This is a Nage No Kata highlight reel, using footage from the 2025 All Japan Kata Championships. While making this video, I tried to focus on making it entertaining, but still educational.

The full unedited Nage No Kata performances are in a playlist you can access at the end of the video, or in the video description.

The other day marked my 3 year journey of Judo. In that time I’ve become #2 Ranked in my country, completed my line up and passed my theory for 1st Dan.

This is the other side of Judo the Kata. First attempt and passed was told it would of been level 2 pass if I already had my level 1 so I’m glad it’s not terrible.

Thank you

Gonosen-no-kata 後の前の形 (Forms of Reactive Initiative Response Techniques)

In judo the term “go-no-sen" refers to defeating an opponent using techniques that respond to (or counter) an attack.  This is as opposed to using techniques that pre-empt the opponents attack, “sen-no sen”, and the even more refined concept of “sen-sen-no-sen”.

The Gonosen-no-kata is not a recognised Kodokan kata, but is one of several kata of counter techniques in existence.  It includes counters for a number of common throws, and can be classified as a Randori-no-kata as its practice supports the development of randori skills.

The most popular reference text for the kata is Mikonosuke Kawaishi's seminal book “The Complete Seven Katas of Judo”.  Therein, Kawaishi-sensei suggests that Waseda University (a private university mainly located in Shinjuku, Tokyo) played a prominent role in the popularising the kata - though there appears to be no widely known primary evidence to confirm this, or the broader speculation by some that the kata was created there. Others sometimes claim that the kata's creator was Kawaishi-sensei himself, but again this is unsubstantiated.  What is true is that Kawaishi was a student at Waseda from 1920 to 1924 - majoring in Political Economics, and that techniques utilising gonosen were studied at Waseda.

Writing in the early post-war period, Kawaishi describes the kata as “being practiced less in Japan than in Europe” and interestingly none of the authoritative Japanese judo scholars in kata ever mention Gonosen-no-kata in their work - indeed, it is not known of a single Japanese-language judo book in which the kata features.  Moreover, a Japanese language search on Google Japan does not yield a single return in text, pictures, or videos.  Where the Gonosen-no-kata does seem to be popular is in France, the Netherlands and Germany - countries which would have had exposure to Kawaishi-sensei in his formative years in Europe, and to a slightly lesser extent, the UK.

The techniques of the Gonosen-no-kata are as follows.

• Osoto-gari countered by Osoto-gari
• Hiza-guruma countered by Hiza-guruma
• Ouchi-gari countered by Tsubame Gaeshi
• De Ashi Barai countered by De Ashi Barai
• Kosoto-gake countered by Tai Otoshi
• Kouchi-gari countered by Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi
• Kubi Nage countered by Ushiro-goshi
• Koshi-guruma countered by Uki-goshi
• Hane-goshi countered by Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi
• Harai-goshi countered by Utsuri-goshi
• Uchi Mata countered by Sukui Nage
• Seoi Nage countered by Sumi-gaeshi

There is no standardised method of performing Gonosen-no-kata, and considerable latitude is allowed in its demonstration.  Popular variants include:

• Uke attempts to throw Tori at normal speed, but Tori counters immediately at normal speed;
• Uke first throws Tori at normal speed, after which Uke attempts to throw again at normal speed, but Tori counters at normal speed;
• Uke first throws Tori at normal speed, after which Uke attempts to throw again in slow motion but Tori counters both in slow-motion (demonstrating the precise counter technique) and then at normal speed. Other possible mixtures of slow-motion and normal speed throws, attacks and counters.

Additional degrees of freedom include:

• Movement – the techniques can be demonstrated statically or on the move;
• Tori and Uke may change their position relative to joseki after each throw/counter pair;
• When Tori and Uke pause to tidy and adjust their judogi – e.g. after a set of 3 counters.

It is not usual to see Gonosen-no-kata broken down into sets of techniques though it is sometimes split into two main sets of Ashi Waza (Leg Techniques), Koshi Waza (Hip Techniques) and  a  third Te Waza (Hand Techniques)  set of 6, 5 and 1 techniques respectively.  In this configuration Tori and Uke tidy their judogi between each of the three sets.

Source:

Gonosen-no-kata

Note:

What is good Defence about? : r/judo

I'll be doing the competition route for grading this fall for my shodan and we've (very informally) started training nage no kata. I'm looking for tips on helping to remember more of the formalities.

Does anyone have handy cheat-guides for things like:

• distances for each phase
• which phases require stepping with which foot
• starting/stopping/restarting protocols
• tips for signalling between uke/tori for better sync

Also, the way we're expected to do kata-guruma has me essentially doing a cossack-squat to get under uke. Uke is about 105kg so single-legging him onto my shoulders has been "inconsistent". Some videos on good form for this would be appreciated.

On October 17, 2024, my friend Yslam, who’s 17 years old and from Turkmenistan, did his Nage no Kata exam for his Shodan at Kodokan. In order to do this test, Yslam had to graduate from the Kodokan School, being tested on techniques and with shiai throughout the year.

I’ve been teaching Yslam the Nage no Kata, but he decided to do the test with someone much lighter. I weigh about 82kg, and Yslam about 70kg, and Yslam couldn’t pick me up for Kata Guruma because of (seriously) bad technique.

Prior to taking the Nage no Kata exam, Yslam had to demonstrate the kata in front of the Makishi sensei (head of the school), as both Tori and Uke. However, Yslam’s Tori performance was so bad, the sensei didn’t let him do Uke, and just gave him a ton of advice. Told him to keep practicing and do the demonstration again. This is the first time I’ve heard someone fail the demonstration test. Yslam knew this and felt awful.

However, Yslam took that failure and used that to motivate him to work harder. He came to the 2 kata practice classes per week, right as it started, and stayed until the end. He even practiced on Saturdays with his partner during general practice. He practiced through injury and hardships. And he kept working on every single technique, over and over again. It was a level of dedication I haven’t seen from anyone, especially after a failure that he experienced.

Yslam does the demonstration test again on Saturday, and Makishi sensei says “this is almost a pass”. However, the sensei allowed Yslam to do the exam the following Thursday. As Yslam was doing the demonstration, I was watching and talking to a friend, and we both noted how stressed Yslam was and how he had done techniques better outside of the test environment.

On Tuesday, I practiced with Yslam, and he did amazing - he even picked me up for Kata Guruma!Unfortunately, on Wednesday, he gets a message from his partner that he can’t do the test Thursday because of work. Rather than delay the test, I substituted in last minute, because we knew he can perform the kata with me.

He did the test, and blew away everyone’s expectations! He even got the coveted clap from Doba sensei (head of the dojo). Yslam even perfectly performed Uchi Mata on both sides - which he hadn’t done before! I’m so incredibly proud of his hard work and progress. Yslam went from having the worst kata, to one of the best. It’s a huge honor to be a witness to that. Hopefully, his story of will inspire others to not give up when faced with failure, but to keep going, keep practicing, no matter what.

I have a new kata exam video!

On Thursday, April 24, two students of Kodokan’s Men’s Beginner School, Okabe-san and Lee-san, took their final exam to receive their shodan in Judo. To get to this point, they had to pass two technical tests for go kyu and yon kyu. And then compete and win in Shiai matches per kyu to advance through the kyu system, and graduate from the school.

Okabe-san has an injured shoulder and an extremely busy schedule. But he came every Tuesday and Thursday (his only days off) at 5pm, to learn kata, and then headed to the school at 6pm. He did this for two months. And after he graduated, he continued to practice kata for one more month from 5-8.

Lee-san started learning kata a bit later than Okabe-san. But starting in April, he began university and moved from a few minutes to an hour away, all while keeping up with his studies. And of course he bruised his shoulder in randori at general practice.

Their achievement, dedication and hard work are truly a cause to celebrate. Congratulations Okabe-san and Lee-san! You guys did great!

I have been reading through Kodokan Judo by Jigoro Kano and reached the forms section. Parts like some of the unarmed defense against weapons look awesome and seem practical and effective. I was also excited to discover atemi to set up grappling moves. I have successfully used strikes to set to set up self defense techniques in real life.

However, Ju No Kata has some moves that appear utterly ineffective. The defense against an uppercut actually made me laugh lol it looks completely impractical. I have never seen that move in boxing or in the cage. There’s other sequences here that seem even more ridiculous. I understand that Judo is mainly a grappling art, but this is the first time classical judo has seemed less than spectacular for self defense. Have you noticed this? Can anyone rationalize these techniques? What are your thoughts?

Where did the redbelt and coral belt originate?

Is it already present during the creation of Judo?

Did the Judo founder Jigor Kano created it and introduce it to his art?

I did a kata clinic today and my left ukemi is super awkward and I know I have to practice it, but I’m definitely doing something wrong and I don’t know exactly what it is, look at that bruise, any advice? My right ukemi is fine and I don’t have this bruise on the other foot. Thanks!

We learned Nage no kata today and had to do the classical version of kata guruma and tsurikomi goshi. As a tall person it was hard for me to perform these techniques on uke who is shorter than me. Any advice for tall people on how to master these two techniques?

Hi All., Just a quick question. Who do you think is more strict in their Kata for Shodan Kodokan of IJF. I just had a bit of a discussion earlier today and we were about split on who looks at the finer points for 1st dan with more scrutiny.

Cheers,

I have had a few people tell me that The Nage No Kata tells a “story”. What they mean is that it’s a progression of a fight. For instance in the first set, Uke walks into Uki Otoshi and learns his lesson. So next he’s not going to get so close so he does a strike which is defended with Seoi Nage (and that’s all I can remember).

I’ve got a few books on Kata but none have this in them. Anyone heard this and have a source?

My club has just moved to British judo and as a result I’ve now got to learn katas. The only problem is, I’m not really sold on them. Admittedly I have done the throwing ones yet and am hoping they’re more useful. It all seems too formal to be completely useful and I wondered what others thoughts on them are.

I recently just got my green belt and have been thinking about doing kata since I got my orange belt. My sensei and a couple of the higher belts in my home club say that the kata is fun but also good to learn. I think I might be in a good position to learn the Kata’s considering I have the kata expert in the state just 1 town away and one of the girls in my club was ranked 4th in the state back when she was in high school. So should I learn the kata’s or wait till I’m a purple or brown belt.

I’m hoping to incorporate these concepts into my ukemi and Randori so if anyone could explain it or send videos that help understand I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

I know there are 5 sets to complete in the kata for shodan, but what exactly are the techniques and where can I find them demonstrated (other than youtube), to get an idea of how to complete it?

As an old school Judoka I use Kiai both in Randori and tournaments. I just "roar" my lungs out when throwing when I need that extra push. In Kime No Kata both Uke and Tori Kiai all the time. However, in all videos of Kime No Kata both just shout "Aai!". To me this is is not Kiai at all. Is the Kiai of Kime No Kata defined, or can it be freely done?

On Wednesday, August 9th, 2023, I took my final test to receive a Judo black belt from Kodokan.

After completing the Men's Beginner School at Kodokan, passing technical examinations, and competing in school shiai, I had one more test to get my black belt. I had to perform the first 3 sets of the Nage no Kata as Tori and Uke to become Shodan. I definitely need more practice in being uke!

I still can’t wear a black belt, need to wait for papers to process (it is Japan after all). That typically takes 2-3 weeks.

I hope you enjoy the video 😊

The only things I can’t get right are the rolls when being the uke in uki otoshi and lifting correctly in kata guruma (uke always ends up too far on my back)

On my way to first Dan ✊, I am trying to understand nage no kata, not just memorize it.

Is there a general logic for when does uke stand up on katas 4 and 5, and when does uke stay on the ground?