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?

btemplates

16 comments:

Chad Morrison said...

I'll bet you this is the only judo blog out there to have a "Dweezil Zappa" tag for one of it's posts.

Patrick Parker said...

Watch out RE: calling your little toe or little finger "pinkie" b/c as I understand it, "pinkie" is a British name for another... appendage shall we say?

kodokanjudo said...

Those darn Brits!
They have too many fancy names for the "naughty bits"! LOL

kodokanjudo said...

Yes! I agree with the basics of your post. A great guide for all beginners and intermediate judoka.
However, I've been arround the block a few times and have been given contradictory advice from very prominent sensei(s).
Bryan- Got shodan in Okinawa from Sasahara-sensei (Kodokan 7th dan), was told to "look where you throw".
The feet were not quite as inportant in his dojo.
Hamdi- Tell everyone to just slide uke over the right shoulder in seoi-nage and most forward throws, something like Keo did. (Hamdi and Keo agree on something???)

kodokanjudo said...

What I'm trying to say is that very few sensei realy pay close attention to the position of the feet in a throw.
I'm sure you will cover the other points that I mentioned in your future posts.

Patrick Parker said...

RE: "very few sensei pay attention to the feet..."

only the good ones ;-)

kodokanjudo said...

Parker-sensei, you are right! :)

kodokanjudo said...

Many sensei should pay more attention to the feet when their students are practicing. I think this is something that it is easily taken for granted, especially with the more advanced students.

Jacob said...

I've been telling people something similar about the feet - what is your opinion of it. it goes something like:
"Uki's feet will guide the direction of your throw, but the feet are only the guide. the determining factor is the orientation of the center (roughly the hips). The feet are the best visual "map" for this."
So do you think that is true or just a bunch of hooey?

Chad Morrison said...

I'm not sure I follow what you are saying (typing). Are you saying that the way Uke's hips are facing should determine the direction of the throw, but that the feet can give you a good indication of that? If so, my initial thought is to disagree, but admit that I will have to mull it over.

In the case of Osoto, I think it doesn't matter which way you are pointing, but just how your feet line up... In other throws, I think the hip direction (or I call it the bellybutton direction) comes in to play, but as a secondary consideration (like in Seoi Nage), but I could believe that there are throws that care more about hip direction...

In either case would back it up to say the direction of the easiest off-balance rather than the direction of the throw, because Bluto can just grab you and determine to throw you any which-a-way, no matter how your feet/hips/etc. are oriented...

kodokanjudo said...

I think Jake is thinking more of the direction of kusushi by the position of uke's feet.

Jacob said...

its roughly the hip position. The feet angles are close, the bellybutton direction is close. its is all about how to know (as Leo said) the proper kusushi. I think the feet, hips and bellybutton can all be misleading depending upon the throw as they are all indications of something else. Some are better indicators in some cases that others. I have always called that thing the body's center, and it normally hangs out between the hips.

Chad Morrison said...

Kusushi? Your inner fish? =:>

So gimme an example of where the hip direction is the determinant... I believe that you are right that there are such throws, I just can't think of them...

Or maybe, instead of the hip direction showing the best path for kuzushi, maybe it shows the best angle for the actual set in. I could definitely see that for some throws...

Jacob said...

yes, to reach the true understanding of Judo you must channel your inner fish. Mine is a creek chub.

... yeah. so how about O garuma?

Chad Morrison said...

Yeah, that would be your inner fish. Maybe we'll work on developing our inner fish at class today.

Re: O Guruma - Let's test it! I know that the feet will still be important there, but not sure if they will be the "main thing".

Jacob said...

yes let's do that, only not today. I'm at the beach. See you on Saturday.