Makoto Tachimoto had a great uchimata

Many Japanese players claim they don’t raise their tsurite (lapel grip) elbows when doing uchimata. But video analysis of them doing it in competition often shows that indeed they do raise their elbows.

2000 Olympic Champion Makoto Takimoto also says he doesn’t raise his tsurite elbow but in his case, it happens to be true, as can be seen in the video clips above. Here’s a breakdown of his uchimata:

He notes that many players like to lift their tsurite elbow when doing techniques like uchimata, harai-goshi and hane-goshi.

He says he doesn’t have the strength in his arms to lift uke that way, so he keeps his right elbow down and placed near uke’s solar plexus.

Here’s what it looks like from another angle.

As for his legs, he doesn’t like to place his legs very deep but rather prefers to place them somewhat in front of uke. He says this allows him to pull uke forward and achieve better kuzushi.

This is his positioning when entering for uchimata.

Makoto Takimoto is an Olympic Champion. One of his favorite techniques is a cross-grip sode-tsurikomi-goshi which he used twice in the 2000 Sydney Olympics: once in the preliminary rounds and once in the final.

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