Uki-waza

Both sides grapple in the right natural posture. Tori steps back with his right foot, then his left foot, and continues with his right foot while pulling uke out and breaking his balance towards the left front corner. Uke responds by stepping forward with his left foot, then his right foot, and on the third step, he holds his ground with the left foot and begins to return to a stable posture.

At this moment, tori lessens the pulling action of the right hand, allowing uke to straighten up and begin to step back with his left foot. Uke supports his body weight on his right leg. As he raises his left foot and begins to step back, tori lowers his waist and drives uke’s left foot back by stepping in deep with his right foot. He lifts up with the right hand from below and, synchronized with this, pulls up with the left hand, preventing uke from transferring his weight onto his left foot, which is raised off the mat. Uke balances on the tip of his right foot in a stiff and rigid posture, as his balance breaks towards the right front corner.

Tori supports his body weight on the right leg while bending his right knee, so his right buttock is close to his right heel. He opens his body to the left, straightens his left leg, steps his left foot in front of uke’s right foot, and drops down. He lifts and pulls with the right hand and, as uke begins to rotate, tori changes the action of his left hand to pull down in a circular motion towards the left side of his chest. He synchronizes the right hand with this and lifts uke up in the direction he is being thrown, and throws him over the left shoulder towards the left rear. Uke is thrown towards the front right in a large rotating motion around the fulcrum of the tip of the right foot.

The objective of tori’s tsukuri is not to transfer uke’s weight over the left foot, which he steps back in order to return to a stable posture, but to break his balance towards the right front corner so that he is standing on one leg (the right leg). The timing of his right foot as he steps in and drives uke’s left foot back is very important. At that point, he does not break uke’s balance using his hands only but lowers his waist well, steps his right foot near uke’s left foot, and lifts him up. It is important to tsukuri using the waist.

Uki-waza is a yoko-sutemi-waza where tori throws uke by dropping down. Therefore, if he tries to throw uke by twisting with the power from his arms, this will not demonstrate the particular characteristic of this technique and will also prove ineffective.

Tori must synchronize the action of dropping down with pulling in a large circular shape with the left hand, so that uke is thrown down in a large rotating movement.

When tori drops down, he does not open his left leg towards the back like in sono Ichi; he steps in to uke’s right foot. Consequently, tori’s left leg often touches uke’s right leg during the throw.

It is essential that tori drops down onto his side to face towards the left, so that the back of his left shoulder, and the little-toe side of his left leg, are touching the mat. His right knee is bent and raised, and while raising his waist slightly, he uses the twist of his body to complete the technique.

There are many opportunities to apply uki-waza in normal randori by drawing uke’s right foot forward while grappling in the natural posture, similar to the principle explained in Nage no Kata. Tori can also execute the technique at the moment uke steps back with the left foot by lifting him to the right front corner, breaking his balance, and then throwing him.