The Tsukahara can refer to a specific vault and a family of vaults in artistic gymnastics. The first Tsukahara vault was performed by (and named after) Mitsuo Tsukahara in 1972.
A Tsukahara vault consists of a half turn off the springboard onto the vault table, then a push backward, usually into a back salto or layout.
In Japanese, this technique is known as a "Moonsault".Sports Zenshū 3: Kikai Undō, coauthored by Masao Takemoto and Kazuo Abe, published in 1975 by Poplar Publishing.
Variations Any vault that has a handspring with 1/4 – 1/2 turn onto the vault table into a salto backward is classified as a Tsukahara vault. Some variations on the Tsukahara vaults include:
Kim – Tsukahara tucked or stretched with full twist (360°) off Zamolodchikova – Tsukahara stretched with a 2/1 turn (720°) off Phelps – a half turn onto the vault table, followed by a half turn off and into a front layout.
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