a single-leg pickup on his opponents. His strength is staggering, as he is lifting up these 300 lb men with seemingly little effort.

In the same way he achieves success with the shitatenage, Enhō is alway looking to circle out and obtain a dominant angle on his opponent. Once perpindicular to his opponent, he obtains a single-leg grip and drives forward as hard as he can. This drive from a dominant angle allows him to force the opponent’s leg in the air and drive them out of the ring.

A grip on the mawashi with his back hand and the other forcing the leg up, he does not even need to lift his opponent in the air or bring them to the ground. With his angle and grip, he can simply drive into the opponent enough where they cannot regain their balance without turning back into him.

The mawashi aids Enhō in these efforts. If he was attempting to do a normal single-leg takedown his gigantic opponents would waste no effort in stomping their foot down and turning back into him. Enhō’s mawashi grip provides him a tool with more leverage from which to lift his opponent up and limits their hip mobility.

More than most sumo wrestlers I have seen (which admittedly is still not many), Enhō possess wonderful wrestling instincts: searching for the outside angle, getting low to off-balance and always driving into his opponent.

Trips and Throws

Enhō’s stand up grappling ability is a joy to watch. His charge is usually less committed than his opponent’s so he doesn’t get run over, opting to circle out as usual. Below he is able to obtain a strong collar tie and overhook, utilizing the opponent’s momentum while circling out to roll the opponent onto his back.

Enhō is more prone to using sacrificial throws and techniques given he can commit the whole of his body weight to them. He is usually quite diligent at circling to the outside and keeping his hips far away from his opponent. Given the nature of the sport he is bound to end up hip to hip with his opponent, where he is at his most disadvantaged.

From here, Enhō always finds his underhook grip on the mawashi and is able to improvise with his other hand. In the clip above Enhō grabs a collar tie with his free hand and throws his opponent towards that side. They both fall out of the dohyō with this technique. Enhō needs to continue the throw with all of his bodyweight until they hit the ground. If he does not fully commit in these positions his opponent will have a much easier time countering him.

In dire straights with his back to the edge and his opponent coming forward to bring their hips together, Enhō stays low and prevents his opponent from fully standing him up. He instead takes advantage of his vertical opponent to hit his signature shitatenage.

When all else fails, Enhō’s quickness and movement is a God-send. His opponent is insistent to keep Enhō close and slowly cut off his lateral exits by pushing him further to the edge. Enhō scrambles to the edge and instead of charging in, slips out the side and trips his opponent off the dohyō. His opponent also seems to almost kill an official sitting ring-side as well.

Though Enhō hits many of his sweeps and throws by countering his opponent’s forward momentum, an integral but rarer skill is chaining. When at a strength disadvantage it is unlikely that you can bring your opponent down with a single technique. A much better idea is to use less committed moves in succession to off-balance your opponent and take advantage with a finishing move. Enhō uses a beautiful trip while perpendicular to his opponent and the moment his opponent steps down with his weight far forward of his hips, uses an elbow grip and underhand mawashi grip to drag his opponent forward.

Enhō’s strength is built around his movement and commitment to finding superior angles. Enhō turns sumo from a physical game to a technical one. No matter the disparity he finds a way to bring his opponent’s to the ground.

More Neat Tricks

Enhō has a couple of favorite moves but has shown a variety of techniques when necessary throughout his best tournament appearances. He again demonstrates that he can beautifully intertwine the mawashi grips of sumo with traditional wrestling. Enhō focuses on again (say it with me) circling out until he performs a duck under on his opponent. Once he is past the arm, he grabs the mawashi and spins his opponent until he can push him out of the ring.

Just as in jiu-jitsu having your back taken is often a death sentence given the lack of defensive options. It is much easier to push the opponent out from their back than from the front.

The mawashi is no longer needed. Enhō briefly meets his opponent in the center and performs a quick arm drag. Enhō slides out as his opponent stumbles to the edge where Enhō can easily push the big man out. Not quite a henka (side step right as the bout begins), but the same idea applies.

Even when Enhō meets his opponent in the middle he ensures to get out to the side. Against an opponent not too much larger than himself he is still able to get outside the opponent’s arm, grab the mawashi, and drive them out while perpendicular to them. Almost all of Enhō’s proactive finishes come from being completely side on to his opponent.

This works in his favor as when meeting them head on the opponent need only step back to retain balance. When side on the opponent must turn in or cross their feet to avoid being lifted in the air. When they are forced to cross their feet, their balance deteriorates further, and Enhō’s continuous drive forces them out completely.

When Enhō is forced into a pushing exchange in the center of the dohyō, he is still thinking of ways in which he can take advantage of his opponent’s forward momentum to attain victory. In the exchange below, Enhō’s small stature lets him easily assume better head positioning with his forehead driving into the chin of his opponent. This forces his opponent to drive harder to prevent his posture from straightening. Once he commits to the momentum Enhō grabs onto the head and snaps him down. Beautiful little move.

I do hope Enhō can make a momentous return. He is a wonderfully technical and strong rikishi who uses a variety of techniques to achieve success. In a combat sport where weight is perhaps the most important, Enhō defies the odds by beating other quality wrestlers with his wits.

Sumo is a recent love I’ve found. I’m half-considering moving to Japan to gain 100 lbs and become AmericEnhō. It is a sport that gets too much disrespect and I would implore you all too watch more of it, we are in the thick of tournament season right now with highlights abound on YouTube. So go watch more Enhō, sumo, and for my grapplers out there, there is definitely a lot to take from his game when it comes to giant killing. Be creative, and always be training. ABT.

-Kick