Morote-gari

• ›Level change, not a bow.
• ›Head up, shoulder into the belly.
• ›Wrap above the knees.
• ›Drive through; don't lift.
• ›Judge the distance first.

• ✕Diving with your head down. Keep your head up beside their hip, because a head-first dive risks your neck.
• ✕Reaching from too far away. Take a deep step so your shoulder can reach their belly.
• ✕Lifting instead of driving. If you carry them forward, the throw becomes sukui-nage.
• ✕Wrapping too low or too high. The IJF describes the arms just above the knees.
• ✕Having no second move. If they sprawl, switch to a single leg or to another attack.

• •When your partner steps out carelessly or bends forward to recover their posture, says the Kodokan.
• •When they lean back to block a forward throw such as seoi-nage.
• •In training, freestyle wrestling, sambo, BJJ and MMA, where leg attacks are allowed.

• •Hand fight: push up on both wrists, then let go as they push back.
• •Seoi-nage feint: start ippon-seoi-nage, and when they lean back to block, turn half way and switch to morote-gari, says the Kodokan. A 360-degree spin into a mirrored stance is another version.
• •Tomoe-nage to morote-gari: if they stand over a failed sacrifice throw, come up holding their legs. The Kodokan notes this was effective in the Meiji and Taisho eras but no longer scores.
• •Startle them: the Kodokan describes a clap in front of your partner's face (nekodamashi) to make them lean back, then dropping in. Keep hands well clear of the eyes in practice.

• •A hold-down or armlock in rule sets that allow it, such as BJJ or sambo.
• •A second leg attack or a switch to a single leg if they sprawl.
• •Sukui-nage if you decide to lift and carry them forward instead.

• •Tawara-gaeshi: they hug over your back, fall and roll you over their shoulder (the Kodokan's own counter; Kyutaro Kanda was famously thrown this way in 1930).
• •Sprawl: they throw their legs back and drop their hips onto your shoulders.
• •Guillotine choke, in rule sets that allow chokes.

• •Sprawl: push your hips back, drop your weight onto their shoulders and keep your chest over their head.
• •Step back, keep your hands on their head or shoulders and do not stand flat-footed with your legs together.
• •Learn tawara-gaeshi as a counter, but only under a coach.

The Kodokan's study group counts a version in which you hold one leg with both hands, press your shoulder into the belly and roll them over. One hand on one leg is a different throw, kuchiki-taoshi.

The All-Japan Championships have allowed leg grabs once you hold a grip since 2025, but the Kodokan's own video excludes morote-gari. JudoInside notes you cannot simply dive for the legs; you need a grip first.

Wrestlers shoot for both legs from a stance. The Hall of Fame lists the double-leg as a signature of Jordan Burroughs and Tonya Verbeek. It is illegal in Greco-Roman wrestling.

The Kodokan calls morote-gari a basic throwing technique in wrestling and sambo. Sport sambo scores it like any other throw.

In Brazilian jiu-jitsu it scores 2 points when you land on top and hold for three seconds (IBJJF). The Hall of Fame lists the double-leg as a signature of Marcus Almeida.

The ABC foul list does not ban leg attacks, and judges count takedowns as effective grappling.

Stand tall, then drop your level with a deep step and your back straight, head up, hands reaching at knee height. Stand and reset. Ten reps each side.

With a partner standing still, do twenty fit-ins: hand fight, drop, deep step, shoulder touches the belly, hands touch the knees, then stop. No throw.

With a partner who knows how to fall, drive through at half speed and finish in top position. Five each side, in a rule set that allows it.

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