Osoto-Gari Reference: The Technique Card, Entry Checklists, Uchikomi Variants, and the Twelve-Week Landing Plan

Mat Manual companion guide to "Osoto-Gari: Learned First, Landed Last." Print it. The article teaches why the throw is decided before the reap. This book is the working reference: the full technique card, grip-by-grip entry checklists with the kuzushi lift test, uchikomi and nage-komi progressions with sets and reps, counter recognition drills, and a twelve-week plan that walks the throw from drilling percentages into open randori.

Player: ______________________________ Club: ______________________________ Coach: ______________________________ Stance: ☐ Right (migi) ☐ Left (hidari) Partner stance tonight: ☐ Ai-yotsu (matching) ☐ Kenka-yotsu (opposite)

SAFETY — READ FIRST, EVERY CYCLE ☐ Ukemi (falling technique) before throws: uke receiving osoto-gari must have a checked backward fall — chin tucked, slap wide, no reaching back — before the first full rep in this book. ☐ Control the partner's fall: tori keeps uke's sleeve to the mat on every throw, drilling speed included. ☐ Never throw a partner who cannot fall safely today. Use entry-only drills (Parts 5–6) and a crash mat until their falling can carry the throw. ☐ The reap contacts the back of uke's leg and travels through. It never chops sideways into the knee, never lands on a twisted planted leg, and is never thrown at full speed into tangled feet. ☐ Mat awareness: osoto finishes travel backward from uke's position. Check the space behind uke before every set. ☐ Young and new players learn osoto-otoshi (Part 3) before the swinging reap, where the club teaches it that way. Ask your instructor which family your club builds first.

Part 1: The Technique Card