Tokui waza is your favourite or best technique, the throw or ground technique you can land on most people most of the time. Judoinfo.com lists it as "favorite or best technique". Every judoka with a few years on the mat has one, and most of their randori is built around it.
- Japanese name: tokui waza, "favorite or best technique".
- In judo: competitors usually have one tokui waza to each side, or one throw plus the combinations that lead into it.
- In BJJ: the same idea is called your A game, the position and the finish you steer every roll towards.
Why does one technique matter more than ten?
The Kodokan recognises one hundred techniques. Nobody uses them all. A judoka with a tokui waza has one throw where every phase, the balance break, the entry and the finish, has been repeated enough to be automatic, and a web of grips and combinations that lead the opponent into it. Judoinfo.com lists renraku waza, combination techniques, and kaeshi waza, counter techniques, and both exist to serve the favourite throw.
Jigoro Kano wrote that the most important object in judo training is to develop speed and free movement of the body. A tokui waza is where that speed shows up first, because it is the technique your body knows without thinking.
How do you find and build yours?
- Notice what already works. Over a month of randori, note which throw scores most, even by accident. That is usually the candidate.
- Check the fit with your body and your grip. Taller players lean towards uchi mata and harai goshi; shorter players towards seoi nage and the leg attacks.
- Drill it more than everything else combined. Uchi-komi every session, nagekomi every week.
- Build two combinations into it: one throw that sets it up when the opponent steps back, one when they step in.
- Learn its counters, so you know what the opponent will try and how to adjust.
- Keep a second technique for the other side or the other direction, so you are never fully predictable.
The most common mistake is changing your favourite throw every few months because a new one looked good. A tokui waza takes years. Adults who start judo late often find it faster than they expect, as Starting Judo as an Adult describes, because they commit to one throw early.
If someone in your life has a tokui waza, they know it, and so does everyone they train with. Our judo gifts collection has throw-themed shirts and patches.
What does the IJF call a favourite technique?
The IJF Sport and Organisation Rules list tokui-waza in their official terminology and translate it as "favourite technique".
Sources
- Judoinfo.com lists it, JudoInfo
- Kodokan recognises one hundred techniques, Kodokan Judo Institute
- Jigoro Kano wrote, JudoInfo
- IJF Sport and Organisation Rules, International Judo Federation
Related terms
Entry and execution (tsukuri / kake), Drilling (uchi-komi), Rolling / sparring (randori), Uchi mata (inner thigh throw), Seoi nage (shoulder throw).