Green belt is a shorter register - 16 techniques - but the hardest step so far, because almost everything on it is a timing throw. Uchi mata, harai goshi and hane goshi headline the grade: the three great sweeping throws where the leg does the finishing work the hips have set up.
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Green Belt Judo Techniques and Syllabus
Techniques in this grade
1 entriesThe sweeping throws and why they wait until green
Uchi mata, harai goshi and hane goshi all share one demand: the partner must already be moving, and moving where you sent them. That is why they wait until green belt - the syllabus needs two grades of kuzushi practice behind them before the sweeping leg has anything honest to sweep. The register entries for all three spend as much time on the entry step as on the throw itself, because every recurring fault at this grade lives in the entry.
Alongside them sit the precision timing throws: okuri ashi barai, the double-foot sweep against sideways movement, and sasae tsurikomi ashi, the propping ankle block. Both are graded on whether the partner's feet were genuinely caught in motion.
Joint controls and the first armlocks
Groundwork at green belt introduces kansetsu waza - the armlocks. Ude gatame, hiza gatame and waki gatame appear in their controlled, demonstration forms. British clubs restrict armlock practice by age, and the register notes where junior syllabuses substitute a turnover or hold instead. The graded standard is control: the lock applied slowly, the partner tapping early, the release immediate.
The combination work from orange belt continues with ko uchi gake pairings and the first counters against the new sweeping throws - tani otoshi against harai goshi being the classic examiner request at this grade.
Training the timing throws safely
The sweeping throws bring the biggest landings so far, and clubs manage that with progression rather than caution: uchi mata and harai goshi are drilled first onto crash mats, then onto the open mat only when the partner's breakfall is trusted. Sensible drilling alternates roles every few repetitions - the partner's falling practice is as much a part of green belt as the thrower's sweep.
For the grading itself, the register's entry-first emphasis pays off directly. Examiners at this grade routinely stop a candidate mid-demonstration and ask for the entry step alone, without the throw, to see whether the pivot and balance break exist independently of momentum. A candidate who can show the entry slowly, on both sides, has answered the question the grade is really asking.
Common questions
Why does green belt have fewer techniques than earlier grades?
Because each one takes longer. The sweeping throws are timing techniques that need weeks of moving-partner practice each, and the armlocks demand supervised, controlled drilling. Sixteen entries at green belt is more training time than twenty-one at orange.
What is the difference between uchi mata, harai goshi and hane goshi?
All three sweep the partner over a turned-in hip. Uchi mata sweeps between the legs against the inner thigh, harai goshi sweeps outside across the front of the thigh, and hane goshi lifts with a bent, springing leg. Which one appears depends on where the partner's weight and feet are.
Are armlocks legal for juniors in British judo?
Junior competition rules restrict armlocks, and most clubs teach them at green belt only as controlled demonstrations for grading purposes. The register notes the common junior substitutions belt by belt.
What do examiners fail most often at green belt gradings?
Entries, not throws. An uchi mata attempted with square hips or a harai goshi swept before the partner moves both read as memorised shapes rather than working techniques, and examiners mark accordingly.