Blue belt opens judo's third front. After two grades of throws and holds, the 22 techniques here introduce shime waza - the strangles - alongside the spectacular big-amplitude throws: kata guruma, the shoulder wheel, and tomoe nage, the circular sacrifice throw.
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Blue Belt Judo Techniques and Syllabus
Shime waza: the strangle techniques
The strangle family arrives as a set at blue belt: nami juji jime, gyaku juji jime and kata juji jime - the three cross strangles distinguished by grip - plus okuri eri jime, the sliding collar, and koshi jime, the hip-assisted strangle. As with armlocks, British junior rules restrict their application, and the register marks the demonstration standard for each. Examiners grade strangles almost entirely on control and release discipline.
Kaeshi waza - the formal counter techniques - also become a graded category of their own, with two examined examples, and the kumi kata entries address gripping strategy against left- and right-handed opponents for the first time.
The big throws, and honest sacrifice
Kata guruma asks for the deepest entry in the syllabus so far - dropping under a moving partner to wheel them across the shoulders. Tomoe nage and uki waza introduce sutemi waza, the sacrifice throws, where the thrower deliberately goes to the mat to power the technique. The graded fault in every sacrifice throw is the same: sitting down and hoping. The throw must be committed to the partner's balance break before the thrower's back touches the mat.
Rounding out the register are the practical mid-grade throws that win junior contests - tani otoshi, morote gari, koshi guruma - and the turnover-to-strangle links that make the new shime waza usable from groundwork.
What blue belt gradings actually examine
Blue belt gradings shift weight from demonstration to application. Examiners still sample the register - typically ten to twelve of the 22 entries - but the sampled techniques are increasingly asked for against movement: a kata guruma entry on a partner circling away, a strangle applied from a turnover the candidate had to earn. The kaeshi waza pair is almost always examined, because counters cannot be faked against an honest attack.
Preparation-wise, the grade rewards randori hours more than any before it. The strangle mechanics and the sacrifice-throw commitment both need the kind of resisting practice that only sparring supplies, and most British clubs expect a blue belt candidate to be a regular on the randori mat rather than a syllabus specialist. The register order above doubles as a training sequence: the groundwork links early, the big-amplitude throws once the breakfalls of both partners are equal to them.
Common questions
At what age can strangles be practised in British judo?
Junior competition rules restrict shime waza, and clubs typically introduce controlled strangle practice in the mid-teens under direct supervision. At blue belt gradings below that age, examiners substitute additional groundwork or ask for the technique to be described rather than applied.
What counts as a sacrifice throw?
Sutemi waza are throws where the thrower deliberately falls to generate power - backwards (ma sutemi waza) as in tomoe nage, or sideways (yoko sutemi waza) as in uki waza and yoko guruma. They are graded on commitment and control, never on landing impact.
Is kata guruma still legal in competition?
Modern IJF rules heavily restrict leg grabs, which removed the classical kata guruma pickup from most competition. It remains on grading syllabuses because the entry mechanics and shoulder control transfer to legal variations.
How should kumi kata be practised for this grade?
Against both stances. The two register entries - against right-handed and against left-handed judoka - are examined as live gripping sequences, so the practical preparation is randori time with partners of both stances, not static grip drills alone.