Tripod Sweep

A sweep from open guard where the foot on the hip and sleeve control are used to off-balance.

A foundational open-guard sweep against a standing opponent. Tori places one foot on uke's hip and uses the other hand to grip uke's opposite-side ankle (or pant cuff in gi). On execution, tori extends the foot on the hip to push uke backward while simultaneously pulling the gripped ankle forward — uke loses their base and falls straight back. The name refers to uke's structure: two feet plus the post they'd normally use to step back form a tripod, and removing one point collapses them.

Mechanically the tripod is the simplest member of the standing-opponent sweep family: it works on push-pull off-balance with no inversion, sit-up, or scramble required. It's typically the first sweep taught against a standing opponent and forms the foundation for understanding lumberjack and tomahawk mechanics.