BaffledExperts by Adam Norman

5: The throws

A good throw is beautiful. It is thrilling and effortless to execute. It is the culmination of skill, timing, strategy, and quick thinking. Knowing where your opponent is trying to go, you use his own momentum and a nimble movement to toss him to the ground, flat on his back. With skill, you can spike your opponent onto the back of his neck or gently onto his side, controlling whether he gets up or doesn't, directing him with a turn of your head at the moment he is weightless.

I was thrown recently with move just like that. While fighting in the dojo, my friend Eddie saw that I was coming towards him for a shoulder throw. He let me get close, waited for a split second until I turned my shoulders, and then… simply disappeared. I threw myself over his extended leg and landed flat on my shoulder-blades, smacking the back of my head into the ground—a reminder that this judo stuff is sometimes effective.

Judo emphasizes throws more than any other martial art. Really, judo is throwing. It is what makes our art unique. Certainly, other arts have throws, but I think that none does them as well or rewards them as much as we do. And certainly, while we do have ground grappling, but we are no longer uniquely good at it.

Our emphasis on throwing does lead to certain vulnerabilities. Judoka do not study striking [1] . We also reward throws that would not be effective, and might even be dangerous (to ourselves) in self defense. Finally, judoka also rely a great deal on the opponent’s uniform. In the summertime or in the tropics, when people are wearing t-shirts or less, judo is not particularly useful.

To a great degree, though, these concerns are unimportant. Throwing is mostly about having fun. Throwing is about training, subterfuge, strength, reflex and luck. It’s about besting your friends, and being bested the next week. These (and drinking) are the ingredients of a good time.

The kinds of throws

I categorize the throws as forward, backward, sacrifices, and picks.

• Forward throws are those where your opponent gets thrown forward relative to herself, where and you are facing in the same direction as her—she’s looking over your shoulder.
• Backward throws are, obviously, where she is thrown backward relative to herself. You are facing her.
• Sacrifice throws are when both you and she will end up on the ground, but with you in a superior position.
• Picks are where you, the thrower, do not use your hips or legs as a fulcrum, but instead grab one or both of your opponent’s legs to throw.

The Kodokan categorizes throws differently, and frankly, their categorization scheme is bizarre. I’m keeping it simple.

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1. And don't let some internet ninja tell you otherwise. Yes, there are strikes in the dances (called kata) we practice at upper levels. No, the strikes are no good, and no, the dances are neither sufficient practice nor sufficiently practiced to beat a real striker.