Kuzushi Drill Book
Mat Manual companion guide to "No Kuzushi: Why Your Throws Are All Muscle." Print it. Balance breaks in eight directions, and this is the book of drills that teaches your hands and feet to find all eight.
| Art | Kodokan Judo |
|---|---|
| Family | Kodokan Judo |
| Level | beginner |
| Format | playbook |
| Topics | throws, fundamentals |
Mat Manual companion guide to "No Kuzushi: Why Your Throws Are All Muscle." Print it. Balance breaks in eight directions, and this is the book of drills that teaches your hands and feet to find all eight.
SAFETY, BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE ☐ Kuzushi drills move a partner's weight without warning. Your partner falls only when a throw is actually on and the drill calls for it. An off-balance drill that ends in a surprise fall is a drill run wrong. ☐ Every drill in this book assumes your partner's ukemi is ready for the entries being practiced. Entries at speed wait until the falls are boring. ☐ The loaded-leg and recovery-step tests involve holding a partner off balance. Release the moment they ask, stumble beyond the tested direction, or call stop. ☐ No drill here is an excuse to haul on a partner's neck, collar, or joints. Kuzushi travels through the grips and the body's movement. If your arms are doing all of it, the drill is failing, not succeeding. ☐ Tap rules and mat rules from your school apply to every round, drill or not.
The Eight Directions, as a Working Reference
Happo no kuzushi: the eight directions of off-balancing. Print this table into your memory before the drills. Every drill in this book names its direction, and every throw you own prefers one or two of them.
| Direction | Japanese | Your partner's weight does this | What your grips feel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Mae | Rolls toward the toes, heels lighten, the body leans ahead of the feet | Weight arrives in both hands. The lapel hand feels the chest come to it |
| Backward | Ushiro | Sinks onto the heels, toes lighten | Weight leaves forward and presses down and back through the sleeve hand |
| Right | Migi | Loads the right foot completely, left foot goes light | Their right side becomes heavy in your left (sleeve) hand |
| Left | Hidari | Loads the left foot completely, right foot goes light | Their left side becomes heavy in your right (lapel) hand |
| Right front corner | Migi mae sumi | Runs out over the right toes, past the corner of the base | Weight arrives high and diagonal. One hand heavy, the other steering |
| Left front corner | Hidari mae sumi | Runs out over the left toes | The mirror of the right corner |
| Right back corner | Migi ushiro sumi | Drops behind the right heel, the leg it lands on cannot step | Weight goes down and away. The sleeve hand feels the anchor set |
| Left back corner | Hidari ushiro sumi | Drops behind the left heel | The mirror of the right corner |
Corners beat straight lines. A partner braces well against a push straight forward. Almost nobody braces well diagonally, which is why so many throws hunt a corner: turning throws take a front corner, reaps take the back corner on the reaped side, and sweeps take a side direction in transit.
Kuzushi Drill Book
Mat Manual companion guide to "No Kuzushi: Why Your Throws Are All Muscle." Print it. Balance breaks in eight directions, and this is the book of drills that teaches your hands and feet to find all eight.
What's Inside
- The Eight Directions, as a Working Reference
- The Three Feel Tests, with Pass Marks
- Direction Drill Library
- Annex A: Kuzushi by Throw Family
- Annex B: The Uchikomi Repair Protocol
- Reading the Recovery Step
- …and 13 more sections
The full guide is a paid Mat Manual product. Checkout is not connected yet — no payment is taken on this page.
Free companion article: No Kuzushi: Why Your Throws Are All Muscle — the full article, free in full.