Judo Basic Grip fighting 102: right vs left

Judo basic grip fighting 102. Right vs Left. This is crucial to your Judo! In the local dojos, you tend to see more right sided athletes than left. This is normal. But the higher you go in judo you are more likely to meet lot more leftys!

The thing about Judo Right or Judo Left is..... You dont have to be right handed to do judo righty. Or left handed to do judo left! It's not like throwing a baseball with a dominant hand. Because so much of these techniques are not intuitive. Like throwing a ball. I am a big believer in being able to chose which way you decide to fight. HOWEVER, if you a right sided athlete, it is very important to have attacks to the left, from your RIGHT SIDE DOMINANT POSITION!

Sorry for yelling. I am really passionate about this. Let me know if you have any questions

[bryanchrist]

Great stuff Sensei. I just took part in my first Judo tournament on Saturday (4/26/25). I went 2-0 and took home my first ever 1st. Super humble and excited. I do gotta say, both of the throws didnt go as i was wanting, but because of my grip and the ability to keep turning his shoulders, i was able to "drive" him to the mat. Thankfully 😁.Those two matches taught me so much. Thank you for sharing your yime and knowledge.

[eusman]

Shintaro you are the goat bro just started judo can only do it 1x a week currently and your videos help me so much thanks man

[bono]

It's funny that these grip fighting videos have so few views compared to his "how to throw someone" videos. IMHO without dominant grips you are never going to throw anyone in judo.

[martyantony]

Mr. Hagashi,


I'm wondering if you can do a video on fighting a left v. right case, where your opponent is taller (farther reach) and likes to use russian judo grip just over your shoulder. Not the big power grip coming from the top, but just from the side.


I find that even if I do grab a hold of the lapel to push them away, I find myself still at a disadvantage because of their height. I also have a tendency to bend my posture a lot when I encounter this grip., consequentially being penalized.


Any help is appreciated, thank you!

[NovaEmotion]

what do you think about
current top fighters, can you
especially highlight someone ? May be make some analysis of performance techniques ?

[vladimircu]

I have a problem when i'm doing randori with my friend. He is left sided and i'm on right guard. His kumi kata is very bad but he is stronger then me and i can't break out from his grip. I tried everything but no results. Only thing I can do is to stand in the same line - my right side and his left side, and wait for him to do some tani otoshi or uchi mata so I can counter him - but he knows that :). Do you have any advice how to break his grip? PS: He looks like Beka Gviniashvili :)

[JoseAlvarado-fjuo]

I had no idea you were Bucky's sensei!

[canunotg]

I’m looking to start Judo classes this week. I’m right handed but my stance is left foot forward because that’s how I stand for boxing and MMA. Can I stick to this left foot forward for judo even though I’m right handed. Or should I just start learning right foot forward even though I want to learn judo for self defense?

[jrmbayne]

Can you cover what to do when a lefty changes to righty during this?

[Brandon-obrg]

I'm too dumb for judo. None of this makes sense to me! 😭