Competition-Style Uchi-Makikomi

Everybody’s heard of soto-makikomi but have you heard of uchi-makikomi? It’s a little-known throw in the Gokyo which is classified as a side sacrifice technique (same category as soto-makikomi).

In practical terms, it looks very much like an ippon-seoi-nage overshoot. You don’t see a lot of it in competition and oftentimes when it happens, it’s a mistake. In other words, an ippon-seoi-nage that had overshot. However, you do occasionally see some players do this intentionally. And to great effect!

For those of you who are interested, check out the 2020 Paris Grand Slam -100kg preliminary round match between Michael Korrell of the Netherlands and Cyrille Maret of France. Korrell does a very low, drop uchi-makikomi which forces Maret to roll over. It was definitely done on purpose.

A more recent example comes from the 2020 Hungary Grand Slam. Check out the -48kg bronze medal match between Andrea Stodajinov of Serbia and Shirine Boukli of France. Stojadinov does a purposeful uchi-makikomi that scores.

Now, let’s look at Shintaro’s demonstration of this technique.

Here, Shintaro adopts a triceps grip near uke’s armpit. It doesn’t necessarily have to be that high up but by gripping so high up the sleeve, it gives Shintaro an extraordinary amount of control over uke’s right arm.

If this entry looks like an over-rotation, it’s because it is. You purposely over-rotate.

When you pivot and turn you literally want to overshoot.

Here’s what it looks like from another angle. You can clearly see the overshoot happening. But notice Shintaro’s left hand is still maintaining a tight triceps grip on uke’s right arm.

To execute the throw, tori throws himself onto the mat. That’s why this throw is classified as a sacrifice technique.

With uke’s right arm trapped, tori just rolls to finish the throw.

It’s important to complete the rotation to ensure a score.