Koshi Guruma
Takedown · Standing
A hip throw with the arm around the head that takes you from a collar tie to a top position beside them, in side control or kesa gatame. Use it when they drive into you head-first with their weight forward. Your collar-tie arm wraps the back of their neck in a tight headlock while the other hand pulls their near arm across your belly by the wrist or sleeve; step in and turn so your hips go well past theirs, knees bent and hips lower than theirs. Straighten the legs and turn toward the arm side, taking the head with you: they wheel over your hip. A shallow hip or a loose arm gives up your back. Never crank the neck or land your weight on it.
How to do it
- From the collar tie, when he drives into you head-first, keep his head low with the tie and take his near arm with your other hand: the sleeve in the gi, the wrist or triceps without. That arm is what steers the throw.
- Slide the collar-tie arm around the back of his neck so your forearm wraps his head and clamps it to your chest and shoulder. Hold the head and the near shoulder together, not the throat.
- Step your front foot across in front of his near foot, pivot on it and swing the back foot around, so your back is to his chest and your feet are inside his. Bend the knees: your hips are lower than his and pushed out past his far hip.
- Pull the arm across your belly and the head around your shoulder, hugging him tight to your back, so his weight rests on your hip line rather than on his feet.
- Straighten the knees and turn your head and shoulders toward the arm side: he wheels over your hip and lands on his back in front of you. Lift with the legs, not by pulling the neck.
- Keep the arm as he lands and drop onto your hip beside him into kesa gatame, legs wide for base, or release the head and switch to side control before he turns in.
Key details
- Hips deep past his far hip: the whole hip line carries him. With a shallow hip he steps around you and takes your back.
- Hips lower than his, and the lift comes from straightening the knees. Pulling on the neck instead only cranks it and does not move his weight.
- Control the near arm all the way: a free arm posts on the mat, wraps your waist or slides behind you for the back.
- Use his forward drive: he is already moving into you, so you turn in under his weight. Against an upright opponent who sits back, the entry is blocked or countered.
- Pin the head tight under your armpit so he cannot turn his face away: if he turns the head, the shoulders open, he sags his hips and throws you backward. Once you have turned in, commit; bailing halfway leaves him behind you with your waist wrapped.
Common mistakes
- Throwing with the headlock alone, pulling the neck without loading the hip. — Without the hip his weight stays on his feet; you crank his neck and he steps around or sits back. — Get your hips under and past his first, then turn: the head only steers the rotation.
- Stopping the turn with your hip beside his instead of across it. — He blocks with his hips, walks around your hip and ends behind you, or lifts you with a counter hip throw. — Step the front foot across his and finish the pivot until your back is flat to his chest.
- Falling with him and landing your full weight on his head and neck. — It can injure the neck, and falling flat with him often leaves you underneath when he rolls. — Stay on your feet through the throw, then sit onto your hip beside him with the legs wide.
How to drill it
Entries: your partner leans in from a collar tie, you wrap the head, take the arm and turn in to the loaded position, ten times each side without throwing. Then five full throws each side onto a crash mat, landing in kesa gatame.
Safety
A headlock throw loads the neck: wrap the head and shoulder together, never crank the neck, keep the arm so the partner can breakfall onto the back, and throw only partners who can breakfall.