大腰O-goshi · say “oh-GOH-shee” · “large hip (throw)”
Also called Major hip throw, Large hip throw, Hip throw
O-goshi is judo's major hip throw. You turn in with your hips lower than your partner's, wrap an arm around their back, load them onto your hips and throw them over. It is often the first hip throw a beginner learns, because it teaches the turn, the knee bend and the lift that other hip throws use. Hip throws from the clinch also appear in sambo, wrestling and MMA.
Satori's coaches are filming every technique, full speed and slow motion from two angles. Until it's up, the diagram shows the movement step by step.
Watch it
How to do it
Start: Take a right-handed grip: left hand on their right sleeve, right hand on their left lapel. Stand a step apart in a natural stance, knees soft. Your partner should be upright and starting to step back with the right foot, so their weight is about to come toward you.
- 1Grip. Hold the sleeve with your left hand and the lapel with your right, elbows loose.
- 2Kuzushi. Step back pulling them forward, then ease off and press down lightly. They straighten and begin to step back with the right foot. As that foot passes behind the left, lift and pull forward and up with both hands. They rise onto their toes, straight ahead or toward their right front corner.
- 3Tsukuri, feet. Step your right foot in beside the tip of their right foot and pivot on it. Bend both knees, lower your hips and open your body to the left, stepping your left foot back and round between their feet.
- 4Tsukuri, arm. Let go of the lapel, lower your right shoulder and slide your right arm under their left armpit and all the way round the back of their waist, as far as the side of their hip.
- 5Tsukuri, load. Pull with your left hand to draw their upper body onto your back. Your hips are lower than theirs, and their belly is tight against the back of your waist.
- 6Kake. Straighten both knees, raise your hips and pull them up, so they go in a big circle over your hips.
- 7Finish. Keep hold of the sleeve and step forward as they fall in front of you, then control them or move into a hold.
- Hips below theirs, then lift.
- Wrap the arm deep, as far as the side of their hip.
- Legs do the lifting, not your back.
- Keep the sleeve. It guides the landing.
- Hips higher than theirs. Fix: bend your knees before you turn in.
- Arm too high, round the shoulder instead of the waist. Fix: slide it across the back to the side of their hip.
- A gap between your back and their belly. Fix: step deep, toes inside their feet, and pull their waist in.
- Lifting with your back. Fix: straighten your knees as you lift.
- Letting go of the sleeve. Fix: keep it so you control the landing.
Safety: Learn breakfalls first and throw only on mats with a trained partner. Keep the sleeve so they land on their back. Don't try to lift a resisting or much heavier partner: turn under them and let the rotation do the work.
When to use it
- When you can get your hips lower than theirs, for example if you are shorter or stockier.
- When they step back with the right foot, which is the moment the Kodokan teaches for the entry.
- When you have lost the lapel grip but still hold the sleeve, since the arm around the waist doesn't need it.
- Step back and pull so they follow, then ease off and turn in as they start to step back.
- Feint o-uchi-gari so they step back with the right foot, then turn in.
- A hold-down such as kesa-gatame if they land on their side.
- Harai-goshi or uchi-mata if they block your hip by pushing their belly out. Both start from the same forward break of balance.
- Hip block: drop your hips and push your belly forward so their hips can't get under yours.
- Ura-nage, lifting them as they turn. The Kodokan teaches it as an answer to an opponent's hip throw.
- Step back out of the turn and throw them with an inside reap as they over-rotate.
- Keep your hips back and your chest upright so they can't get under you.
- Push down on their hip or belt with your free hand as they turn in.
- Turn to face them and step round their hip as they wrap the arm.
The physics
O-goshi is a physical lever with a variable arm. Your hips slide under your partner's belt line and become the fulcrum, and your arm around their back and your sleeve pull rotate them over it.
The lower your hips sit on their body, the longer the lever arm between the pivot and your hands and the less force you need, so you bend your knees to get under them rather than bending forward. Straightening your legs then loads their weight onto the pivot, and turning your trunk carries them around it. If your hips stop in front of theirs instead of slightly past them, the pivot is not under their centre of mass and they can simply stand up straight. Because a lever needs a loaded, stable pivot, the throw works best just after kuzushi has brought them forward onto their toes.
Masters and famous moments
At 18, Ortiz won the bronze-medal match against Mongolia's Tserenkhand by ippon with o-goshi. Four years later she won Olympic gold.
Abe finished this quarter-final with o-goshi for ippon after 2:41, a reminder that the big hip throw still scores at the top level. He went on to win the world title.
Moldova's Vieru won this bronze medal contest by waza-ari, and the score came from o-goshi. It gave him a world bronze medal.
Across the arts
The form in the steps: your arm goes through their armpit and around the back of their waist, loading them onto your hips.
Two related throws that the Kodokan keeps separate. In tsuri-goshi you grip the belt at the back and lift them onto your hip. Tsurikomi-goshi keeps the collar or lapel hold, and your upper arm lifts under their armpit instead of wrapping the waist.
With no jacket to hold, you wrap the waist and turn in with your hips under theirs, the same as in judo. O-goshi and similar hip throws are common to all grappling arts. Ronda Rousey and Fedor Emelianenko are listed among the legends known for hip throws.
Under IJF rules you may swap the lapel for a belt grip, or hold the back of the jacket, as long as you attack with it. A bear hug with your hands clasped in a circle earns a shido.
History
O-goshi existed in Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu jujutsu, which Jigoro Kano studied, where it was called koshi-nage. It was one of the first throws brought into judo: the 1895 Gokyo placed it in the second group, and the 1920 revision moved it to the first group, where it remains. It is often the first throw taught to a beginner, because a cooperative partner can be thrown with good control. Idalys Ortiz won an Olympic bronze medal with it in 2008, and it still scores at world level: Denis Vieru won a world bronze medal contest with an o-goshi waza-ari in 2022.
In the rules
Drills
Stand a step from a wall and practise the foot pattern and knee bend until your back and hips meet the wall at the right height. Ten slow reps each side.
Your partner stands tall. Step back, pull, turn in and load them onto your hips without lifting. Ten fast reps each side.
Throw at half speed with a partner who can breakfall, five reps each side, keeping the sleeve.
Legends known for it
We teach it in Throws. A coach will fix the details you can't see yourself. Join now and book your first class for $20, paid online.
Related techniques
Uki-goshi is the floating hip throw. You reach an arm round your partner's waist, turn in with a shallow hip and twist them around it, without…
Koshi-guruma is the hip wheel. You turn in with your arm round your partner's neck or holding their collar, push your hip out and pull them over it…
Tsurikomi-goshi is the lift-pull hip throw. You drop your hips to the level of your partner's thighs, then rise again while your lapel-side arm…
Harai-goshi is judo's sweeping hip throw. You pull your partner onto their toes, turn in with your hip against theirs and sweep your straight leg…
Seoi-nage is judo's shoulder throw. You turn your back into your partner, tuck an arm under theirs, load them onto your back and tip them forward…
1985–2000
Ura-nage is judo's back throw. You wrap both arms round your partner from the side, lift them off the mat and fall backward, throwing them in a…
