Throwing Principles: The Angles (part 1 - The Feet!)

It's the feet, stupid!  And the toes...

We all talk about throws to the rear, throws to the side, etc., as general descriptions for what happens to uke in a throw.  But here's the ninja secret: it's not about which way uke is facing, and not really about where her bellybutton is pointing (assuming she has an outie).  The primary concern when determining the angle of your throw is the feet!

Let's say you want to do Osoto Gari.  Your uke is standing in normal posture with feet basically side by side, with face, bellybutton, and all 10 toes pointed forward.  It is clear:  You put your left foot beside her right foot (hey, look at that - three feet in a row!) and blast her to her back right corner.  BOOM! 

Question:  But what happens if she pivots 45 degrees on the balls of her feet?  Now, she's facing a different way...
Answer:  Doesn't matter!  Do the exact same thing!  Put your foot just where it was before (hey, look at that - we still have 3 feet in a row!) and blast her to her rear corner again!  Now, the angle that she gets thrown - in relation to the way her body was facing - will be much more to the side than to the rear, but in relation to the feet, it's just the same!  Wunderbar!

Question:  You want to do a right-sided seoi otoshi to your bad guy, who is facing you and is standing in a bit of a front stance, with his left forward.  How much do you need to pivot?  I'll make it multiple choice...

1. ~180 degrees (so that your body is lined up the same way Uke is facing), because it's a forward throw!
2. ~135 degrees (so that your body is lined up ~90 degrees to Uke's feet), because you've been reading this post!
3. ~225 degrees (so that your body is lined up parallel with Uke's feet), because you like adding degrees of difficulty to ineffective throw attempts!

Answer:  Honestly, it was a trick question, because I didn't say where your feet were (even with Tori, it's about the feet!)  But let's assume that you were standing with your feet side by side, facing Uke.  I'm going with choice #2.

See?  It's all about the feet!  Here are a couple of foot-related points to help you out when executing your throw

• Generally, you are going to have the easiest time off-balancing your opponent on the line perpendicular to their feet, and you'll have a harder time off-balancing them on the line parallel with their feet - though this isn't always true (e.g., if their feet are touching, or if their center is over one foot)
• After accounting for this, you'll generally have an easier time off-balancing your opponent in a direction where their toes can't come in to play.  And the more toe-meat that they can bring in to play, the harder it will be.  So toward the heel is easier than the side, which is easier than the front.  And the pinky toe corner is easier than the big toe corner.  (As a side note, out of curiosity, I wondered if the different individual toes might have different medical names, other than "phalanges" which is the name for the whole set.  As far as I can tell, "pinky toe" is about as scientific as you get for that little guy, and other than "Big Toe", the other toes are screwed.  And I came across this post where a guy attempts to grant some names to the toes.  The names cracked me up.)

I like the idea of little mats that lay out footsteps (kind of like you may see in dance instruction?) to teach foot placement for throws, but use dots for uke's feet, instead of foot outlines, because you should be less concerned about the direction they are pointing.  The direction of Tori's feet definitely matters, though... But that is for another day.

Last side note:  Don't search Google Images for "foot" - you'll get a bunch of pictures of jacked up, nasty feet.  And nasty children.  And if you accidentally use Google Images for your "official name for the pinky toe" search, the first result is a picture of Dweezil Zappa.  Who knew?