Sasae-tsurikomi-ashi

• ›Block, don't kick.
• ›Sole just above the ankle bone.
• ›Lift and pull in a circle.
• ›Turn your whole body, not only your arms.
• ›Let them walk into the prop.

• ✕Kicking or sweeping the ankle. Sasae is a block; a sweep is harai-tsurikomi-ashi. Keep the foot as a prop.
• ✕Blocking too low or too high. On the foot it is weak; on the knee it becomes hiza-guruma. Aim just above the ankle bone.
• ✕Pulling straight back instead of in a circle. Lift and pull around the prop.
• ✕Leaning back before the prop is in place. Lean and twist only after the foot is set.
• ✕Stepping in too far away. Stay close enough that your hips turn with your arms.

• •When your partner steps forward and presses into your chest or grip.
• •When they stand tall and press forward, so a block at the ankle uses their own forward momentum.
• •As a golden-score finisher when a bigger hip throw is being blocked, as Shohei Ono showed at Tokyo 2020.

• •Step back so your partner chases, then prop the front foot as it lands.
• •Use a big circular pull that makes them lean forward onto the toes.
• •Fake a forward throw such as seoi-nage so they stiffen and press forward, then prop the ankle.
• •Attack from an unusual angle. At Barcelona 1992 Nicolas Gill surprised Japan's Okada with an unconventional sasae in the closing moments of their semi-final, JudoInside reports.

• •Kesa-gatame or another hold-down as they land.
• •Hiza-guruma, the knee-block throw, if they lift the foot out of reach.
• •Uchi-mata or ouchi-gari if they step back from the prop.

• •Lift the foot out of the block and step past your attacker's leg, then throw forward.
• •Sit your hips back and bend your knees so the pull has nothing to tip.
• •Turn in and lock your chest to theirs so there is no room to turn the pull.

• •Keep your weight on your hips, not on the front toes, and do not step forward under a circular pull.
• •Keep your knees bent and your chest tall.
• •If you start to go over, tuck your chin, turn your body and slap the mat.

The Kodokan's formal demonstration. Sasae-tsurikomi-ashi is the second of the three foot throws in the Nage-no-kata, between okuri-ashi-harai and uchi-mata.

In competition it is often a surprise attack from an unusual angle or a golden-score finisher, as in Nicolas Gill's upset of Okada in 1992, Beslan Mudranov's Rio final in 2016 and Shohei Ono's Tokyo final in 2021.

A very similar throw where the block is at the knee instead of the ankle.

The same lift and pull, but the foot is swept backward instead of blocked.

Russian-language sources describe a front sweep under the extended supporting leg and use the same name for this throw and for harai-tsurikomi-ashi.

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 foot blocks or trips, and judges count takedowns as effective grappling.

Hold a wall. Step and set the sole of your foot against an imaginary ankle at shin height, hold the prop for two seconds, and reset. Ten reps each side.

With a partner walking forward, do twenty fit-ins: circular pull, turn, touch the sole to their ankle, then reset. No throw.

Practise the Nage-no-kata version slowly with a partner who knows the kata, both sides, before trying it in free practice.

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.