Tai-otoshi

• ›Cross their foot lightly. You are blocking it, not kicking it.
• ›Hips and back stay away from them. The hands do the work.
• ›Pull along the line their toes point, not round to the left.
• ›Lift first, then pull down.

• ✕Stepping in so close that your hips touch them. Fix: keep your back and hips clear. Once you touch, they can push your hips and stop the throw.
• ✕Pulling them round to your left instead of along the line of their toes. Fix: pull forward so they pivot on their right toe.
• ✕Acting too late, so their weight settles on the right foot. Fix: move the moment their right foot passes behind the left.
• ✕Standing tall with a straight back. Fix: bend the left knee, lower your hips and stretch the right leg into the block.
• ✕Dropping down on top of them or diving to the mat. Fix: stay on your feet. Head diving is a hansoku-make.

• •The moment they step back with the right foot. This is the Kodokan's own timing.
• •As a counter to their uchi-mata. Step back out of it and throw them over your leg as they lurch forward.
• •After a feint of o-uchi-gari makes them step back to keep their posture.

• •Feint o-uchi-gari with your right foot so they step back, then cross their foot.
• •Push lightly, then pull, so their weight comes forward on the rebound.
• •Two-motion version: swing their left leg lightly outward with your right foot to break their balance, then step across. The Kodokan stresses that this is not a combination from o-uchi-gari.

• •A hold-down such as kesa-gatame. After a real attack that doesn't score, the IJF rules let you go straight to the ground.
• •Seoi-nage if they bend forward but stay on their feet. Both throws come from the same forward break of balance.

• •Ura-nage. Anton Geesink caught Akio Kaminaga's tai-otoshi attempt with it in the 1964 Olympic open final, then held him down for ippon.
• •Twist your left foot round to the rear as they pull you round to their left. The Kodokan notes that this defeats the throw.
• •Settle your weight onto the right foot as soon as it lands. The Kodokan notes that if the thrower is too slow, your weight is already there and the balance can't be broken.

• •Keep your posture upright and firm. The Kodokan says tai-otoshi is hard to do against a rigid posture.
• •Lower your hips and keep your chest up so they can't pull you forward.
• •Pull your sleeve free and turn to face them as they step across.

The form in the steps above, which the Kodokan describes as the most common one.

Your right fingers go inside their collar and your left hand holds the sleeve. You push up against their chest, then pull down and throw. The Kodokan stresses there is no body contact, which separates it from kata-eri-seoi, where your elbow goes under their armpit.

You cross their arms during a grip fight and throw with your shoulder against their elbow. The Kodokan says it is rarely used in competition.

Dodge their uchi-mata by stepping back, then throw them over your leg as they fall forward. The Kodokan and the IJF list this as a separate throw.

It is thrown on the move, often as a timing throw. Willian Lima's golden-score ippon at the Paris Olympics and Tato Grigalashvili's waza-ari in round two of the 2024 Worlds show that it still scores at the top level. The mechanics don't change: cross step, stretched leg, clear hips, hands pull down.

Practise the footwork alone along a line on the mat: right foot across, left foot back, right leg stretched, hands pulling down. Ten slow reps each side, then ten quick ones.

Your partner steps back with their right foot as you pull and ease. Fit in and hold the block for a count of two. Ten reps each side.

Throw at half speed onto mats with a trained partner, five reps each side, holding the sleeve through the landing.

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