sumi gaeshi

Sumi Gaeshi is the judo name for the corner throw — the standing sacrifice throw in which the attacker drops into a corner posture and uses a leg lever to reverse the opponent overhead, ending with the attacker on their back and the opponent crashing in front.

Etymology. Sumi (隅) means “corner”; gaeshi (返) means “reversal” or “throw” (from kaeshi). The combined term — corner throw — describes the attacker’s drop into a corner posture (one knee down, one foot up) during the entry, distinguishing it from upright sacrifice throws and from the seated-guard sweep variants that share the name in BJJ contexts. The technique sits in Kodokan judo’s sutemi-waza (sacrifice throws) catalogue. The standing-context disambiguation in this entry separates the technique from the seated guard sweep that shares the same Japanese term in legacy BJJ vocabulary.

Mechanics. The throw requires the attacker to drop into a low corner posture, securing a deep upper-body grip on the opponent while one leg slides between or under the opponent’s legs to form a lifting bar. The opponent’s centre of gravity, drawn forward by the grip, rotates over the leg lever as the attacker drops onto their back. The committed drop is the sacrifice — failure leaves the attacker on their back without the throw’s completion to recover.

Cross-reference. English-speaking no-gi and BJJ often use “corner throw” or the Japanese term directly. The seated guard sweep that shares the same name is documented at /technique/sweeps/butterfly-sumi. Full mechanical coverage on Sumi Gaeshi (Standing).