Hip throw

Ō-goshi (literally: “major hip”), the hip throw or hip toss is jūdō's introductory takedown. While jūdōka rarely use ō-goshi in favor of their more spectacular and powerful throws in their repertoire, many of those powerful throws (e.g., seoi-nage; harai-goshi) are ō-goshi variants. Although it is very basic, ō-goshi covers most of our needs. Throwing is technically complex, and will take practice — but not effort — as long as you remember to do everything by the numbers:

1. Kuzushi (Destroying balance): Ō-goshi is a “towards throw;” which requires that the opponent’s energy moves towards you. As such, ō-goshi is appropriate when the opponent charges at you, pushes you, or is doubled-over from a strike to the abdomen or groin. Do not use ō-goshi if the opponent pulls you, or leans back; fighting against the opponent’s momentum is counter-productive.
   
   7-3 to the inside, because ō-goshi only works from the inside. Grab the opponent’s same-side wrist with a grasping block, and pull them forward. As you step in, hip check their groin with a Shakira-like motion.
   
   
2. Tsukuri (Positioning): Wrap your around around the opponent’s waist and grab their opposite-side hip, as though they were a bikini girl. Turn, so that you and your opponent face the same direction. A solid, secure connection is required to transfer kinetic energy and momentum into the opponent, so they must be snug against you, so that no light can pass through the space between you and the opponent, irritating middle school dance chaperones. For optimum efficiency and leverage, be mindful of the following posture quirks:
   • Your center-of-mass must sink lower that your opponent’s center-of-mass. Shorter people have a natural advantage over taller people with this technique. Taller or equally-sized people can still perform this technique, if they squat lower than their opponent’s belt knot. There is a natural tendency to lean forward when squatting, but this bad habit compromises your balance. While leaning may look like sinking, you cannot lie to physics. Exceptionally tall people will struggle with ō-goshi and its variants; hip throws were not designed with exceptionally tall people in mind, and they should substitute tai-otoshi in place of ō-goshi.
   • Your feet must be inside of your opponent’s feet. Ō-goshi works best when your stance is narrower than your opponent’s stance.
   • Your butt needs to be outside of your opponent’s butt. Again, shift your hips in a Shakira-like motion towards the opponent’s extended arm.
     
     
3. Nage (Throw): Simultaneously perform the motions listed below to roll the opponent over your hip, and land directly in front of you in a side breakfall. Maintain your grip on the opponent’s wrist to setup a shovel pin, stomp kick, or other technique, depending on what the situation calls for.
   • Straighten your legs to slightly lift the opponent.
   • Pull the opponent’s wrist to your opposite-side hip,
   • Push the opponent’s hip forward.
     
     

[video of O-goshi fast and slow, from different angles. Try to avoid the “sack-of-potatoes” throws, as that’s actually another technique]

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