Judo UK

In my last post, I talked about the how that upper body strength is the main part of the throw. In this post I will take you through the whole motion.

Grips

Left Hand – My preference to grips is to stand in classical style but with my left hand holding at the elbow (I’m right handed just in case you wondered – so left foot forward). Your left hand can hold on to the sleeve but personally I fell that I have more control on the elbow, plus, in theory, I can off balance the opponent more when I come to progress through the move.

Right Hand - I still haven’t found my style in regards to this yet, but the way that I am practising now is the right hand high on the lapel. I have seen this throw with the right hand around the neck also. There are always variations to these moves but for this example I will keep my hand on the lapel.

The Throw

Firstly, I must say this move is easier whilst you are on the move. When you are static and attempt this I always find myself in a bad position (and ultimately on my back!), so I alway try to throw in the direction we Uke and I are moving. The momentum helps, in off-balancing and in the effort required.

The Feet Positioning – I will pull the Uke towards me and upwards (upwards always the hardest part to this) and aim to get Uke on his /her toes. I will then pivot around on my right foot, plant my left foot outside of Uke’s left foot, then shoot the right leg past the Uke’s right foot. The placement of your right foot should be far enough so that the back of your knee of the right leg in underneath the front of the knee of Uke’s right leg. This said, I have seen examples of player doing less of a ’straddle’ and having there right foot and stop the Uke’s right leg from moving at the ankle.

The Pull – At the same as moving my feet, and turning my back to the Uke, I would pull my left hand forward, with the blade of my hand facing the ceiling and ‘punch’ my right hand through Uke’s head… without actually punching of course!

The Completion – I would then complete the throw by powering the upper power through; the best way to describe it is to touch my left knee with my forehead, keeping the Uke close to me the whole time, wheeling him over my right leg. Trying to touch the floor with your right hand whilst holding Uke. Also, you can off balance Uke even further by popping your right knee back on to Uke’s right knee (depending where you leg is placed), which should, if done correctly, dislodge his leg from the floor.

There! Instant Ippon! It terms of perfecting this move, remember upper body strength and practice it on the move. If you have any other tips, please feel to add them here!

Check this video by Mark Swain for more tips on Tai Otoshi:

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.