Kosoto-gake

• ›Weight on the leg first, then hook.
• ›Hook and lift, don't just sweep.
• ›Step in close: no gap.
• ›Chest drives while the leg hooks.
• ›One fluid motion.

• ✕Hooking a leg that carries no weight. Your partner simply stays stable. Break the balance first.
• ✕Stepping in too far away. Put your supporting foot close to theirs so the hook can reach.
• ✕Only hooking with the leg. Drive your chest through so the hook lifts their body.
• ✕Leaning away from your partner. Keep your chest over your supporting foot.
• ✕Hooking from the inside. That is ouchi-gari; kosoto-gake hooks from the outside.

• •When your partner leans back or stands flat-footed after resisting your push or pull.
• •As a direct attack straight off the grip, as Takeshi Takeoka showed at the 2024 Worlds.
• •As a counter to tai-otoshi, after you step over your partner's blocking leg.

• •Go straight from the grip fight. Japan's Takeshi Takeoka makes it his tokui-waza (favourite throw) this way, says the IJF's 2024 technical analysis by referee director Armen Bagdasarov.
• •Follow a big attack. In the 1992 Olympic final Waldemar Legień opened with uchi-mata for yuko, then scored with kosoto-gake for koka.
• •Pull and step back so they step forward, then hook the leg that takes the weight.
• •Push up on the lapel so they push back and plant their heel, then hook that leg.

• •A hold-down such as kesa-gatame as they land on their back.
• •Ouchi-gari or osoto-gari on the other leg if they escape the hook.
• •Seoi-nage or another forward throw if they push back hard against the hook.

• •Lift the hooked leg out and step forward, turning into a forward throw while your attacker is on one leg.
• •Sit your hips down and bend the knee so the hook has nothing to lift.
• •Sweep the attacker's supporting foot while they stand on one leg, since the hook leaves them with only one foot on the mat.

• •Keep your weight on both feet with soft knees so there is no single loaded leg.
• •Step in close and keep your chest against theirs, which smothers the hook.
• •If you start to go over, tuck your chin and slap the mat.

The modern competition version. The IJF described Takeshi Takeoka's 2024 Worlds ippons over Vazha Margvelashvili and Nurali Emomali as a direct, devastating use of the hook.

The Kodokan's own guide says that if you grab your partner's leg with one hand and sweep the supporting foot with the other leg, the throw is called kosoto-gake. IJF events now forbid the grab; the All-Japan Championships allow it once you have a grip.

When your partner steps across your leg for tai-otoshi, you hook the leg they are standing on and drive them backward.

Russian-language judo and sambo texts call the outside hook a zatsep snaruzhi. Sport sambo scores it like any other throw.

Wrestlers use outside hooks and trips from a collar tie. Leg trips are legal in freestyle and illegal in Greco-Roman wrestling.

In Brazilian jiu-jitsu it scores 2 points when you land on top and hold for three seconds (IBJJF). In MMA the ABC foul list does not ban hooks or trips, and judges count takedowns as effective grappling.

Hold a wall for balance. Step in on a diagonal and hook an imaginary calf with your free ankle, then lift and reset. Ten slow reps each side.

With a partner standing still, grip, step in and touch your hooking ankle to theirs, then reset. Twenty reps each side, no throwing.

Your partner walks forward while you step back. When their weight lands, hook the leg with control and stop. After ten light reps, throw five times on crash mats with a partner who can fall.

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