VISIT OUR SHOP! The Book of Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi

Judo Techniques - Advancing Foot Sweep

Author: Troy Macraft
Date Posted: January 22, 2009

This technique is performed on the move and relies on good timing and a smooth, rhythmical sweeping action.

Tori and uke both take orthodox right-handed grips, and tori pushes against uke, making a small step forwards on his right foot to provoke resistance, and then steps backwards on his right foot making uke follow him. Tori has created a gap between his body and uke's which uke naturally tries to close. The backwards step also allows tori to open his hips in a natural way in preparation for the sweeping movement. As uke steps forwards on his right foot, tori sweeps it away just as uke is about to place it on the mat and put his weight on it. If the timing is correct uke will go down as if he has slipped on a banana skin. It is important with this foot-sweep to make a large, bold, sweeping action from the hip, not just a tentative peck with the foot to see whether uke is balanced or not.

The sweeping foot should be turned so that the sole of tori's foot makes contact with uke's heel and the sweep should be in the direction that uke's toes are pointing. With both players holding right-handed the action of tori's left hand is important to exploit uke's loss of balance when the sweep is made, and should pull down in the direction in which the foot sweeps. The right hand pushes uke only very lightly in a sideways direction as he falls to prevent him twisting onto his side.

Not everyone is right-handed and in order for de-ashi-barai to work against a player who takes a left-handed grip tori must make some adjustments to the technique. If tori does not want to give the game away he should keep his normal grip, but instead of attacking uke's right foot as it advances, he must attack the left foot, making the sweep with his right foot instead of the left. This makes the technique fundamentally different, with the right hand becoming much more important in the actual throwing action. Tori must make a big step back on his left foot in a semicircular movement so that his hips turn sideways onto uke, creating space in which to sweep uke's left leg away as he steps forwards. The timing does not change - just as uke's foot is about to touch the mat tori sweeps it away, snapping his right elbow down smoothly and crisply as he sweeps away the leg.

Okuri-ashi-harai is a foot sweep which is used to attack an opponent when moving sideways. Correctly performed the sweep brings both of uke's feet together and lifts him completely clear of the ground, rather than just slicing him down as with de-ashi-barai. As with most foot sweeps, it is a very good idea to practice using both feet so that if uke moves to his right tori sweeps with his right foot, and if uke moves to his left tori uses his left foot.

Both players take a grip and tori steps sideways on his left foot. Uke moves with him to recoverthe status quo and, as his right foot touches the ground and his left foot is about to, tori sweeps uke's left foot with his right foot. The sweeping action of tori's leg should cause uke's feet to come together, so that as tori pulls up with the hands both legs are swept off the ground. To generate effective sweeping power tori must be able to open his hips and swing his leg through in a dynamic fashion. Imagining uke's ankles are the target; tori must sweep through them, not at them. Having used his hands to lift uke in order to take the weight off his feet so that they can be swept away, tori must then use them to finish the throw, by pulling uke down on to his back. The tsurite, which grips the lapel or collar, is very much the working hand in this throw.

Okuri-ashi-harai can combine well with major forward throws such as uchimata and harai-goshiand is not hampered by the high collar grip so often preferred by people who specialize in those throws. It can also be useful for players who specialize in yoko-tomoe-nage, since the sideways movement is the same and being hit with a foot sweep when expecting a yoko-tomoe-nage can be especially disconcerting. It combines extremely well with other ashi-waza too and can be very effective if tori can sweep uke's legs together as he is stepping backwards.

Ko-uchi-gari into okuri-ashi-harai on the opposite side can come off spectacularly at the highest level, even if tori attacks with only one hand. Tori attacks with left ko-uchi-gari, only holding with the left hand so uke steps back on his left foot; tori immediately steps forwards, right foot then left, uke steps back on his right foot to recover normal posture and tori scythes a sweep into the left foot as uke transfers his weight on to his right foot. Marc Meilling of West Germany threw Robert van de Walle for ippon with this technique in the quarter-final of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games in the light heavyweight category.

About The Author

Troy Macraft The Emergence of Taekwondo MMA fu

Article Source: JKD Street Combat - online collection of Judo articles.

Write an online review and share your thoughts with other readers!