Kazushi

[GouRonin]

I know that all the throws have the concept of broken kazushi to complete them but what sort of methods does one use to initiate this?

I've seen some people do a quick grab and pull and then use that (O Goshi) but then I've also seen people use that to make the person resist and then move in the opposite direction. (O Uchi Gari)

Can I get a little help on this? I'd like to actually buckle down maybe and earn a belt for once in Judo.

 

[Battousai]

Kazushi pretty much means disequalibrim, unbalancing.
My school uses Kazushi for most everything. Like in basic wrist escapes, pushing one way and then using the grabbers reverse force to propel your wrists free from their grip.
With throws we use a clock method. Pushing backwards (toward 12:00) which causes the uki to push forwards (toward 6:00) and then throwing them with their own energy.
Kazushi always has to do with somehow getting the uki to give you energy, to push or pull, and then using that energy against them.
For instance the kata guruma, firemans carry throw. The uki should either be coming toward you with a fast walk or run, so that they just fall over you, even trip over you, or if the uki has no momentum, the torri pushes the uki away so that the uki pushes back and then the torri uses that energy to do the throw. The throw should not be done with strength. Strength can be added to it to hurt the attacker in real life, but the technique itself should not require any strength.

 

[arnisador]

I always think of literal kazushi in terms of breaking the opponent's balance in the eight directions (forward, backward, right, left, and the four corners). Pushing, pulling, or just not being there when the opponent is expecting to grab you--whatever form of kazushi works at the time!

 

[KumaSan]

Isn't this Sakuraba's given name?

 

[Graham674]

OK, coming into this thread probably two weeks too late, but just in case anyone's still interested...

Kuzushi is vital to 'proper' judo. The example given for kata guruma is quite right, and that's more or less how I'd expect to apply it against an untrained opponent. Unfortunately, even just in randori most times your uke isn't going to give you the kind of momentum you need to apply technique in the classical sense. So you need to create it for yourself.

One tech that the instructors at my school (many of whom are of the big, strong variety) use on me a lot is to reel me in until I am locked up against their torsos with their centre of gravity below mine, then move us both as a unit until I am off balance, and WHAM! Myself, I don't like that approach all that much, but probably just because I can't do it right.

That's one way, but there's lots of others. These include things like lifting or drawing back your grip, stepping so as to make uke step with you, or stepping into uke so you occupy his base. The most important one, however, is probably combination attacks - forcing uke to react to one or a series of attacks until you feel that he is off balance, then throwing him accordingly.

Digging into my old yellow belt curriculum for a specific example here. Hiza guruma is a good example of a throw where you get kuzushi by stepping and using your grip. Assuming you start with a right grip, the first stage is to take a left step forward. This should force him to take a right step back. Stage 2 is to give him a light tug to his right front corner. So he feels a pressure backwards, then a pressure up and forwards. This should ideally force him to take an off-balance step forward with his right foot. Stage 3, as you feel his balance go, you place the sole of your left foot against his right knee while giving a quick twist to your left and pulling out and down. The forward motion of his leg should stop against your foot while his torso keeps going, and he should roll over his knee. Works great against the stiff-arm tpes.

I think you've said in the past that your school is pretty hard on the tests. However, I think when I did my yellow, while I had to know what kuzushi was, nobody was particularly looking to see it applied all that well. I think if you can just demo the techniques in the curriculum with a reasonable degree of understanding you should be fine.

Cheers,

JG

 

[Bod]

Kuzushi is breaking the balance, either mental, positional or postural. There may be more but I'm only a green belt so what do I know?

e.g.1. Clap your hands in front of Tori's face before a Morote-Gari - Mental. (OK so it didn't work for me in competition but does anything?)

e.g.2. Pull him over his foot. He is positionally/posturally unbalanced.

e.g.3. Turn his elbow, via your grip on his sleeve, making his shoulder rotate. The kung-fu people call this 'floating'. This is structure breaking, because his spine bends and he cannot now coordinate his legs with his arms.

Do 2 and 3 at the same time. A strong hikite pull where you do the 'look at your wrist watch' action is good for this. If his arms are stiff you might need to bounce his arm in and down, then out and up. He should look like he is going in for a forward rolling breakfall.