寄切

Yorikiri is one of the most commonly used techniques. It’s a ”frontal force-out” technique: ”yori” meaning ”pushing with the body” and ”kiri” meaning ”pushing out of the dohyo”.
This technique is implemented when the rikishi are grappling. The winner will force the loser backwards out of the ring, maintaining a grip on the mawashi all the time. The wrestlers will often strive to force the other to straighten up to ruin his balance.

This is not a technique more used by this or that kind of wrestler. In addition to the always-needed good balance, it requires strength, but it is not technically challenging as such. It can be seen done with an outside grip (where the attacker’s arms are on the outside of the opponent’s, often restraining them) as well as with an inside grip.

If the loser falls while the winner still has a grip in the mawashi, it is yoritaoshi; "taoshi" meaning "making opponent fall onto his back or side". The two techniques are rather similar - the only difference being whether or not the loser falls.

Of 1729 bouts in the Makuuchi division, 446 (25.8%) were won by yorikiri.¹

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1. Statistics from the March, May, July, September, and November Basho, 2005, and the January Basho, 2006.