Turnover into Sankaku-gatame

Key points

• Thread the leg past their neck and their near arm together
• Lock the triangle before you roll, not after
• Roll them over their shoulder, never straight onto their neck

Step by step

Left-handed: these steps use the standard right-handed form. Swap every left and right.

1. Your partner is on hands and knees, head tucked, defending.
2. From their right side, sit close to their shoulder and slide your right leg under their chest, past their neck and their right arm.
3. Hook your right foot into the crook of your left knee, closing a triangle that traps their head and right arm.
4. Take hold of their belt or far sleeve, tip your weight back and roll them over their right shoulder.
5. They come over onto their back with the triangle still closed: you arrive in Sankaku-gatame on top.
6. The trapped arm is a lock; tighten slowly and release the instant they tap.

From the other side

A leg threads past your neck while you are turtled, and once it hooks you are rolled over your own shoulder with your head and one arm bound. Tuck and go with the roll rather than bracing your neck against it, and tap early once the triangle settles.

VI judo notes

Sit close enough to feel their shoulder against your hip before the leg goes under, and slide it along their chest so the contact tells you when it has passed the neck and the arm. Foot finding the crook of the knee is the triangle closed. Tip back and roll from the belt or sleeve in your hand, and let their weight arriving on your legs tell you they are over. The trapped arm is a lock: agree the tap first and stop on it.

The techniques involved

• Sankaku-gatame