Perfect Your Ouchi Gari With Satoshi Ishii
Satoshi Ishii is one of the most decorated Japanese judokas in history. Satoshi Ishii was on the 2007 World Champion Japanese judo team and in 2008 he won the gold medal in the 100+ kg division at the Beijing Summer Olympics.
Since his judo career, Satoshi Ishii has transitioned to MMA and is currently based in Croatia training with the likes of the legend, Mirko Cro Cop and his team.
One of Satoshi Ishii's favorite judo technique is the Ouchi Gari. It is a technique that can be effectively employed on the judo mats and also in the MMA cage. The technique is also a solid self defense technique as it takes the opponent down without risk of turning away from the person who is being thrown and when successfully applied, puts one in a dominant and safe position.
Classified as a foot technique or ashi waza, the classic right side Ouchi Gari involves a tori stepping in close to their partner creating and off-balancing with their grips on the uke. The tori then reaps the tori's left leg out driving forward taking them to the mats. By maintaining the grips on the opponent's lapel or over their shoulder, the tori is able to pass through the legs and achieve a dominant position.
In the video below from the 2008 National Championship in Japan, we see Satoshi Ishii making great use of his Ouchi Gari to get the opponent to the ground where he shifts to his newaza game. Check out the video below. Make sure you get to the 1:30 mark where they begin showing the Ouchi Gari is slow motion.
Keeping his hips back and heavy, we see Satoshi Ishii pull his opponent forward to unbalance him. The opponent's reaction is to pull back and resist putting his weight on his heels. Satoshi Ishii seizes this opportunity and drives forward with his body and reaps the opponent's right side leg with his lead left leg taking him to the mats.
In the video below, excerpted from his work with JudoFanatics.com we see Satoshi Ishii sharing all of the secrets for his favorite technique the Ouchi Gari. Check it out below and then we'll break it down.
Let's look at a few key points that Olympic Champion Satoshi Ishii shares:
Forehead to Chest
When approaching the uke or opponent, Satoshi will drop his level slightly so that his forehead is as high as the uke's chest.
Good Posture
Satoshi Ishii makes it clear that even though you are approaching your opponent at chest level, you need to ensure that you have good straight posture and are not spearing your head into their chest. Keeping the solid posture will bring more power to your Ouchi Gari.Close But Not Too Close
When approaching the opponent, Satoshi Ishii cautions from coming too close to the opponent. He keeps a small amount of space between him and the uke.
Footwork Triangle
When stepping in towards the opponent, Satoshi Ishii visualizes an inverted triangle where he steps forward with his lead leg to the top right corner of the triangle and the trailing foot stays at the near point of the triangle. When he steps through and reaps the opponent's right leg with his left, he then hops the trailing leg to the top right corner.
For more from Satoshi Ishii, check out Japanese Judo Secrets at JudoFanatics.com. You will learn all of his best throws and the secrets behind how he took those throws to the gold medal podium at the Olympics. You can get your copy here or at the BUY NOW link below!
