Glossary /// Alias
Scarf hold armlock
Also known as Kesa Arm-Crush — the canonical term used on this site.
Training background: The catch wrestling name, and the clearest one — it names the position and the joint without claiming a fulcrum
Catch wrestling — names the position and the joint without claiming a fulcrum
Scarf hold armlock is the catch wrestling name for the kesa arm-crush: the near arm broken over the attacker’s thigh from the scarf hold.
Etymology. Catch wrestling calls the position the scarf hold, where judo calls it kesa gatame, and the armlock takes its name from wherever the speaker learned the pin. It is the clearest of the available labels because it names the position and the joint and claims nothing about the mechanism — which matters here, since the scarf hold offers more than one armlock and they use different fulcrums.
Mechanics. The pin’s head control isolates the defender’s inside arm for free, leaving it on the far side of the attacker’s body from their own free hand. The bottom leg slides beneath that arm so the thigh sits under the elbow, and the wrist is pressed down toward the mat — down, not toward the feet, which only slides the arm along the leg. It pairs with the bent-arm attack from the same position: straightening the arm to defend one delivers the other.
Cross-reference. “Kesa gatame armbar” is the judo-derived name and is more ambiguous. Full mechanical coverage on Kesa Arm-Crush.