How to do the Kata Guruma – the Judo Fireman’s Carry throw

The Kata Guruma is a Judo move that is also known as the Fireman’s carry throw. Also referred to as the shoulder wheel, this relies on resting the opponent on your shoulders whilst holding an arm and leg. The reason for this nickname is your body acts like a wheel whereby you lift the opponent to the peak of the wheel, then you drop them down again. Once off the ground, you can successfully slam the opponent over the side of your head. This move is also popular in college wrestling under the name Fireman’s carry.

The reason for this is that it mimics that of a Fireman’s carry which has similar mechanics. Due to the nature of the throw, it has a high percentage of achieving an Ippon by landing the opponent on their back. Below we shall analyze how to pull off the Kata Guruma and other notes about the technique.

Setting up the Kata Guruma

To begin the throw, you want to start with typical Judo grips. This means one hand on the lapel, and your other hand on the opposite sleeve. By doing this, you can move the arm via the sleeve. This means you can dictate the movement of the opponent which is important later on. Once these grips are created, you want to move into the inside space.

Like always in Judo, it’s good to get close to your opponent when entering a move, to stop them from escaping by making distance. Once inside, you want to drag the arm away from their body with the sleeve grip. From here, you should shoot your head under this arm and rest it next to their hip. After this, you can then use your other arm to underhook the same side leg. This means, if you grab the left arm’s sleeve, you want to grab the left leg too. To do this, you should remove the lapel grip once inside and bring this grip under the other leg.

Finishing the Kata Guruma throw

To finish the throw, you then want to put your opponent on your shoulders. This is possible with the grips that were previously created. Basically, you want to grab the opponent by using the sleeve grip to put them on your shoulder. Then, you should use your leg grip to lift them onto your shoulders. There are two main ways to do this.

The first is the conventional Judo method which is to squat down to get under your opponent. From here, you should then stand with the opponent resting on your shoulders, similar to performing a squat in the gym. Due to balancing them on your shoulders, you should be able to take their weight.

However, this method can be a little risky. If their weight is rested on your back then you could injure your muscles by carrying such weight on your back, whereas your shoulders can naturally take more weight due to the bones and structure. Once standing, you can drop the opponent down to the floor. This is done by tilting them to the side of their head.

To do this, you should pull down with the sleeve grip, whilst pushing up with the leg grip. This makes sense as it will push them in the way of their head, towards the floor. To finish the throw, you should keep hold of the sleeve grip until the opponent has landed. If done with poor technique, you could drop them on their head, however if done with smooth technique, the opponent will land safely on their back or on the side of their body.

Alternate ways of finishing the Kata Guruma

Another way of finishing the throw is the wrestling method which is probably easier for the average person. Instead of standing with the opponent, you instead carry them whilst on your knees. The idea behind this is that you don’t have to perform such a rigorous lift by standing them up. As people already weigh a lot, the point is to instead carry their weight whilst kneeling and then perform the drop from there.

To finish the move, you do the same tilting motion that you would from standing, albeit from your knees. You’ve also guessed correctly, the Kata Guruma is also available without the gi. Typically, wrestlers will grab around the elbow instead of the sleeve material. This may be slightly more difficult compared to the gi as it lacks friction, but is nonetheless doable.

Is the Kata Guruma suitable for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

Whilst you may see this move accomplished in BJJ, it also has limitations due to the way BJJ is scored as a sport. There is a move in BJJ called the Crucifix which can be entered from the Kata Guruma. That is, the person being thrown has the possibility to land a Crucifix which can lead to submitting the person doing the throw. In Judo, if this were to happen, you could fall backward as the person doing the throw. This would be fine as the opponent would land flat on their back and create an Ippon. However, if this happened with a locked-in Crucifix in BJJ, then it could lead to problems.

In brief, the Crucifix is done by wrapping your legs around one arm and grabbing the other with your arms. You can then roll to the floor and hold the one arm with one hand and trap the other arm with your legs. From there you can attack armlocks with your legs, or chokes with your free hand, especially in the gi. Because of this, the Kata Guruma is riskier in BJJ. It is still done but requires more speed and precision as otherwise it can land you in trouble. However, there are certain variations that can be done to avoid the Crucifix if you are scared of its possibility.

Final Thoughts

The Kata Guruma is a good move that is available when ducking under the opponent from the front position. From there, you need to lift the opponent and tilt them to successfully finish. As mentioned, under certain rulesets it becomes less dominant, however from a strictly Judo point of view, it is a solid attack.

Another issue with the move is the reliance on strength. Be under no doubt that the Kata Guruma is a highly technical move that uses leverage over strength. However, it is also something that relies on strength more so than certain other Judo moves. For instance, an Ashi Waza can sweep the opponent without having to lift them onto your shoulders. Nonetheless, the Kata Guruma is a solid move when attacked properly and can strike fear into opponents whenever you get dominant grips.