Alias · Front Headlock

Head-and-arm hold

Also known as Kata Gatame — the canonical term used on this site.

Wrestling-derived — head-and-arm controlling pin

Head-and-arm hold is the wrestling-derived descriptive name for the kata gatame pin — flagging the head-and-arm structural control elements that define the pin’s leverage geometry.

Etymology. “Head-and-arm” enumerates the controlled elements; “hold” attaches the pin category. The label predominates in wrestling-adjacent no-gi vocabulary; kata gatame is the Japanese name.

Mechanics. The combined head-and-arm control closes the pin via chest pressure through the trapped arm — the position is self-reinforcing because the bottom player’s escape moves tighten the choke structure that the pin shares with the arm triangle.

Cross-reference. “Arm triangle pin” is the alternate name; kata gatame is the Japanese name. Full mechanical coverage on Kata Gatame.