Hip Throw
Takedown · Standing
O goshi takes you from an underhook clinch to a top position as they land on their back in front of you. Use it when they lean on you, best as one foot passes behind the other and they rise onto the toes. Hold the sleeve, lower your shoulder and slide the other arm deep through their armpit around the back of the waist to the far hip or belt. Step in and turn your back to them, knees bent so your hips are below theirs and out past their far hip, then lift by straightening the knees, not with the arms, and rotate toward the sleeve side. Without the hip out past theirs you only bump them. If they drop the hips, switch to osoto gari; if they step around your hip, take the back. Keep the sleeve for their breakfall.
How to do it
- Grip the sleeve with one hand. Lower your shoulder and slide the other arm deep through their armpit, around the back of their waist to the far hip or belt.
- Time the entry as their foot passes behind the other and they rise onto the toes. Step in front of them and turn your back to them, bending the knees so your hips are lower than theirs.
- Your hip goes out past their far hip, so their hips are loaded on the side of yours rather than bumped by it.
- Pull the sleeve around you and hug the waist tight, then lift them onto your hip by straightening the knees, not with the arms.
- Rotate toward the sleeve side and keep the sleeve, so they turn over your hip and land on their back in front of you.
Key details
- Your hips lower than theirs: bend the knees on the entry and lift by straightening them, not with the arms or the back.
- Hip out past theirs, or you only bump them instead of loading them.
- Keep the sleeve: it guides the fall onto the back and protects the partner's head.
- Lower your shoulder and slide the arm deep through their armpit, around the back of the waist to the far hip: a deep arm glues their hips to yours.
- Enter as their foot passes behind the other: they rise onto the toes and are light to load.
- Win the arm around the waist first, then attack: reaching for it and turning in in one move rarely works. If they drop their weight onto your waist arm, the hip will not go across; circle or rotate them to take the weight off that arm, then turn in.
- If they block on your hip, do not stop: keep the hips across and run them over with both legs.
Common mistakes
- Turning in while standing tall. — Your hips are too high to get under theirs and load them. — Bend your knees on the step in so your hips are below theirs.
- Letting go of the sleeve during the rotation. — Nothing steers the fall: they land on the head or roll free of the throw. — Hold the sleeve until they are on the mat.
- Hip not out past theirs. — You bump them with the hip instead of lifting them over it, and they stay on their feet behind you. — Step deep so your hip sticks out beyond their far hip.
How to drill it
Uchikomi: 3 × 10 entries without the throw, then 5 throws on a crash mat; then entries from movement.
Safety
Keep the sleeve so your partner can break the fall. Practise falls (ukemi) before throws.
What comes next
Where it comes from