My Favourite Technique Uchi Mata
Unlike the other throws in Judo, Uchi Mata can be done from all angles. Uchi Mata can work in combination with most, if not all of the other throws in Judo.
Uchi Mata in its nature is a throw which requires 100% commitment to pull it off. To make clear the Uchi Mata i speak of, it is one done only by a few Judoka currently in the sport. It is a throw in which the opponent comes up and down and left with a shock as to what has just happened. This is unlike an Uchi Mata where you hop them over or use your physicality to turn them onto their back.
To understand Uchi Mata, we also have to understand that the initial stance and setup to Uchi Mata is a very strong yet neutral standpoint. We can use this same setup for other throws, which in turn makes the sheer pursuit for Uchi Mata a threatening move or action.
Why the path of Uchi Mata is a good one to take?
The initial attempt before the commitment of Uchi Mata alone can set up other techniques which one could say are better suited to the reaction from the opponent to the initial Uchi Mata. I will continue this idea below.
My analogy of Uchi Mata as a tree
I often describe Uchi Mata as the tree trunk and other throws being merely branches off this trunk. We can use the trunk and ideally throw with Uchi Mata, or alternatively spot the reaction to this action and answer it with a better technique to the situation. An example might be that your opponent takes a low stiff stance (Jigotai) and you deal with this by using O Uchi Gari.
In this case throws like O Uchi Gari are a branch from the trunk. It is an important point to know that in Judo, combination techniques generally have the beauty of been done in reverse. The attack of O Uchi Gari may also in its attempt create your opponents reaction to push back on you and then you can answer this moment with Uchi Mata I don’t want to come across to belittle the other throws, but to be an effective Judoka, i believe taking a general movement or action such as the search of Uchi Mata sets up the action-reaction based game of Judo I believe it was meant to be.
I leave you with a quote to think about from a book I have, titled ‘Kodokan Judo by Hikoichi Aida’.
“The fact that I can complete the technique of Uchi Mata is due to the practice of so-called Happo akehanashi (literally “leaving a door open in all directions”) which means that whenever I practiced with my opponent I always let him freely seize any part of my judogi he liked and afterwards I never refused an opponent’s proposal. There has never yet been an opponent whom I disliked.” – Nakano Shogo, 9th Dan
Stay tuned for my next blog about creating reaction
By Oren Janiv