Doshu clearly steps in before Uke is fully off balance to do the energy redirection. Look at his back leg in this still below.1

Doshu redirecting Uke's energy

Note that Doshu does not enter with his outside leg, but slides it to the outside to make room for his inside leg to enter.

What if Tori instead shuffles in with his outside leg? See below.

Update: I now know that this is a signature step of the Yoshinkan ikkajo waza.

Outside leg first - sideways

Outside leg first - front view

K, A and I experimented and practiced with sutemi from this position. The result is that no matter how much you push on Uke‘s elbow or how high you raise Uke‘s wrist, unless Uke‘s shoulder is flat against the ground he can do a sutemiwaza against Tori in this position.

One would think that by twisting one’s hips to force Uke‘s elbow quite low as compared to his wrist, and by locking Uke‘s wrist at the hip you would have solid control of Uke. It turns out that is not a safe bet.

In fact, A points out that the sutemi described below is similar to a BJJ move designed to get out of this hold.

Kaeshi Sutemi Waza

Uke should straighten his outside leg (it is the bent leg in the stills above). As soon as he straightens his outside leg, he is going to fall. To fall on his own terms, Uke should then try to strike Tori in the groin with his outside arm. If Uke is committed, his torso and whole body will rotate toward Tori so he will not crash down, rather he will roll across his shoulders. Also, Uke‘s outside arm – now striking – will be in the way of Tori‘s back leg and minimize the impact of a kick from Tori‘s rear leg should it come.

Not only that, Uke will have pulled his grabbed-arm lower than Tori is holding because he will rotate his body for the sutemi. Both of his arms will then be free to continue his kaeshi waza.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGxgxRGDKbw [↩]