The kimura is a shoulder lock that attacks the opponent's shoulder by rotating the arm behind the back against the natural range of motion. It is named after Masahiko Kimura, the Japanese judoka who famously used the technique to break Helio Gracie's arm in their 1951 match in Rio de Janeiro. In Japanese it is called gyaku ude-garami, or reverse arm entanglement.
How it works (mechanics)
The kimura uses a figure-four grip. The attacker grips the opponent's wrist with one hand, threads the other arm under and over the opponent's upper arm, and then grips their own wrist with the second hand. This grip turns the attacker's two arms into a single rigid lever that can rotate the opponent's arm behind their back with enormous mechanical advantage.
The shoulder joint is a ball-and-socket, and the kimura attacks it by combining internal rotation with elevation. When the opponent's hand is driven behind their back and upward at the same time, the head of the humerus is pressed against the back of the shoulder capsule. The joint reaches its rotational limit long before the attacker reaches the limit of their own strength, which is why the kimura works on opponents far larger than the person applying it.
The critical detail is killing the opponent's posture and trapping their body so the shoulder cannot rotate to relieve the pressure. If the opponent can roll forward or sit up, the shoulder follows the body and the lock loses its torque. The kimura is therefore always paired with a controlling structure: a closed guard, a side control pin, a north-south position, or a leg over the head.
When to use it (setups)
The kimura is one of the most versatile submissions in jiu-jitsu because it can be attacked from almost every position. From closed guard it appears any time the opponent posts a hand on the mat. From side control it appears when the bottom person reaches for an underhook. From half guard, north-south, the back, and even from inside the opponent's guard, the same figure-four grip works.
It is also one of the most reliable control positions in grappling, often called "the kimura trap." Even when the submission itself is defended, the grip can be used to sweep, to take the back, to threaten the armbar, and to break down a turtled opponent. Modern grapplers like Marcelo Garcia and the Mendes brothers have built entire systems around the kimura grip as a control rather than as a finish.
Common errors
- Attempting the lock without first pinning the opponent's body, allowing them to roll forward and escape the rotation.
- Pulling the wrist away from the body instead of dragging it up the opponent's spine.
- Letting the figure-four grip break because the wrists are dry or sweaty; reset the grip rather than muscling a broken one.
- Sitting up too high during a guard kimura, which lets the opponent stack and pass.
Variations
The kimura works from closed guard, half guard, side control, north-south, mount, the back, turtle, and even standing in clinch range. The reverse kimura, the kimura from the saddle in leg-lock systems, and the modern "kimura trap" sweeping and back-taking system are all major variations. The americana, or ude-garami, is the mirror-image lock that rotates the arm in the opposite direction and is essentially a kimura reversed.
Who's known for it
Masahiko Kimura himself gave the technique its name in jiu-jitsu by defeating Helio Gracie with it. In modern competition, Dean Lister and Marcelo Garcia are both renowned for the kimura trap system. Roger Gracie used the technique to finish multiple high-level opponents from side control and mount. In MMA, Frank Mir's submission of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira remains one of the most famous kimura finishes in the sport's history.