Shoulder wheel throw

Shoulder wheel throw is a regional English name for the fireman’s carry — the standing throw in which the attacker loads the opponent across the shoulders and rotates them over to land on their back.

Etymology. The “shoulder wheel” descriptor flags the rotational geometry: the opponent travels over the attacker’s shoulders in a wheel-like arc, with the shoulders serving as the axis of rotation. “Throw” attaches the category. The label appears in some regional wrestling and Eastern-bloc translation traditions where Japanese judo terms were rendered descriptively rather than transliterated. “Fireman’s carry” — the standard English-language name — references the firefighter’s lift posture that the throw’s setup resembles. Both labels point to the same fundamental rotational mechanic.

Mechanics. The throw rotates the opponent around the attacker’s shoulders as the fixed point — the opponent’s body travels in an arc the attacker controls via the shoulder anchor. The connection between attacker’s shoulders and opponent’s torso is what makes the rotation generate the throwing force.

Cross-reference. “Fireman’s carry” is the standard English name; kata guruma (literally “shoulder wheel” in Japanese) is the judo lineage’s name for a closely related throw. Full mechanical coverage on Fireman’s Carry.