Sode Dōri – Standing Elbow-on-Knee Hiji Kime Variation

Uke grabs Tori’s sleeve (Sode Dōri). Tori enters to the outside and wraps the grabbed arm over and around Uke’s arm from above. With his other arm, he makes contact with Uke’s free hand—palm to palm and forearm to forearm—and traces a forward arc, guiding Uke’s arm along a trajectory similar to Ikkyō. As Uke’s elbow rises to a vertical position pointing upward, Tori engages his upper body by slightly drawing his hips back so that his upper body advances while his hips retreat, creating kuzushi; he crosses Uke’s arms, blocking the upper arm (the one that did the Ikkyō-like arc), and simultaneously grabs the arm that initiated Sode Dōri, placing his forearm against Uke’s forearm. The movement, initially directed forward, continues in the same arc downward, bringing Uke down to one knee. Uke’s arm, the one Tori has just grabbed and which is positioned under the other, is extended and placed with the elbow onto Tori’s knee in an arm-lock configuration. The lock is reinforced by lowering the elbow of the arm that grips Uke’s arm—maintaining the forearm-to-forearm structure established earlier—and by advancing the knee beneath Uke’s elbow to tighten and complete the control.