hip wheel

Hip wheel is the literal English translation of the Japanese koshi guruma — the judo throw in which the attacker drives a hip across the opponent’s hip line and rotates the opponent over the loaded hip in a wheel-like arc.

Etymology. The term is the direct rendering of koshi (“hip”) + guruma (“wheel”) into English. “Hip wheel” appears in older judo translation conventions and in regional English-language judo coaching material where translators preferred literal renderings over transliteration. The term coexists with the Japanese koshi guruma in modern usage, with the English label more common in wrestling-adjacent contexts and the Japanese in judo and BJJ.

Mechanics. The throw uses the attacker’s hip as the rotational axis — the opponent’s centre of mass travels over the loaded hip in a wheel-arc, while the upper-body connection through a neck-and-shoulder grip maintains the contact that drives the rotation.

Cross-reference. Koshi guruma remains the Japanese-language standard; “hip wheel” is the literal English rendering. Full mechanical coverage on Koshi Guruma.