Ura-mawashi-geri 裏回し蹴り
Reverse roundhouse kick, hook kick
The technique, and its job.
A circular kick travelling from inside to outside — the mirror of mawashi-geri — hooking back to strike with the heel or the sole. It arrives from the side an opponent guarding against a roundhouse is not covering.
Application. A counter or a second technique to the head, arriving on the side a roundhouse guard leaves open.
Mechanics
What each part of the body does, in the order it does it.
- Chamber
- The knee lifts, the leg extending past the target before hooking back.
- Supporting foot
- Pivots strongly, as for mawashi-geri.
- Hips
- Rotate in the opposite direction to a roundhouse.
- Trajectory
- Outward past the target, then hooking sharply back inward.
- Extension
- The leg straightens on the way out and the hook is made by the hip and the knee together.
- Target
- Side or back of the head, ribs.
- Contact surface
- The heel, or the sole of the foot.
- Retraction
- Fold back to the chamber and recover the guard immediately.
- Balance
- Demanding. The supporting leg must be strong and the torso controlled.
- Guard
- Both hands up; the recovery is the vulnerable moment.
What survives when the name is forgotten.
- It works because it comes from the unexpected side. Thrown predictably, it is simply slow.
- Deception first, power second — this is not a heavy kick and does not need to be.
Common errors, and how to fix them.
Naming a fault teaches nobody. Each one below carries why it happens and what corrects it.
Why it happens. Not engaging the knee on the return.
The fix. Kick past a pad and hook back onto it deliberately.
Why it happens. Over-rotating, and landing with the weight already past the supporting foot.
The fix. Build up slowly with the hand on a wall for support at first.
Drills
- Pad work with the pad held at the side of the head so the hook is required to land at all.
Where it appears.
Kihon is the vocabulary, kata is the literature, kumite is the conversation. Every link below was written down deliberately; none of it was inferred from a name matching.
- Attacking in kumite Attack selection and delivery
- Combination attack Combination technique
- Mae-geri Front kick
- Yoko-geri keage Side snap kick
- Yoko-geri kekomi Side thrust kick
- Mawashi-geri Roundhouse kick
- Ushiro-geri Back kick
- Mikazuki-geri Crescent kick
- Fumikomi Stamping kick
The Japanese, explained.
- Ura-mawashi-geri 裏回し蹴り
- Reverse roundhouse kick. A circular kick from inside to outside, hooking back to strike with the heel or sole.
- Kakato 踵
- Heel. The heel, used in back kicks, hook kicks and stamping techniques.
Video
No recording in the register is tagged to Ura-mawashi-geri. MMAKF has not filmed this technique, and the discovery pass did not find an external recording specific enough to attribute to it without guessing.
Nothing is shown here rather than a search link dressed up as a demonstration. What has been found, checked and registered is listed in full on the source register.
The video source register →