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    Sankaku-gatame

    三角固 · さんかくがため · triangle armlock · said sahn-KAH-koo gah-TAH-meh

    The Kodokan calls this Ude-hishigi-sankaku-gatame (腕挫三角固).

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    Demonstrations

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    Under contest rules

    Depends on the form. The hold is legal on the ground. A kata-sankaku that blocks uke's body with both legs, or pressure onto the neck or spinal vertebrae from behind, is a direct hansoku-make.

    Sport and Organisation Rules of the International Judo Federation: refereeing rules, 2026 edition, Article 18.2.2.

    About this technique

    The triangle of the legs closed around head and arm as for Sankaku-jime, but with the pressure taken on the trapped elbow rather than the neck. Worth documenting separately from the strangle because a judoka in the triangle must know which of the two is coming. Competition joint locks are restricted to the elbow and to senior age groups; learn and practise this only under instruction.

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    A technique either to twist or stretch and lock the opponent’s elbow joint by holding his neck and right armpit between both legs and hooking the right foot on the back of the left knee while forming a triangular form.
    The Kodokan's definition

    Key points

    1. The triangle is the same; the target is not
    2. Isolate the trapped arm and straighten it
    3. Apply with the hips and hands, and release on the tap

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    grappling techniques

    At a glance

    , classification, Gokyo set, Kodokan number, contest rules, grades that require it
    What it is
    Katame-waza (grappling techniques).
    Kodokan number
    809 (SGT).
    Contest rules
    Depends on the form. The hold is legal on the ground. A kata-sankaku that blocks uke's body with both legs, or pressure onto the neck or spinal vertebrae from behind, is a direct hansoku-make.
    Also written
    Ude-hishigi-sankaku-gatame.
    Required for

    Step by step

    These steps describe the standard right-handed form without relying on the video.

    1. Close your legs into a triangle around your partner's head and one arm, as you would for Sankaku-jime, the back of your knee across the back of their neck.
    2. Draw the trapped arm across your body so their elbow points upward and clear of their head.
    3. Hold their wrist with both hands, palm turned upward.
    4. Press the elbow against its hinge by drawing the wrist towards you and lifting your hips slightly.
    5. The pressure is on the elbow, not the neck; release completely the moment they tap.

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    Receiving it

    You are in the triangle and expecting a strangle, and instead the pressure arrives at your elbow. Both are serious and both are close, so tap at the first sign of either rather than waiting to work out which it is; with your head and one arm trapped, tap with the free hand on their leg or with your foot on the mat.

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    VI judo notes

    The reason this is documented apart from the strangle is that anyone caught in a triangle needs to know which is coming, and without sight the only difference is what you feel: pressure at the elbow rather than around the neck. As tori, say which one you are applying when you drill it. As uke, tap on either, and early.

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    In competition

    , how often it scores at IJF level, and two contests where it worked

    Senior IJF competition, 2020 to 2026, from 73,099 contests. Counts scores, not attempts.

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    In combinations, counters and transitions

    , 1 awaiting review

    1 more pair involving it is recorded and awaiting review before it gets a page. A video that shows one of them is what gets it reviewed: suggest one.

    None recorded yet. Nobody has written down a counter to Sankaku-gatame, or a combination it belongs to. You can suggest one.

    Turnovers into it

    Escapes that finish in it

    Reference pages elsewhere

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