Things I got from this video...
- I recall one of my teachers (who had actually laid hands on Okano) saying that he had a killer kouchigari that would either outright flatten you (like this), or else would put the fear and respect into you, thus setting up another action. In this case, the second action was morote seoinage.
- Okano's entry into the shoulder throw seems almost casual - no big deal - I'll just step over here and turn like this, and oh, by the way, you're thrown! Nothing about Okano's movement here sets off the other guy's danger sense.
- Okano started off several of his matches this year by skipping and hopping around the mat, as if setting the tone for the other player to mimic this action. Looks like Okano was drawing the other player into more vertical, bouncy motion through a mirror neuron trick.
- Once he accomplished whatever he was doing with the hopping and skipping, Okano settled into a completely different type of foot motion. Watch Okano's footwork during the steps leading up to the kouchigari. Okano knew where every footfall was going. He made no arbitrary steps - rather, he deliberately placed every foot. Matos, on the other hand (the other foot), was almost spastic, taking tentative steps and quickly reversing them. He was much less sure of where his feet were at any given time. His footwork was stuttering.
- Okano, in several of his matches this year, throws that superfast kouchigari. Watch his sweeping foot. He leaves it in place, like a bear trap, so there is no entry into kouchi. When the hapless opponent walks by the already-set foot, Okano pulls the trigger!
- Okano appears to have liked to finish throws squatting over the opponent, almost like ukigatame, instead of falling with the opponent. This seems to have been one of his main entries into groundwork.
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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com
