Katame-waza groups together the control techniques of judo: pins, chokes and armlocks. You will also hear ne-waza, ground work, and dojos use both words loosely. It is the half of judo that many clubs neglect, yet solid ne-waza wins matches that the throw did not finish.
Ne-waza vs katame-waza
Ne-waza means "lying technique". The word describes a situation: both players are on the ground. Katame-waza means "grappling technique" or "control technique" and refers to the three families of techniques that win on the ground. You can apply katame-waza standing, an armlock in tachi-waza for example, but in practice almost all of it happens on the mat.
The Kodokan sorts these techniques into three groups: osaekomi-waza (pins or hold-downs), shime-waza (chokes) and kansetsu-waza (joint locks). The katame-no-kata presents five techniques from each group.
Osaekomi-waza: pinning your opponent
A pin holds uke on his back, under tori's control, for a set time. The main forms:
- kesa-gatame, the scarf hold, sitting against uke's side and holding his head and arm;
- kata-gatame, which traps the head together with one arm;
- kami-shiho-gatame, from above, at uke's head;
- yoko-shiho-gatame, across the body from the side;
- tate-shiho-gatame, mounted on the stomach.
Each has kuzure (modified) variants, often sturdier in randori than the basic form. The principle stays the same: weight low, gaps closed, and follow uke rather than hold him back.
Our view as coaches: pins are the best starting point for a beginner. They carry almost no injury risk and teach you how to place your weight, which serves everything else.
Shime-waza: the chokes
Chokes compress uke's neck until he gives up. In judo they are often done with the judogi, which sets them apart from no-gi grappling.
Three to learn first. Hadaka-jime chokes from behind with the arms alone. Okuri-eri-jime uses uke's lapel from his back. Sankaku-jime traps the head and one arm in a triangle of legs. The cross chokes (juji-jime), taken from the front in the lapels, complete the family and are often trained from guard.
Most are blood chokes. They act fast and without much pain. Hence the absolute rule on any mat: uke taps twice, tori lets go immediately.
Kansetsu-waza: the armlocks
Joint locks force a joint past its limit. In judo competition, only locks on the elbow are allowed.
Juji-gatame, the cross armlock, is the most used. Ude-garami, the bent armlock, works in two directions that match the americana and the kimura in BJJ. Then come straight-arm locks such as ude-gatame, hiza-gatame and waki-gatame. They lock the elbow against tori's shoulder, knee or armpit.
A lock injures faster than a choke. Apply it slowly, and tap early.
What the rules say on the ground
A few rules change the way ne-waza is trained at a club:
- A pin runs on the clock. Under current IJF rules, 10 seconds score waza-ari and 20 seconds ippon. If uke wraps one of tori's legs with his own, the pin does not count. Scoring is explained in detail in judo scoring rules.
- A submission scores ippon. On a choke or lock, uke taps twice or says "maitta". Losing consciousness also gives ippon.
- Ground time is limited. When the referee judges that nothing is progressing, he calls "matte" and both players stand up. That is why judo ne-waza is fast and direct.
- Age decides what is legal. Chokes and armlocks are banned in the youngest groups and allowed from an age set by each national federation. The page on judo age categories gives the framework.
Some techniques stay illegal at every age: locks on any joint other than the elbow, the leg scissor choke around the trunk (do-jime), neck cranks and the ashi-garami leg lock. Certain ways of applying waki-gatame by falling straight to the mat are also penalized. The full list is on the page about illegal techniques in judo.
The positions of ne-waza
Techniques are useless without control of the positions. Three are worth knowing:
- Uke in the turtle, on all fours. It is the most common defense in judo because it protects against the pin clock. The attacks are turnovers, chokes from the back and the rolling entry to juji-gatame.
- Tori in uke's guard, with uke on his back controlling with his legs. Judo knows this position well, and BJJ has developed it in depth: see the BJJ closed guard.
- Tori on top, pinning or in transition.
The transitions matter more than the positions themselves. A judo player who can move from yoko-shiho-gatame to tate-shiho-gatame without leaving a gap will hold twenty seconds against almost anyone.
Judo ne-waza and Brazilian jiu-jitsu
BJJ grew partly out of the ne-waza of pre-war judo. It kept the techniques and removed the time limit on the ground. As a result, a BJJ player knows many more guards and transitions, while a judo player is faster and more aggressive in the first ten seconds. The comparison is covered in BJJ vs judo.
For a judo player, a few BJJ sessions are one of the best ways to improve on the ground. For a BJJ player, judo teaches you to finish fast and get back up.
How to get better at ne-waza
Ground work improves faster than throwing, provided you train it regularly. Here is a plan for one season.
For the first two months, work only pins and escapes. Do one three-minute ground randori per session, starting from set positions. Then add one attack against the turtle (a choke or a turnover) and one lock from the top. No more. By the end of the season you will have a complete system: pin, turn over, finish.
One last point that is often forgotten: connect the ground to the throw. After every fall in randori, follow up on the ground for five seconds. Most competition pins come from a throw that did not score ippon. And to see the standing half of the Kodokan syllabus, the judo gokyo lists all 40 throws.