Neck circle
The neck circle takedown is Goshin-Jutsu’s variant of aikidō’s kaiten-nage (literally: “rotary throw”). Unlike kaiten-nage, which launches your opponents into dive rolls, the neck circle takedown causes the opponent to fall down at your feet, allowing for easy follow-ups. Neck circle takedowns are appropriate for intermediate students. While neck circle takedowns fairly simple, novice students should focus on refining the basics.
Neck circle takedowns require the opponent to bend forward at the waist, while you are grabbing their wrist. While this may sound contrived, this doubled-over position is the end point of arm levers, and can be easily replicated by attacking the abdomen or groin of an opponent who has grabbed your wrist.
Place your free hand on the back of the opponent’s neck to prevent them from standing up straight. Immediately curl your middle finger to place pressure on the opponent’s C2 nerve. While this may cause pain in some individuals, the more valuable response is the opponent’s reflexive action to turn their head away in order to alleviate the pressure. While nerve techniques cannot be relied upon to stop opponents for pain-compliance, they can be reliably used to turn an opponent’s head, which can enhance mechanical-compliance.
[Photo of where and how to push for C2 nerve depression]
Then, simply push the opponent’s head into their own armpit. Wherever the head goes, the body follows. This sends the opponent spiraling downward, until they land in a side breakfall. From here, you can follow up with a shovel pin and apply stomp kicks or transition to jiu-jitsu, as-needed.
[Neck circle throw from the front and side]
The neck circle takedown is one of the gentler takedown techniques, which is extremely useful in situations when the use of violence is inappropriate.
