Northern Wind

If uke refuses to move, load weight into his leg. Root it like a tree, then cut it down. If he moves, extend his step.  Clear the foot as if sweeping away the leaves.    Osoto gari & Kosoto gari You can reap his leg from the outside, with either a large or small reap. Ouchi gari & Kouchi gari You can also reap his leg from the inside, with either a large or small reap. . . . . . . . Osoto barai & Kouchi barai You can sweep his leg from the outside, with either a large or small sweep. Ouchi barai & Kouchi barai You can also sweep his leg from the inside, with either a large or small sweep. . . . . . . . The idea of treating a "gari" throw like a "barai" might be unusual in the judo world. But they're definitely worth exploring. It all depends on whether he has weight already on the leg, or if it's weightless. Learn to take advantage of both situations, this yin and yang. Then learn t...

Occasionally, in judo, I get asked a question about a common problem. Essentially, a student it trying to throw their partner but can't get in. Maybe he feels like his partner is just too tall, or too big and strong. Fair enough. The same thing happens, actually, in aikido randori. Things are great when practicing a throw and we have a compliant uke, but when it comes to an uke who doesn't want to be thrown, he hit a wall. What happened? I want to throw, but I don't want to BE thrown... First of all, let me remove the aspect of sport or tournament judo from this discussion. Nothing against judo as a sport or those who participate in it, mind you; I love watching tournament judo, it's exciting stuff. It's just not why I myself study judo (and most of my peers, as well). In a match, I'm trying to score points, to win; the other guy is also trying to score points and win. I'm trying to keep from being thrown so I don't lose; so is the other guy. ...

There's a section of our "walking kata" or tegatana no kata in aikido that I find very, very useful in judo. After stepping forward and back diagonally, the side to side, there's the part where you turn 90° by pre-turning your foot. It looks a little something like this: You step to your right first, then return to the start, then repeat the same action on your left side. Be sure, of course, to step with your hip still over your lead foot. In other words, don't put your foot over there, then move your hip over it. The two should move together. Here's how it applies to nage waza. First, I do the pre-turned step to my right (for example; you could start on either side). Uke will find that he's no longer facing me, so he'll turn as well in order to square back up again. As he's doing so, or just as he finishes, I make the same pre-turned step to my left . Doing just that creates such a wonderful kuzushi with all kinds of possibilities. Thi...