How to Apply the Cross Armlock in Judo -- Juji gatame

The Kodokan Judo technique Ude Hishigi Juji Gatame is commonly called jujigatame, or cross armlock. It gets its name from the position of the person doing the technique (tori) across the opponent's body. It is one of the most effective armlocks in judo, and it is consistently the number one winning armlock used in international judo competition. It is equally effective when used for self-defense, and the technique is included in many modern and traditional jujutsu systems. It is particularly powerful because tori is using the entire body, including the strength of the legs and hips, to control the person receiving the technique (uke) and to apply tremendous pressure to the straightened arm.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A practice partner who knows when to tap to signal defeat.
• A great deal of caution if you are new to this.

1. 
    
   Neil Ohlenkamp gaining control after throwing his opponent (Jerrod Wilson)

   Beginning in the most common position gained after completing a successful throw, tori (the person doing the technique in the white uniform) drops his right knee onto uke (the person receiving the technique in the blue uniform) to begin controlling him and to prevent him from turning towards tori. The left knee can also be used for this purpose on the head. Both hands control uke's arm with one forearm placed on uke's elbow.

2. 
    
   Transition from standing to the ground while maintaining control and bringing the hips into position

   Tori begins to get better control of uke's arm by squatting, and pulling uke's elbow tightly onto tori's stomach or chest. Tori also places his left foot over uke's head so that uke will not be able to sit up.

3. 
    
   Getting close to the opponent so he has no room to escape.

   Tori sits down very close to uke's shoulder so that uke's arm is still controlled by tori's body. Uke's elbow must be on tori's abdomen in the final position, so sitting close under the elbow is essential. Tori pulls uke's elbow strongly with his right forearm.

4. 
    
   Starting to stretch the arm

   Tori begins to lean back keeping constant pressure on uke's arm and squeezing the knees together to control the shoulder. Using the legs, tori should be able to keep uke down even without applying the joint-lock pressure. At this point tori makes sure that uke's thumb is pointing up so that the pressure will be applied towards the little finger side of the arm.

5. 
    
   Application of the arm bar

   In the final position uke taps to submit from the pain in the elbow joint. The submission should come immediately when the arm is fully extended. For additional pressure tori can lift his hips by bridging, but this must be done slowly and carefully because it may result in dislocating the elbow.

6. 
    
   Another hand position

   Tori's hand position can vary from the standard position with both hands grabbing uke's wrist. In this version tori has his arms crossed with the forearms controlling uke's wrist. This is useful when uke is fighting the arm extension and tori needs to use the power of his body to pull.

7. 
    
   Better control with the legs

   Another common version of this technique is done with both legs placed over uke to further limit his ability to roll up onto tori.

8. 
    
   Another strong leg position

   A strong variation is to cross the right foot over the left and to pull in with the feet. This will help to control uke's left arm, and to prevent uke from pushing tori's left leg off his head in an escape attempt.

Tips & Warnings

• There are many opportunities for applying this armbar while grappling, but the key is always to control the opponent's body, and particularly the elbow, throughout the application of jujigatame.
• There are many variations of jujigatame done from different positions and angles, and numerous entries to the armlock from various opportunities. These include variations done from the back when uke is approaching from between the legs, turnovers from the hands and knees position, and the flying jujigatame done from the standing position.
• Additional details about this technique and all the other techniques of Kodokan Judo are available in the highly recommended new book Judo Unleashed by Neil Ohlenkamp (see JudoUnleashed.com).
• This armbar is particularly powerful because tori is using the entire body, including the strength of the legs and hips, to control the person receiving the technique (uke) and to apply tremendous pressure to the straightened arm. For this reason it can be done against much larger or stronger opponents without difficulty. For the same reason it is also potentially dangerous and should only be practiced with proper safety precautions and instruction.

Resources

• The Judo Information Site at JudoInfo.com
• Judo Unleashed by Neil Ohlenkamp

[JohanM]

on 7/16/2007 This is great, all the pictures makes it a lot easier to follow.