Seoi-nage

背負投

shoulder throw

Seoi-nage: Disrupt your opponent’s balance towards their front or right-forward direction. Swiftly pivot to your left, positioning your right elbow beneath their right armpit. Effortlessly lift them onto your back and execute a decisive shoulder throw to the right.

  • Sleeve-lapel grip in Ai-yotsu
  • Pull Uke forward-upward by pulling on the Judogi with both hands
  • Turn in and get under Uke's center of gravity
  • After turning in, load Uke onto the back with their front side
  • Lift by extending the legs
  • Pull Uke forward-downward with both hands

背負投

Seoi-nage

(shoulder throw)

Technique description

Tori breaks Uke’s balance forward, or to the right front corner. He inserts his right arm under Uke’s right armpit, loads Uke onto his back, and throws him over the right shoulder. This section covers similar techniques.

 

Tori and Uke grapple in right natural posture. Tori steps forward with his left foot, then right foot, then left foot again, pushing Uke backward, and comes to a halt, controlling him with both hands. Uke is pushed and steps back with his right foot, then left foot, then right foot again. He holds his ground and begins to return to a stable posture.

 

At that moment, Tori steps his left foot diagonally back, lessens the pushing action of both hands, and pulls, so that Uke begins to transfer his body weight onto the advancing right foot. At that moment, Tori steps his right foot inside Uke’s left foot, and takes a right han-mi (extreme right) posture. At the same time, he lifts and pulls upward with his right hand, and pulls upward with his left hand, lifting Uke to the right front corner, and breaking his balance.

 

Tori bends his right knee and, lowering his body, turns round to the left by pivoting on the tip of his right foot, and steps his left foot back and round inside Uke’s left foot. While still holding Uke’s left collar with his right hand, he pushes into Uke’s right armpit, pulls with his left hand covering Uke’s right arm, and puts the back of his waist tight against the front of Uke’s thighs and waist, loading Uke onto his back.

 

At the instant Uke’s body begins to rise onto Tori’s back, Tori straightens both knees, raises his waist, loads Uke onto his back with both hands, and throws him forward. Uke is thrown in a large rotation around the fulcrum of Tori’s right shoulder.

Key points

When tori pushes uke and uke pushes back, tori skillfully leads him forward and, lifting him to the right front corner, breaks his balance in a continuous and flowing action. There are two actions when tori inserts his right elbow inside uke’s right armpit: pulling up with the left hand to break uke’s balance, and opening a gap inside uke’s armpit. When tori inserts his right elbow, the wrist should be natural, not rigid and strong, and this must be combined with the action of turning the body. Tori must place his right forearm tight against the armpit. At this point, uke rises onto his tiptoes and tori’s feet are positioned inside of uke’s feet with his toes pointing in the same direction as uke’s. The area from the back of tori’s waist to his back should be tight against uke’s lower abdomen and chest.

 

Tori pulls with both hands, and in a single breath, straightens both knees, raises his waist, bends his upper body forward, and lifts the front of uke’s waist up with the back of his waist. He synchronizes the actions of springing up with his waist, using vigorous energy from the knees, and pulling down with both hands to throw uke forward over his right shoulder.

 

Seoi-nage is not executed by loading and lifting with both hands. Tori pulls and breaks uke’s balance with both hands, but if he tries to load him the technique will not be effective. It is the momentum from turning his body, straightening the knees, and raising the waist that are necessary to throw uke’s body.

 

When uke’s balance breaks toward the right front corner in an extreme right posture after he takes a large step forward with his right foot, tori must bring uke tight against him by taking a large step back with his left foot, and turning round. Tori jumps low inside uke’s chest so that his knees are close to the mat, raises his waist and his knees clear of the mat, and loads uke onto his back.

 

If tori throws uke without loading him onto his back at this moment by simply pulling down, then the technique becomes seoi-otoshi.

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