Kani Basami
Takedown
Also known as:
Scissor Takedown
Flying Scissors
Kani Basami (scissor takedown) is a flying leg entanglement entry where the attacker jumps and scissors their legs around the opponent's lead leg, using rotational momentum to sweep them to the ground. It is used as a dynamic entry to immediately establish cross ashi garami (outside leg entanglement) upon landing.
Quick Reference
Key principles
- · Your body weight and rotational momentum do the work—you cut behind the knee with one leg while driving across the hip/thigh with the other like a scissor.
- · Angle your entry slightly offline to the opponent's lead leg side to reduce their ability to sprawl or stuff the attempt.
- · Grip control on the upper body (lapel/collar in gi, collar tie or arm drag in no-gi) breaks their posture and prevents them from stepping away.
- · Commit fully to the rotation; half-committed attempts leave you grounded without leg control.
- · Immediately lock your legs into cross ashi garami configuration as you land to prevent the opponent from escaping the entanglement.
Execution
- 1 Establish an upper body grip (collar/lapel or collar tie) and identify the opponent's lead leg as your target.
- 2 Jump laterally, inserting your inside leg (calf/hamstring) behind the opponent's lead knee while your outside leg drives across their far hip/thigh.
- 3 Scissor your legs together with force as your body rotates, using your weight and grip to topple them laterally over your inside leg.
- 4 As both of you hit the ground, immediately triangle or cross your legs around their trapped leg to secure cross ashi garami.
- 5 Control their trapped foot to your chest and begin attacking the lower leg submission.
Common mistakes
- × Cutting both legs at the same level (both at the knee) instead of splitting high-low (hip and knee), which produces no scissoring force and fails to topple the opponent.
- × Jumping directly in front of the opponent rather than at an angle, which risks landing on the knee joint dangerously and allows them to simply step over you.
- × Failing to maintain upper body grip throughout the entry, causing the opponent to separate and leave you on the ground without any leg entanglement.
Where it lands
The position you end up in.
