Kosoto Gari

What This Is

Kosoto gari — minor outer reap — is a standing judo throw in which the attacker reaps the opponent’s far leg from outside while driving the upper body forward. The reaping foot contacts the back of the opponent’s heel from the outside; the upper body drive forces the opponent’s weight onto that same heel at the moment of contact. With weight committed and the support point removed simultaneously, the opponent falls backward and to the reaped side.

Kosoto gari is the smaller, more precise sibling of osoto gari. Both attack from the outside and both pair with collar-tie or underhook upper-body control. The difference is target and scale: osoto reaps the opponent’s posting leg (the leg already bearing weight) with a large arc through the back of the thigh and knee; kosoto reaps the heel of the leg as weight transfers onto it, with a small contact through the back of the ankle. Where osoto is a committed full-body reaping throw, kosoto is a timing technique — the entire throw lives in the moment of weight transfer.

The Invariant in Action

Throw Mechanics

The Drive — Loading the Far Heel

The throw begins with a forward and slightly diagonal drive through the upper body. The collar tie or underhook delivers the force; the opponent’s reactive step backward to absorb the drive lands their far foot on the heel — that landing is the loading moment. Without this drive there is no kuzushi; without kuzushi the reap moves an unloaded foot.

The Reap — Outside Heel Contact

The reaping foot — the attacker’s near foot, on the same side as the opponent’s far leg — sweeps in low and contacts the outside of the opponent’s heel. The contact is on the back-outer aspect of the ankle, not the calf and not the knee. The reap direction is forward (in the direction of the drive) and slightly upward, sweeping the heel out from under the loaded weight. The reaping leg is nearly straight at contact, hooking like a sickle rather than scooping like a hook.

The Weight-Transfer Window

Kosoto’s window is small. The reap fires at the moment the heel touches down with the opponent’s weight transferring onto it — neither before (foot unloaded) nor after (foot fully planted and braced). Practitioners who can read the opponent’s stepping rhythm find the window naturally; practitioners who cannot read it must create the step using upper-body steering — pushing the opponent backward with the collar tie and timing the reap to the reactive far-leg step.

Follow-Through

The grip is maintained through the landing. The attacker follows the falling opponent down and arrives in a top-control position on the side of the reaped leg — typically a high side-control or front-headlock-adjacent finish. Releasing the grip at the reap moment loses the post-throw position even when the throw lands.

No-Gi Grip Entries

Kosoto’s grip set is identical to osoto’s. The collar tie or underhook provides the drive; no gi grip is required. The throw works equally well from over-under, single collar tie, or double collar tie clinches.

Single collar tie: The far hand holds the back of the opponent’s neck. The drive direction pushes the opponent’s head and posture diagonally back, loading the far foot as it steps. See: Single Collar Tie.

Over-under clinch: The underhook on the reaping side and the overhook on the far side. The underhook lifts and drives forward; the overhook prevents the opponent from rotating away. See: Over-Under Clinch.

Double collar tie: Both hands behind the neck. The drive is straight forward and down; the kosoto fires when the opponent steps back to absorb the head pressure. See: Double Collar Tie.

Related but Distinct — Octopus Kosoto

Not to be confused with octopus kosoto. The two pages share the Japanese root but cover mechanically separate techniques in different contexts.

• Kosoto gari (this page) — a standing throw from the clinch, executed by an attacker on their feet against a standing opponent. The reap is delivered with the foot from outside, with the upper-body drive providing kuzushi.
• Octopus kosoto — a kosoto-style hook used from octopus guard, a ground/seated position. The bottom player has a body lock around the passer’s torso and uses the upper-body pull plus a near-foot ankle hook to reap the passer’s far ankle from a fundamentally different geometry.

Same Japanese naming root (kosoto / outside reap), different mechanical contexts, different prerequisites, different finishing positions. Practitioners learning the standing throw should study this page; practitioners working the octopus guard should study the octopus-kosoto page. The two are not variants of each other.

Common Errors

Drilling Notes

• Walk-and-reap timing. Partner walks with deliberate steps; attacker tracks alongside and times kosoto reaps to the moment the far heel lands. The reap begins on touchdown, not after planting. Twenty reps per side.
• Drive-then-reap from collar tie. From a single collar tie, push the opponent backward to force a far-foot step. Time the reap to that step. The drill builds the create-the-step habit rather than waiting passively for one.
• Osoto / kosoto contrast drill. From the same collar-tie clinch, drill osoto and kosoto on alternating attempts. Osoto when the opponent is rooted; kosoto when the opponent steps. The drill trains the reactive selection between the two throws from the same entry.

Ability Level Guidance

Also Known As

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