What's not allowed in sumo? The forbidden moves (kinjite)
Eight moves are banned outright, called kinjite: closed-fist punching, hair pulling, eye or solar-plexus gouging, striking both ears at once, groin grabbing, choking, kicking the chest or waist, and bending fingers back. Any of these is an automatic loss (hansoku) - they exist purely to prevent lasting injury, not to limit strategy.
What you are seeing
- Open-handed thrusts to the chest or face (tsuppari) are completely legal - it's specifically the closed fist that's banned.
- Wrestlers grab the mawashi constantly, anywhere around the waist and hips - just never the front pouch.
- A wrestler whose mawashi comes fully undone also loses automatically, regardless of position in the bout.
What to watch next
- Watch the hands during a scramble at the edge - open palms and grips on the belt are legal, a closed fist would be an immediate foul.
- Kicking an opponent's leg out from under him is a real, legal technique (ashitori and similar); it's kicking the body itself that's banned.
- A hansoku disqualification is rare enough at the top level that most fans never see one live - the eight banned moves mostly shape what wrestlers avoid, not what referees have to call.
A common first-timer mistake
Assuming any hard-looking slap or shove is illegal. Sumo is genuinely rough within its rules; the banned list is narrow and specifically aimed at moves that cause lasting harm rather than moves that simply look violent.
Words you may hear
- Kinjite
- the forbidden techniques of sumo
- Hansoku
- an automatic loss by disqualification
- Tsuppari
- rapid open-handed thrusting strikes, which are legal
Sources and review
Created and photographed in Ryogoku by a Tokyo-based spectator. Facts reviewed against Japan Sumo Association materials on 25 August 2026.