Where this technique is not allowed
Prohibited in competition: catching the heel is a direct attack on the legs, which the IJF penalises with hansoku-make. The technique is unaffected outside contest, and the BJA sets it as a 3rd Dan fundamental skill.
Still taught, demonstrated and examined, so it is written up in full here. The restriction above is a contest rule, not a reason to skip it. See the prohibited techniques list.
Demonstrations
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Step by step
The whole movement in words, so no part of it depends on watching a video. Described in the standard right-handed form.
Left-handed: these steps are written right-handed, as the syllabuses write them. Read every left as a right and every right as a left, and the throw is yours.
- From a right-handed grip, bend your knees and drop your level as your partner steps.
- Reach your right hand low and cup the back of their right heel, fingers behind the bone.
- Scoop that heel forward and towards you, as if pulling a chair leg out from under them.
- At the same moment push their lapel or shoulder backwards with your left hand.
- They sit down backwards where the foot used to be; keep the heel and lower them rather than letting them drop, and note that this technique is banned in current IJF contest rules.
Receiving it
The cue is your partner dropping low and a hand arriving at your ankle rather than your knee. The heel goes forward and your weight has nowhere to sit, so you go straight down and backwards. Round your back, keep your chin tucked, and slap with the free arm; do not throw a hand behind you to catch the mat.
About this technique
A hand throw taken at the heel: tori drops, scoops the heel forward and pushes the upper body back, so uke sits down over a foot that can no longer take their weight. Recognised by the Kodokan beyond the Gokyo. Like other leg grabs it is prohibited in current IJF competition, and the BJA syllabus names inside and outside forms of it (Uchi- and Soto-kibisu-gaeshi).
Key points
- Take the HEEL, not the knee: scoop it forward
- Push the chest back at the same instant
- Stay low; standing up gives the leg back
Te-waza (hand techniques)
In combinations, counters and transitions
None recorded yet. Nobody has written down a counter to Kibisu-gaeshi, or a combination it belongs to. You can suggest one.