第三教 · Dai Sankyo

Ashi Guruma 足車

Leg Wheel

Ashi Guruma (Leg Wheel), sumi-e ink drawing of the judo throw
The throw
Flipping over the low chain fence: the everyday analogy for Ashi Guruma
Flipping over the low chain fence

Mechanic

Tori turns in and holds an extended leg as a rigid horizontal bar across the front of uke's knees, then pulls uke's upper body forward and around. Uke's legs stop at the bar while their body keeps traveling, so they wheel around the leg like a wheel around an axle.

Analogy

A kid sprints across a park and doesn't see the knee-high chain slung between two posts. The chain stops their shins cold, their upper body keeps going, and they somersault clean over it, feet flying up over their head.

Why it maps

The taut chain is tori's extended leg, a fixed bar at knee height, and the runner's own momentum is tori's pull: body rotates over the bar because the legs are stopped and the torso isn't.