Uchi MakikomiHow it works and how to improve it

01 / AT A GLANCE

A shoulder-throw entry that finishes as a side sacrifice

Uchi-makikomi (内巻込, “inner wraparound”) is a side sacrifice throw, classified by the Kodokan and the IJF under yoko-sutemi-waza. The IJF definition describes it in three moves: start from an ippon-seoi-nage position; instead of throwing over the shoulder, “thrust your hips in a large motion outside the direction of the throw”; and wrap uke’s right arm in the crook of your elbow as you throw by sacrificing yourself.

Compared with ippon-seoi-nage, the arm fit is shared but the finish is not a lever over a standing tori: tori’s own body goes to the mat. Compared with soto-makikomi and harai-makikomi, the arm route is different. In those two, tori releases the right-hand grip and wraps the right arm over the outside of uke’s right arm into the armpit. In uchi-makikomi, tori’s right arm is already underneath uke’s right armpit and never lets go. (An editorial memory aid, not an etymology: the inner wrap holds the arm from underneath, the outer wrap from above.)

Names and spelling: “uchi makikomi” and “uchi-makikomi” are the same official technique. Do not confuse it with uchi-mata-makikomi, which the Kodokan list names separately; it starts from a different throw and leg action.

Who this is for: judoka who already perform and receive ippon-seoi-nage safely under supervision and can take a controlled side breakfall with one arm held. It is not a first throwing lesson; nothing here sets a belt or age threshold. Rule scope is in section 14.

02 / WATCH THE TECHNIQUE

Two short demonstrations and what to look for

The Kodokan clip is the official reference; the Efficient Judo clip is an independent second demonstration. This guide has verified each video’s identity, publisher and length, not the frames, so the prompts below are things to check, not descriptions. Watch each clip several times, one question per pass.

1. First pass — the starting fit. Before anything goes down, does the position look like an ippon-seoi-nage entry: tori turned in, back towards uke, right arm under uke’s right armpit?
2. Second pass — the hips. Compare where tori’s hips are at the moment of the fall with where they would be for a shoulder throw. Mark which way they travel and whether uke’s chest stays on tori’s back.
3. Third pass — the arm and the landing. Follow uke’s right elbow. Does it stay in tori’s elbow crook all the way to the mat? Which part of tori lands first, and where does uke land relative to tori?

If the two demonstrations differ in where tori’s right hand finishes or on which side tori lands, ask your coach which version you are being taught rather than blending them.

03 / WHEN TO USE IT

The opening is a good arm fit with a blocked shoulder lever

First you must have reached the ippon-seoi-nage position. Then the sacrifice makes sense only when the arm connection and uke’s forward weight are present but the rotation over your back is not going to happen.

Usable: uke is on your back, but steps around to your right

You have turned in, uke’s right upper arm is in your elbow crook and uke’s chest is against your back. Uke avoids going over by walking the right foot around towards your right side. Uke’s weight is still forward onto you. The IJF wording only says the hips go “outside the direction of the throw”; this guide’s editorial reading is that they travel out to your right, the side uke is walking towards, so the sacrifice follows uke’s movement. This is the reference situation for the first combination in section 07.

Possible: uke is bent forward and heavy, but stays square behind you

Some partners defend the shoulder throw by sagging onto tori’s back without letting tori lift or rotate them. Test it with the stage-one drill in section 10: move the hips out and stop. If uke’s chest slides along your back with the hips, the weight is following and the sacrifice has something to carry. If uke stays where they were, the weight is resting rather than travelling, and falling will drop uke onto your back (problem two in section 06).

Not an opening: uke’s hips are back and the chest has left your back

If uke has dropped the hips behind, straightened up and created space between chest and back, there is nothing for the wrap to wind. Sacrificing here sends tori to the mat alone. The recovery for this reaction is the third sequence in section 07.

Not an opening: only the forearm or sleeve is in the crook

If uke has withdrawn the elbow so your arm holds the forearm or wrist, the “wrap” controls a limb, not a torso. Tightening it and falling can twist the elbow without moving uke’s body: stop, do not squeeze harder.

Opposite-lead grips

In right-versus-left gripping, uke’s right arm may be the rear arm and harder to reach; solve access in grip work (see the grip-fighting drills guide) rather than forcing your arm under whichever elbow is nearest.

04 / HOW IT WORKS

Five connected parts, each with a check

Treat the parts below as checkpoints for slow practice; in a working throw they overlap.

1. Left hand: draw the sleeve forward and keep it working

   Tori’s left hand holds uke’s right sleeve and draws it forward as in the ippon-seoi-nage entry, keeping uke’s right arm extended towards tori’s front while the turn proceeds. It must not stop when the fall begins. Check: the observer watches the left hand during the drop; if it opens or stops as tori’s knees bend, uke’s right side is free to post or step away.

2. Right arm: hold the upper arm in the elbow crook

   The right arm enters under uke’s right armpit, as for ippon-seoi-nage, and folds so that uke’s upper arm sits in the bend of tori’s elbow, close to uke’s armpit. The crook squeezes towards tori’s own chest; it does not lever uke’s elbow joint. Where tori’s right hand finishes is a detail to take from the Kodokan demonstration and your coach. Check: uke reports pressure on the upper arm and armpit, not the elbow joint, and the elbow does not slide towards your wrist as the hips move.

3. Feet and turn: reach a genuine ippon-seoi position first

   Turn left into the entry so that your back meets uke’s chest and your feet are inside uke’s, as taught for the right-sided shoulder throw. Check: pause here. If you could not continue into a controlled ippon-seoi-nage from this exact position, you do not yet have an uchi-makikomi position either.

4. Hips: move them outside the shoulder-throw line

   Here the technique departs from the shoulder throw: instead of staying centred under uke, the hips make a large movement outside the direction of that throw. This guide reads that as the hips moving further out to tori’s right, past the line under uke’s centre; confirm that reading against the official demonstration with your coach. Check: from the side, tori’s hip has moved past uke’s right hip compared with the ippon-seoi fit, with uke’s chest still on tori’s back.

5. Sacrifice: let your fall carry uke around you

   With the arm held and the sleeve working, tori gives up the standing base and goes to the mat, turning so that uke is wound around tori’s body rather than dropped onto it. Tori’s head stays tucked and does not lead the fall. Check: the observer names tori’s first point of contact (the side or shoulder region your coach teaches, never the head) and whether uke rotated over or collapsed onto tori.

Timing that connects the parts

A typical sequencing error is to drop first and wrap second: if the knees give way before uke’s weight has followed the hips, uke can straighten up and withdraw the elbow. In a slow walk-through, tori should be able to stop at the end of the hip movement with uke still leaning on the back and the arm still in the crook; only then is the fall added. In a live attempt the stop disappears, but the relationship it tests must remain.

Support is the other hidden variable. Which foot carries you as the hips leave the shoulder-throw line depends on the form your coach teaches and on the pair’s heights; the sources used here do not fix it. The test is whether you arrive at the hip-thrust point able to choose between falling and standing back up. If you are already falling when you get there, the decision has been made for you.

05 / KEY POINTS

Four cues for moving practice

Section 04 checks each part in a slow walk-through. Carry these cues into moving repetitions, one cue per block.

1. Fold, then move, then fall

   Check: on a slow-motion clip, find the frame where the hips start to move out. The right elbow should already be folded at uke’s upper arm in that frame; if the fold is still happening, the order is reversed (problem one in section 06).

2. Hips out, not down

   Check: compare a side-view frame at the hip-thrust point with one of your ippon-seoi fit. If your knees have dropped towards the mat but the hips have not moved past uke’s right hip, you are performing a collapsed shoulder throw, not the outward hip movement in the IJF definition.

3. Sacrifice only on a travelling uke

   Check: the observer calls one word as your hips move: “walking”, “static” or “leaving”. Compare the call with what you did. A sacrifice on “leaving” is a decision error even if uke happened to fall.

4. Head clear at first contact

   Check: chin tucked and head off the mat when tori’s body lands. Any repetition where the head reaches the mat first ends the set and goes to the coach.

06 / PROBLEMS & ADJUSTMENTS

Four distinct failures and how to tell their causes apart

Film from the side with both partners’ feet in frame: most of these failures start before the fall.

07 / SETUPS & COMBINATIONS

Combinations built on a specific reaction

Editorial proposals for supervised practice; check them with your coach before adding resistance.

Draw the reaction between the first attack and uchi-makikomi on the waza-map worksheet.

08 / DEFENCES & COUNTERS

Prevention, escape and the counter exposure

Prevention (before the fit): tori needs the right arm under uke’s right armpit. As uke, the earliest defence is the same as against ippon-seoi-nage: keep the right elbow close to your own ribs rather than lifted, move your feet so tori cannot turn in under the arm, and keep your hips under your shoulders. In a drill, give one agreed defensive behaviour at a time.

Escape (after the fit, before the fall): the window is the hip movement: separating the chest from tori’s back and lowering the hips behind leaves the sacrifice nothing to carry. Because the arm is held from underneath, the escape is a body movement backwards and down, not an arm pull: drawing the elbow out against a turning partner can twist the shoulder.

Once the fall has started: receive. In this throw uke’s right arm is held from underneath and clamped over tori’s right shoulder, so that side cannot be used to break the fall; the free left arm is the one coach and uke must agree on for the breakfall, and it must not be posted straight-armed. Tori keeps body weight off the held elbow and loosens the crook as the bodies land.

Counter exposure for tori: a failed uchi-makikomi can leave tori face-down or on the side with uke above and the back or neck exposed. If the sacrifice does not wind uke over, the next exchange belongs to uke. This guide names no counter for uke; any counter from that position, especially a choke, must be taught separately by a coach.

09 / GROUND TRANSITIONS

Three landings and what to do from each

Agree before each repetition whether the exchange continues on the ground, and start from the actual landing.

Uke lands on the back, you are alongside with the arm still held

The arm in your elbow crook is not a hold-down. Turn your chest towards uke and establish a base before letting go. Compare it with the arm control taught for kesa-gatame or kuzure-kesa-gatame: you will need to transfer control rather than assume the wrap has pinned uke. Ushiro-kesa-gatame, in which tori faces uke’s legs and keeps the near arm against the side, is worth asking your coach about if you tend to land facing that way; that is a coach-check, not a standard transition claimed here.

Uke lands on the side and turns away towards the knees

Do not drag the held arm across uke’s back to stop the turn; that loads the shoulder. Let the arm go, follow to a stable top position and use a turnover your coach teaches. Record the ending: frequent turning suggests uke is not being wound far enough.

You land under uke or face-down

The specific hazard here is your own right arm: it entered under uke’s armpit, so if uke comes down on top it can be pinned under uke’s chest. Open the crook and draw that arm in first, then turn towards uke rather than presenting your back, which the shoulder-throw entry has already exposed. Build this as a starting-position round (see the ne-waza drills guide) rather than producing it with repeated failed throws.

10 / PRACTICE PROGRESSION

From a standing fit to a supervised choice

Stage one: fit and hip movement, no fall

Cooperative ippon-seoi entries; fold the arm; hips out past the shoulder-throw line; stop and stand up. Progress when: uke confirms chest contact and upper-arm pressure, and tori stops at the hip-thrust point without stepping, on most repetitions.

Stage two: complete throws onto a crash mat

With the coach present, add the sacrifice at walking pace onto a crash mat with an uke whose breakfall is reliable, and few falls per set. Progress when: the observer sees the sleeve hand closed at landing, tori’s head clear of the mat and uke rotating over rather than dropping onto tori.

Stage three: a real choice

From the ippon-seoi position, uke chooses either to walk the right foot around (tori continues into uchi-makikomi) or to pull the hips back and separate (tori abandons and faces). Begin with stops at the hip-thrust point, then add throws on “walk around” only. Progress when: tori’s decisions match uke’s responses across a set, and no sacrifice is attempted on the separating response.

Stage four: constrained exchanges

Short rounds in which tori may attack only from a sleeve grip that allows the ippon-seoi entry, the only throws are ippon-seoi-nage and uchi-makikomi, and uke may break the grip, walk around or pull the hips back but not counter. The observer writes down uke’s response before each sacrifice. Progress when: every sacrifice on the sheet follows a “walking” or tested “static” response, and no repetition ends with tori’s right arm trapped under uke. Free randori use, and the intensity at which makikomi throws are allowed at all, are the coach’s decision.

If reaching the ippon-seoi position is the limit, return to uchikomi drills and randori goals.

11 / COMPETITION EXAMPLES

Two official replay selections to study

What is verified: each link below is an IJF athlete technique page for uchi-makikomi, and on October 10, 2026 each listed the named contest in its technique-tagged replay selection; each page credits the tagged action to the athlete it names. Not verified: this guide has not watched the contests. Any score, the time and the preceding exchange are unconfirmed.

Selection 1 — Stojadinov vs Gersjes, Tbilisi Grand Slam 2026

Andrea STOJADINOV (SRB) vs Amber GERSJES (NED), Tbilisi Grand Slam 2026, listed on Andrea Stojadinov’s IJF uchi-makikomi page.

Selection 2 — Korrel vs Paltchik, World Championships Budapest 2017

Michael KORREL (NED) vs Peter PALTCHIK (ISR), World Senior Championship Budapest 2017, listed on Michael Korrel’s IJF uchi-makikomi page.

Viewing questions tied to this technique

1. Arm route: before the fall, is the attacker’s arm under the receiver’s armpit, as in ippon-seoi-nage, or wrapped over the outside into the armpit, as in soto-makikomi? Otherwise write “not visible”.
2. Shoulder-throw phase: is there a visible ippon-seoi-nage attempt first, or does the attacker go straight to the sacrifice?
3. Hip movement: do the attacker’s hips move out beyond the receiving athlete’s hip line before the fall?
4. Reaction: just before the fall, does the receiver step around, stand still or pull back?
5. Landing: who is on top afterwards, and does any ground exchange follow?

Keep three columns in your notes: what the IJF listing states, what you actually saw and what you want to test in a drill. Historical footage shows the rules in force at that event, not current permission for your category.

12 / VARIATIONS & COMPARISONS

Uchi-makikomi among the wraparound and shoulder throws

Practise the three makikomi throws as separate tasks. Soto-makikomi and harai-makikomi begin their armpit wrap by letting go of the right-hand grip; uchi-makikomi keeps the under-the-armpit fit. So the first place to look differs: in the outer wraps, check the moment of the hand change for a gap; in uchi-makikomi there is no hand change, so check the hip movement.

Koshi-guruma, listed as related by Efficient Judo, wheels uke over a deep hip with an arm around the neck while tori stays standing. Seoi-otoshi takes tori lower by dropping to the knees, not by giving up the base sideways.

Choosing a variation: a coach may teach a different right-hand finish or landing side. Name it in your notes and keep the arm-under-the-armpit fit as the reference that makes it uchi-makikomi.