Judo UK

Tai Otoshi is classified a part of the Te Waza group of techniquies. According to the post on Tai Otoshi on wikipedia:

“The reason why it is called a hand throw is because it should feel effortless using the forward momentum of the attacker rather than brute force…”

I definately agree with that but as a beginner, we have tendency to over-emphasise the importance the use of the leg in this move.  Tai Otoshi is essential a hand throw and there needs to be consideration on how your upper body is used when throwing.

For example, again this is all drawn from my experience as a beginner, trying to use Tai Otoshi, in competition is hard because of my inexperience in how to do this move properly. I would step into Tai Otoshi and get the position right, but my lack of accuracy with how I control the Uke’s upper body would often have me leaning forwards or backwards and ultimately putting myself in a very bad position to be thrown.   

The application needs some effort to be applied to the off balancing of Uke and controlling upper body. Once this has been understood and applied to your Tai Otoshi then the use of the leg will be secondary to the move and just used as an aid to complete the throw or help to off-balance the Uke. 

Think about controlling your partner’s upper body when starting this move and apply some upper body strength to get them moving.

Some great examples of this are shown in these videos below. Look at how they hold the Uke’s upper body.