Sankaku-Jime (Triangle)

I was just flicking through one of my older Judo books, looking for some inspiration for training, and came upon a rather detailed description of triangles. Three variations were described being the standard Sankaku-jime, ushiro-sankaku-jime and yoko-sankaku-jime.

I forgot what an awesome newaza book this was "Gappling Techniques, Dynamic Judo" by Kazuzo Kudo 9th Dan, published in 1967.

LOL at chokemasta!

Come on, everybody knows that all the top Judo guys went to Brazil to learn the various forms of sankaku waza.

Ben R.

Then that guy that wrote the book must have been one of them Japanese settlers in Brazil that trained with Helio and brought the technique back to Japan. :P

Seriously though, from what i had read, one of Rolls Gracie's students saw the triangle in a Judo book and went to class and caught Rolls with it (or someone else in the class) because the old bjj way to pass the guard was to leave one arm in while passing. Ever since the triangle was incorporated into BJJ and it forced a change in the way the guard was passed.

that book is amazing.

butterfly guard is shown w/ sweeps and all kinds of great stuff..

According to Jacare Cavalcanti, "There was a guy who trained at Roll's academy, Sergio Dorileo, nicknamed 'Sucuri' (python), who liked to research techniques from old judo and wrestling books he could find. One day he came into the academy and said, "Hey, Rolls, pass my guard; check this out, man." When Rolls went to pass, Sucuri caught him in the triangle. Then he showed everyone what he had learned from some old judo book and since then everyone has known the triangle." Martial Arts Illustated magazine, August 1999.

So "Konde Koma" never taught Carlos Gracie the triangle? Hard to believe.

Maybe Konde Koma didn't use sankaku?

Ben R.

This is probably gonna be taken the wrong way, but why does it seem to be triangle practice for me every time I go to Judo?

What I mean is why is a hugely important submission neglected in Judo to the point where guard passing has progressed back to the "reach between their legs" guard pass that BJJ had to drop?

I found a tape of techniques from the danzan ryu school in Hawaii filmed just after the war I think. The demonstrate sankaku from the guard and finish it by kicking the half conscious guy right in the collar bone across the room.

id like to get my hands on that tape.

I don't have the Dynamic Judo set but I have the Judo in Action set by Kudo which I think is supposed to be a shortened version of Dynamic Judo.

For anyone that has both sets, is there much of a difference?

"What I mean is why is a hugely important submission neglected in Judo to the point where guard passing has progressed back to the "reach between their legs" guard pass that BJJ had to drop?"

I'm not sure why the triangle from guard "disappeared" from modern Judo. One reason is the rules: the guy you are triangling only has to lift you a fraction of an inch off the mat to get a matte' and standup. I know there are ways to stop that, but a fraction of an inch of lift doesn't take much time or technique. So the technique lacked utility (because of the rules), and it fell into disuse (if indeed it was ever very common).

Sankaku techniques in general were once considered to be very "dangerous", and I think that at one point they were illegal in shiai [in the USA at least] (there is an old article in Black Belt magazine about that I have seen more than once on the Internet). If this is true, then they weren't practiced in the US for a while.

Sankaku made a big comeback with the front sankaku, or sankaku roll/turnover attack against the turtle. As I recall, it hit the scene again in the late 70s or early 80s. I'm not sure who reintroduced it, but wouldn't be surprised if it were the old Soviet Union or Eastern Bloc countries. For a while in the US, I won a LOT of matches using it in regional and state events because nobody knew what it was, as did many others who had access to higher level coaches and competitors.

Another reason is the general decline in the technical knowledge and ability in (all I can speak for) American Judo, especially ne waza. Many people were promoted with minimal ne waza skilss, became higher ranking teachers themselves, and thus passed on their lack of ne waza knowledge.

Ben R.

Thanks Ben.

Triangle and triangle variations are in Kyuzo Mifune's book the Cannon of Judo as well as in a Judo grappling book written by E.J Harrison which was based on a Jappanese Judo grappling book translated by Harrison written by Oda (who, according to Harrison, was the foremost Japanese authority on groundfighting in Japan during the early 1900s).

Since both Mifune and Oda were very old-school Judokas who were around during Maeda's era it is safe Maeda probably knew some of those triangle techniques.

In Kashiwazaki's book Tomoe Nage published by Ippon books 1989, he shows a tome nage into a triangle choke sequence which he states came from a 1930s film clip of Mifune. Kashiwazaki believe Mifune got this technique from one of the older Jujutsu schools.

One thing to note. According to Oswaldo Alves, a very very old school bjj instructor/fighter who also was a Judoka and trained in Japan with Kimura and Isao Okano, he introduced to Bjj alot techniques as well as conditioning drills from Judo.

He stated, and this is on record in both a interview on the www.onthemat.com websight and the latest issue of Grapplers Magazine, he introduced to Rolls and Bjj side control techniques he learned from Kimura while in Japan. He said Bjj was weak in techniques from the side control and this weakness was strengthen when he, Oswaldo Alves, introduce side control techniques from Kimura to the Bjj. Owsaldo Alves also stated that conditioning drills and techniques he used and learned in Japan were taught by him to Rolls Gracie who inturn introduced them to Bjj.

So Bjj does have a very contemporary Judo influence. It is also interesting to note that I have found about 4 Bjj instructors, some with alot of years of training, who trained directly with Isao Okano. They are Joe Moreira, Edson Carvalho, Ricardo Murgel, Oswaldo Alves (who is probably the most well known and respect of all of them). It seems Isao Okano has a indirect influence on the development of Bjj.

"but why does it seem to be triangle practice for me every time I go to Judo?"

it's been said many times by many people. sadly there was a generation or two of judoka that aren't newaza savy as a collective.

add to this the fact that the triangle was illegal for a time period = same with turtling. if the rules allow or disallow it, people are going to modify their game to reflect this.

"So Bjj does have a very contemporary Judo influence. It is also interesting to note that I have found about 4 Bjj instructors, some with alot of years of training, who trained directly with Isao Okano. They are Joe Moreira, Edson Carvalho, Ricardo Murgel, Oswaldo Alves (who is probably the most well known and respect of all of them). It seems Isao Okano has a indirect influence on the development of Bjj."

I know a former international competitor in judo who is a Brazilian. He lived for about a year in Japan and trained with Okano's class. It sounds like Mr. Okano has a good relationship with Brazilians.

kfranco,

Yeah, I'm finding out that alot of Brazilian seemed to have been connected with Isao Okano.

I have that book. It is allways great to find something new in books that you think you have red.

Okano has a good relationship with just about everybody.

One of my favourite moves was the Kudo inspired
Ushiro-Sankaku-Jime.