Core Alignment
Center of Gravity:
The lower the center of gravity of your opponent, the harder it is to throw them. Therefore, many competitors widen their stance and lower their center of gravity making it more difficult them to be thrown. Shorter students have a natural advantage over taller students in this arena because their center of gravity is already low. A widened stance also increases stability, of the stance, side to side, yet front to back it is still on the weaker plane. In judo it is illegal to drop to one knee to prevent being thrown, but this is common counter to strong thrower. After you hand check the adversary’s hip throw, drop to one knee and throw the opponent with Tani-otoshi. If you’re trying to throw your opponent with Ippon-seoi-nage and they drop their centerline you may need to drop to your knees and execute Seoi-otoshi.
Breaking an opponent’s balance is difficult, unless you drop your center of gravity below theirs. The obi (belt) knot is a good indicator of a person’s center, and to throw an adversary you must get lower than their centerline. The lower you cut the ore likely the throw will be successful.
Note: Remember to look in the direction of the throw or your body mechanics will be corrupted.
Breaking the Balance Combinations:
Everyone understands that by simply pushing and or pulling along the weak plane uke’s balance will be broken, but the technique works better if it is done in combination with another balance breaking techniques. For example, pushing the opponent backwards along the weak plane breaks their balance, but if you add a twist to the shoulders their balance can be broken in two different directions along the same plane.
Weight Side and Light Side:
When the opponent’s balance has been compromised the majority of their weight is on one leg or the other, so for lack of a better term we will call them the weight-side and the light-side. Either of these sides can be attacked, but not all throws work against either leg. You must learn how to attack either leg when an opportunity presents itself.
The weight-side takes more force due to the fact that you’re trying to move most of the opponent’s weight. Still, if you attack the back of leg, at the knee joint, uke’s knee will fold and core boxes will tumble. The key is to strike hard and fast. O-soto-gari or any reaping type of throw works in this situation. Kuzushi would have you moving uke on the backwards plane for O-soto-gari, and to aid your effort you need to pull uke onto one leg using a pulling and lifting of the shoulders. The weight-side can be attacked from the front. When the weight-side is attacked, from the front, you must use part of your body as a fulcrum. In this instance a throw like tai-otoshi could work. A throw like O-goshi that utilizes the hip as a fulcrum and as a weapon to destabilize the support leg. In this type of throw the kuzushi must include lifting as well as pulling uke onto the weight-side, or a combination of the one pin philosophy along with the upward destabilization of the core boxes.
The light-side can also be used to throw an opponent. The light-side is the foot that supports only a portion of the opponent’s body weight. Sweeping the light foot forward breaks the structure of uke’s stance. Horse stance has its’ stability, but once that structure is compromised, or the footing is overextended the stability tumbles. The same is true of the forwards stance. Sweep the foot as it is lifted moving forwards causing an over extension of the stance and structure of the stance is no longer viable. Examples of techniques used against the light-side would be Deashi-hari and Ko-uchi-gari.
It is not enough to know how to break the opponent’s balance, you must also know how to attack the stance once it has been compromised. During a fight, the weight-side and light-side will change. Your attack must adapt to these changes as conflagrations are fluid things.