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Ashi

足

Japanese for leg or foot. It is the root of ashi-waza (foot and leg throws in judo), ashi sabaki (footwork) and ashi garami.

Quick Facts

Term typeAnatomy, target levels and striking surfaces
LanguageJapanese
Formnoun
Pronunciation[ah-shee]
Alternative Namesleg, foot
Readings and romanizations
Reading (kana)あし
Hepburn romanizationashi

Word breakdown

足ashileg, foot

Definition

Ashi (足) means leg and foot. The character 脚 is read the same way and refers more to the whole leg. The word is the root of many terms. In judo, ashi-waza are a group of throws in which the legs do the main work, for example the sweep de ashi barai. Ashi sabaki is footwork when moving. Ashi garami is a leg lock that belongs to the judo kansetsu-waza and is also known from Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Relations to other terms

Paired with

Te手

Hand in Japanese. As a word element it is in the name karate and in terms such as te-waza or tegatana. In Okinawa it was also the name of the local martial art.

See also

Ashi-waza足技

The largest group of judo throws: throws, foot sweeps and leg reaps. The Kodokan lists 21 techniques in it, from de-ashi-harai to uchi-mata.

Hiza膝

Japanese for knee. As a striking surface it appears in the knee strike hiza geri, as the point of the block in the judo throw hiza guruma.

Techniques

Ashi Garami · 足緘

Associated Martial Arts

Judo