The kimura in BJJ is a shoulder lock. You grab the opponent's wrist, thread your other arm behind their elbow to grab your own wrist (the figure-four grip), then rotate their arm behind their back. You can set it up from closed guard, side control and half guard. It is also widely used to control the opponent without going for the finish.
In judo the same technique is called ude-garami (entangled arm lock). The Brazilian name honors Masahiko Kimura, the Japanese judoka who used it in 1951 at the Maracanã stadium to defeat Hélio Gracie. Hélio never tapped. His arm gave way and his corner threw in the towel. The Gracies kept the name out of respect, which is a fairly classy gesture. The rest of that story is in our article on BJJ history and the Gracie family.
The figure-four grip
The whole kimura rests on one grip:
- Your hand on the attacked side takes their wrist with the thumb on the same side as your fingers (a monkey grip), without wrapping the thumb.
- Your other arm goes over their shoulder, behind their triceps, and that hand grabs your own wrist.
- Their elbow is bent at 90 degrees. If it is straight, you are not in a kimura but in a poorly placed straight armlock.
The force doesn't come from your arms. It comes from rotating your torso, which drives their wrist toward their head in an arc while their elbow stays glued to your body.
Kimura from closed guard
This is the best known entry and the one that surprises beginners most.
- They post a hand on the mat for balance, or lean back to posture up.
- Grab their wrist with your opposite hand, open your guard and sit up to the side while you reach your arm over their shoulder.
- Close the figure-four.
- Lie back down, either closing your guard again or throwing your leg over their back so they can't roll.
- Turn the wrist toward their head.
The key technical point is blocking their back with your leg. Without it, they forward roll and the lock vanishes. If the kimura fails, you are still in a great spot for the hip bump sweep, and you have already made them put their weight exactly where you wanted. The kimura and that sweep from closed guard fit together naturally.
Kimura from side control
On top in side control, this is the safest version. The defender's far arm pushes on your hip or your head. Take that wrist, pin it to the mat, thread your arm under their arm and grab your own wrist. You are now in judo's ude-garami, exactly as it is taught from a hold-down like yoko-shiho-gatame.
A common variation is walking around to north-south while keeping the grip. Their shoulder can no longer roll and the lock gets very tight.
The kimura trap: using it as control
This is the most interesting part to train, because it changes how you see the technique. Once the figure-four is on, you own their arm and therefore their shoulder. They can't roll toward that side. From there you can:
- pass the guard while keeping the arm (the "kimura trap");
- take the back if they turn away to relieve the pressure;
- switch armlocks when they straighten the arm to escape the rotation, and finish with an armbar.
In no-gi, the kimura trap has become a full system. In the gi it is used less as a system, but it keeps the same control value.
Kimura from half guard
From bottom half guard, a passer who posts a hand next to your head for balance gives you an opening. Take the wrist, thread the arm and turn to your side. Even without the finish, you stop them from getting the crossface.
Defending the kimura
The defender has two priorities: keep the elbow tight to the body, and grab their own belt or pants to block the rotation. Once the grip is locked, the only good answers are to follow the movement by rolling in the direction of the rotation, or to tap. Resisting with a stiff arm is the best way to get hurt.
On the attacking side, the most common mistake is pulling the wrist up and away from their back instead of rotating it toward their head. The arm opens, the elbow comes off your chest and they recover the arm. Keep their elbow glued to you and think "rotate", never "pull".
The one thing to remember
You learn the kimura as a submission and you use it as a position. Try rolls where the only finish allowed is the kimura. You will see the figure-four open back takes and guard passes far more often than it makes people tap. And when it does make them tap, let go the instant you get the signal, because shoulders don't forgive much. For the other core submissions, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu overview is the right starting point.