Kendō Tsuba-zeriai Harai Tsurikomi Ashi-like Sweep

In this sequence, both opponents are in Tsuba-zeriai, a close bind with Tsuba-on-Tsuba contact (handguard against handguard). Tanaka advances with his right foot while his left lifts, and Maeda executes a single, continuous sweep that first brushes the left (rear) foot and then the right (front) calf, popping both feet momentarily airborne; the rear foot only barely touches down before being lifted again, leaving Tanaka completely unbalanced. Crucially, Maeda is not merely sweeping the feet; he controls Tanaka’s upper body with the shinai, pressing the head and chest in the opposite direction of the sweep, creating a wheeling mechanism reminiscent of Kodokan Judō’s Harai Tsurikomi Ashi, in which the hands and body pull one way while the feet are swept the other. That opposite-direction coordination — timing the sweep as the foot moves and using the shinai to transfer and redirect Tanaka’s center of gravity — amplifies the unbalance, and when Tanaka falls Maeda finishes with a head strike to score.