Shime-Waza Reference

Mat Manual companion guide to "Strangles: Judo's Shime-Waza, Taught Carefully." Print it. The article teaches the mechanism, the tap contract, and why defence is half the subject. This book is the working reference: the five working strangles carded with their safety standards printed on each card, the staged gates in order, defence work before any finish, the recognition signs every partner must know, and the three knowledge-level strangles fenced in one catalogue part with no finish mechanics.

Name: ______________________________ Dojo: ______________________________ Grade: ______________________________ Instructor: ______________________________

BEFORE ANYTHING: THE RULES THAT GOVERN EVERY PAGE AFTER THIS ONE ☐ Correct pressure lands on the sides of the neck only. Pressure driven across the windpipe is a fault. The set stops and the grips are rebuilt with a coach watching. ☐ A tap, physical, verbal, or a foot on the mat, ends the technique in the same motion it is felt. The release is faster than the application, at every stage, every time. ☐ A partner who goes still, whose arms drop, or whose body goes loose is released at once, before any tap, check, or question. ☐ The gates run in order: defence, tap fluency, controlled application, randori. Nobody applies a strangle in a later gate who has not passed the earlier ones, in both roles. ☐ Nobody receives applied pressure who has not passed the tap fluency gate. A willing partner is not a ready partner. ☐ Pressure is built in degrees a tap can beat. Nothing in this book is ever snapped shut. ☐ Any neck pain, numbness, tingling, or a sore throat after training is reported to the instructor the same day. Necks are pass/fail. ☐ The stop signal ends any drill instantly, from any player in the room, including a watcher who sees a still partner first.

Part 1: How This Reference Is Used

Read the parts in order the first time. The order is the curriculum: mechanism and contract (Parts 2 and 3), recognition (Part 4), defence (Parts 5 to 7), tap fluency (Part 8), the gate ladder (Part 9), then the five cards (Parts 10 to 14), entries (Part 15), defence by strangle (Part 16), controlled application (Part 17), and randori (Part 18). The knowledge-level catalogue sits at Part 22, fenced, after the working set. Do not start there.

Keep the book at the mat edge during gate work. Parts 3 and 4 are printed to be read aloud at the start of a session in under two minutes.