As soon as the shomen strike comes down, meet it at his elbow using your te-no-ko. Don’t cut his arm down yet. In the same motion as you are meeting his elbow, slide in and slightly beside him (irimi) and then step with your back leg to be completely behind and very close to him. You should even be out of his peripheral view. Just as you are behind him with some rotational momentum remaining, cut down on his arm at his elbow and capture his head into your shoulder. As you are behind Uke, coordination is important. One hand should be on his neck and the other hand should be on top of his elbow. All in one motion, push down on his neck 50%, cut down on his elbow 50%, and step back deeply so the whole effort helps Uke spin around and follow you back.

After experiments with just cutting down, or just pulling on the neck or shoulder, reports from Ukes are that it feels nicer and smoother with the coordination as above.

The main movement learned was that as you intercept the downward strike, you are to be in motion to get behind Uke already. You then cut down on his arm at the point when the distance needed to capture his head is the least. This is when you are almost fully behind him and you can snare his head on the way.

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