|
Uchi-mata - Inner Thigh
Uchi-mata is a corner-stone of many peoples Judo, and is very effective.
Some confusion is caused as many believe this to be a koshi-waza, other than the ashi-waza that it is classified as by the Kodokan. This is partly due to the variations of this technique that are done.
The true Uchi-mata (or o-uchi-mata as it is sometimes called) is simply as the name suggests - inner thigh. After an entrance which has a 'T' shaped footing (not quite turning the whole way round so that your back is towards your uke, just over half-and-half) the tori's inner thigh attacks the uke's inner thigh and lifts. A fair bit of work is needed with the tori's hands, as can be seen in the above video.
The different variations can include what I would call more of a uchi-mata-goshi, the others being tachi-uchi-mata (literally 'standing inner thigh', this meaning that the uke is still standing and that the leg is higher, indeed higher-inner-thigh would describe the technique better) and ko-uchi-mata (minor-inner-thigh, where the movement is the same as an uchi-mata, but instead it ends up being much lower on each others legs, even where it could be ankle touching). I will endeavour to include tachi-uchi-mata and ko-uchi-mata as videos. |
