Judo Techniques
Judo Techniques: Throws, Pins, Chokes and Armlocks
Get your judo technique checked: upload a clip and mmaGPT marks each mistake with a timestamp and a drill. First review free.
Judo throws look like they happen at the moment of contact. They are decided earlier, in the grip and in the step that breaks your opponent off balance. That is why almost every entry below has a cue about kuzushi rather than about the throw itself.
The names are the standard Kodokan ones with the English alongside. One cue each, one common mistake each, drawn from what shows up most often when footage gets reviewed. Your coach decides which version of a throw you are learning; this is a checklist for watching yourself back.
Grips and balance breaking
Kumi kata (gripping)
The fight for sleeve, lapel and collar control that decides who can attack.
Cue: Take your grip and attack on the same beat. A grip you settle into is a grip they solve.
Common mistake: Gripping with straight arms and pulling, which lets them control your posture while you hold cloth.
Kuzushi (breaking balance)
Moving your opponent onto the edge of their base so a throw has somewhere to go.
Cue: Move their head off their feet. If their head stays over their hips, there is no throw.
Common mistake: Entering for the throw first and trying to create the off balance with strength afterwards.
Tsukuri and kake (entry and execution)
Fitting your body into throwing position, then completing the throw.
Cue: Your hips must arrive lower than theirs before you turn in.
Common mistake: Standing tall in the entry, which is why most failed throws stall halfway.
Tai sabaki (body movement)
Turning and stepping patterns used to change angle and create throwing openings.
Cue: Turn your whole body as one piece, feet included, not just your shoulders.
Common mistake: Twisting the upper body only, which leaves your feet behind and kills the entry.
Throws
O goshi and uki goshi (major and floating hip throw)
Hip throws where your hip acts as the fulcrum under your opponent’s centre of gravity.
Cue: Get your hip past their hip, then lift with the legs rather than pulling with the arms.
Common mistake: Stopping the hip short of theirs, which turns the throw into a lift you cannot finish.
Seoi nage (shoulder throw)
A throw loading your opponent across your back and shoulder, from a standing or dropping entry.
Cue: Elbow under their armpit and both knees bent evenly before you turn.
Common mistake: Bending forward at the waist rather than dropping the hips, which puts the load on your spine.
Osoto gari and ouchi gari (major outer and inner reap)
Leg reaping throws that sweep one leg while your upper body drives them over it.
Cue: Take their weight onto the leg you are about to reap, first.
Common mistake: Reaping a leg that has no weight on it, which moves the leg and nothing else.
Uchi mata (inner thigh throw)
A throw lifting between your opponent’s legs with your own leg while turning their upper body.
Cue: Turn their shoulders while the leg lifts, so the rotation and the lift are one action.
Common mistake: Kicking the leg up with no upper body turn, which just hops them to a better base.
Harai goshi (sweeping hip throw)
A hip throw where your leg sweeps their thigh as your hip blocks their hips.
Cue: Hip contact first, then the leg sweeps. Both at once becomes a trip.
Common mistake: Sweeping before contact, so there is nothing for them to rotate over.
Tomoe nage and sumi gaeshi (sacrifice throws)
Throws where you drop your own body to use their forward pressure against them.
Cue: Commit only when their weight is already coming onto you.
Common mistake: Sitting down into the throw on your own initiative, which simply gives away top position.
Newaza (groundwork)
Kesa gatame and kuzure kesa gatame (scarf hold)
Side pins controlling the head and one arm with your chest and hip weight.
Cue: Head heavy and hips low, with your near leg extended for base.
Common mistake: Sitting up on the hip, which is the escape they are waiting for.
Tate shiho gatame and kami shiho gatame (mount and north-south holds)
Pins from on top of or above the opponent, controlling their shoulders and hips.
Cue: Kill the elbows first. A pin is broken at the arms before it is broken at the hips.
Common mistake: Holding high with straight arms, which gives them frames and room to turn in.
Juji gatame (cross armlock)
An armlock from the ground using your legs to control the shoulders while extending the elbow.
Cue: Control the shoulder line before you extend the arm.
Common mistake: Extending early with a loose knee squeeze, which lets them spin and stack you.
Turnovers from turtle
Entries that roll a defensive turtled opponent into a pin or submission.
Cue: Attack one side of the base completely rather than pulling from the middle.
Common mistake: Grinding from directly behind, which gives them all the time they need to wait it out.
FAQ
Judo technique questions.
- The main judo throws are grouped into hand, hip, foot, and sacrifice techniques, with o goshi, seoi nage, osoto gari, ouchi gari and uchi mata being the ones most clubs teach first. The Kodokan list runs to 68 throws, but competition at any level is mostly a handful of throws done extremely well.
- Judo throws usually fail because the balance break never happened, not because the throw was wrong. Film a few attempts from the side and look at your opponent's head: if it stays over their hips as you enter, the throw had nowhere to go, and the fix is in the grip and the step before it.
- Yes, mmaGPT reviews judo video and returns timestamped notes on each mistake plus a drill for it, usually in 30 to 45 seconds, from a clip filmed on your phone in the gym. It reads grip, posture and entry positions, and it is a second set of eyes between sessions rather than a replacement for your sensei.
Get one clip checked.
Film a 20 to 60 second clip on your phone with your whole body in frame, upload it in the browser, and in about 30 to 45 seconds mmaGPT returns timestamped notes on what went wrong plus a drill to fix it. It is a second set of eyes between classes, not a replacement for your coach. First session free, no card needed.