How To Perform Daki Wakare From Standing & Newaza

Daki wakare is a judo throw usually performed from standing, but can also be done from the top of turtle position. Whilst the throw will not score you any points from turtle in modern-day judo rules, it is also quite common to see this technique in wrestling, where it is commonly referred to as a gut wrench. It will score points in judo freestyle rulesets, although these competitions are very rare.

The daki wakare means high separation and is classified as a side sacrifice throw. All throws in judo in which you are throwing your own body weight to the floor first are classified as sutemi-waza. With that being said, even though the daki wakare is a sacrifice throw, it is one of the safest sacrifice throws there is. Its main risk comes from the turtle position where it is more difficult to throw the dead weight of the uke.

Due to the setup of the daki wakare, it is almost exclusively a counter throw under current judo rules. There will not be a situation where an opponent turns their back unless they are trying some kind of hip throw or a technique similar to uchi mata. However, daki wakare is still a popular throw in other grappling sports such as sambo, BJJ, and wrestling, where practitioners will often use arm drags to get to the back of the opponent. Strong grips and a more resolute stand up means this does not happen in judo.

Entry To Daki Wakare

From a standing position, there is pretty much only a single entry to daki wakare. This entry is when your opponent makes a big mistake. Perhaps the most common entry of all is from a failed uchi mata. If the hips of the opponent are too high and their leg is too shallow, they will really have a hard time throwing you.

If you are stuck in a semi uchi mata position for too long, sooner or later you will be able to duck under your opponent’s collar grip and then be fully in control of their back.

There are also other setups from other throws, but all of them require the opponent to spend too much time with their back turned towards you. In other grappling formats such as sambo and BJJ, you will often see a back entry technique to daki wakare from a standard arm drag.

How to throw using the Daki Wakare

The idea behind the daki wakare from standing is the over adjustment your opponent will make to stop themselves from being thrown. When failing an uchi mata, if the opponent is savy, they will immediately stop themselves from being exposed to a throw such a ura nage. By doing this the opponent will immediately place their hands on the floor to sprawl their weight forwards.

Whilst this is an optimal defense against almost all rear hip throws, it does open up a perfect entry to the daki wakare. Due to the fact that the opponent’s weight is so spread and there is a big space between their knees and elbows. This creates an ideal entry point to the throw.

To maintain control, it is common practice to use a double collar grip when grabbing the opponent from behind. As the opponent is bent over, you may need to lift them a little from the floor so they don’t completely collapse. The idea is not to deadlift the opponent but to pop them up a little.

From this point, you must pick a side and sidestep to it. There should be plenty of space for you to throw your nearside leg under the body of the adversary, whilst throwing your own weight to the ground. As you are now in full control of your opponent’s body, you must perform a gator style roll underneath them and fling them to the other side of your body.

It must be noted that you should not let go of your opponent’s collars until you have fully secured the top position and want to work for a submission.

Attacking the Daki Wakare From Turtle

To attempt a daki wakare, you must have some form of control over the upper body of the opponent. Most commonly, this is done by getting a near side collar grip. Your spare hand must reach around the back of the opponent and either control the top of their pants by the hip or by gripping the belt in a similar position.

As soon as you feel there is a big enough gap for your leg or knee to enter, you must immediately pop up to your feet. Whilst this position is not very strong for you, the idea is not to remain on your feet for any amount of time. The technique should be executed fast enough so that the opponent does not have time to start blocking and grabbing at your legs.

From this position, you must slide your leg or knee far underneath the opponent so that you are directly underneath their center of gravity. At this point, it should be exceptionally easy to bring the opponent over the top of your own body and into a side mount position. Even if your opponent is significantly heavier than yourself, the fact you are underneath them should be easily enough to make up for even a 25kg difference.

Defending Daki Wakare From Turtle

The turtle is an inherently defensive position. Your attack options are severely limited whilst you’re under constant pressure. For your opponent to hit a daki wakare, they need to be underneath your center of gravity enough to throw you.

If you are able to keep your elbows and knees very compact and offer no gaps for your opponent’s limbs, they simply will not be able to throw you. If you think of a large stone, you will never try and pick it up from the top, you would always go underneath it and lift it upwards. When the opponent cannot get underneath you, they will not be able to throw you in any direction.

This does not mean that your turtle is invincible, it does however mean you will be able to efficiently defend against being thrown.

Daki Wakare Outisde Of Judo

Stand Up

The daki wakare is a reasonably common throw in other forms of grappling. It is often used in conjunction with tani otoshi and ura nage. This way with 3 or 4 possible throws from the back position, the opponent simply cannot defend all of them. If one of your throw setups fails, you can simply keep chaining all of the entries together until something sticks.

Daki wakare scores from pretty much every grappling sport unless it is a submission only format. The only reason you will not see this throw quite as often as others such as ura nage or jumping on the back for a strangle is that it is a sacrifice throw. Modern-day grapplers seldom use sacrifice techniques because of their inherent risk when there are other options available.

MMA

In MMA, obviously there are no grips as the gi is absent. However, a no gi alternative can be used instead. This is often referred to as the gut wrench in wrestling which has similar mechanics. This means grabbing around the waist and hips as opposed to grabbing the gi. In MMA, the implications of throwing the opponent to the floor have huge consequences. Statistically, the fighter who completes the most takedowns is most likely to win the fight.

Therefore, it’s fair to say that the daki wakare is a very useful throw to use in MMA as it can lead to a fight-winning sequence. For instance, the UFC fighter Karo Parisyan would often use similar throws to defeat his opponents as he was a skilled Judoka.

Turtle

Daki wakare outside of judo varies from sport to sport. In wrestling for example, athletes often use the gut-wrench throw to score points when the opponent is trying to stay flat on the mat.

Judo, BJJ, and sambo all have the similarity of daki wakare rarely being seen from the ground position. There are a few reasons why this is the case and they are highly related to one another.

In judo, when the opponent turtles your main priority is to submit the opponent, you will get 0 points for daki wakare. For BJJ, whilst you would get points for throwing the opponent into side mount. If the opponent is able to be thrown into side mount, their turtle is open enough to be attacked or get a back mount. The same can be said for sambo. If you are able to get onto the opponent’s back and secure the position for a strangle, there is really no reason to throw them over your body into an inferior position.

Until we see a rule change in judo, BJJ, or sambo, the daki wakare will not be a common technique at all from turtle.

What does Daki Wakare mean in English?

Unlike certain other martial arts, Judo’s terminology has remained Japanese. In the case of this particular throw, the term Daki Wakare loosely translates to ‘high separation’ in English. This makes sense too, as it’s quite literal in terms of lifting the opponent high and then separating your body from theirs as you complete the throw. It can also mean ‘rear trunk turnover’ which means you’re lifting the roots of the trunk out of the ground. In this case, it would mean the opponent’s feet are the roots that are separated from the floor.