Tachi-ai

The tachi-ai (立合い) is the initial charge between two sumo wrestlers at the beginning of a bout.

[1][2] It is a combination of two Japanese words that mean “stand” and “meet”.

[3] There are several common techniques that wrestlers use at the tachi-ai, with the aim of getting a decisive advantage in the bout: The rules state that the wrestlers must touch down both fists on the floor before the tachi-ai.

By the 1970s and early 1980s, the rule had come to be widely ignored, with wrestlers charging from a virtually standing position.

A crackdown by the Japan Sumo Association in 1984 led to the fist-down rule being enforced once again, but has also led to concerns that it increases the likelihood of wrestlers charging head-first into each other and suffering concussion.