YR Sports Lab
Few submissions in jiu-jitsu carry as much history in their name as the Kimura. Its grip is the most basic figure-four, taught in a white belt's very first class, yet its name comes from a 1951 match in Rio de Janeiro in which a man's arm was genuinely broken. This entry covers the story behind the Kimura, its step-by-step mechanics, the moments to attack it, its strengths and limits, the standard escapes, and how often it actually appears in modern competition.
1. Origins: A Submission Named After One Broken Arm
Masahiko Kimura (born 10 September 1917 in Kumamoto, Japan; died of lung cancer in 1993 at the age of 75) is widely regarded as one of the strongest judoka in the sport's history. At 18 (in 1935) he beat eight consecutive opponents at the Kodokan to become the youngest fifth dan (godan) on record; he won the All-Japan Judo Championships three years running from 1937 to 1939, and went essentially undefeated for more than a decade afterwards until retiring in 1950 to move into professional wrestling.
On 23 October 1951, Masahiko Kimura was invited to face Hélio Gracie, one of the founders of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in front of roughly 20,000 spectators, reportedly including the Brazilian president of the day, Getúlio Vargas. There was no official weigh-in and the exact weight gap is unknown, but Kimura is generally estimated to have outweighed his opponent by 10 to 15 kg. In the second round, Kimura first pinned Gracie with a hold-down, then applied a reversed ude-garami (entangled arm lock). He broke the arm, Gracie still refused to tap, and Kimura twisted it a second time before Gracie's brother Carlos ran onto the mat and threw in the towel to stop the fight.
One match, one name that stuck
After the fight, the Brazilian press began calling the lock the "kimuriana," later shortened to Kimura, and it became the standard name for the technique across jiu-jitsu and MMA, commemorating (or needling) the loss that left such a mark on the Gracie family. Within Kimura's own judo career this was just one win among countless others, but within jiu-jitsu history it is one of the rare cases in which the losing side named the technique that beat them.
For a deeper look at the full attacking system the Kimura grip opens up on the ground, along with the shoulder biomechanics behind it, see our separate technical breakdown: the Kimura Trap system.
2. Mechanics: How the Figure-Four Goes On
Technically the Kimura is a shoulder lock, known in judo as ude-garami (entangled arm lock); the Kimura is the internally rotating version of that family. Getting it on breaks down into four steps:
| Step | Key points |
|---|---|
| ① Wrist grip | Take the wrist with a thumbless four-finger grip, as if holding a cup, so your opponent cannot pry against your thumb |
| ② Thread the arm | Pass your other hand under their upper arm and grab your own gripping wrist to form the figure-four |
| ③ Lock it down | Bend their elbow to roughly 90 degrees and pin it against your torso, while using your body or legs to control their far side so they cannot roll out of the pressure |
| ④ Finish | Do not yank with brute strength, rotate the shoulder: drive their hand toward their own waistline while lifting the elbow, loading the shoulder in internal rotation |
Common attacking positions include side control, mount, turtle, closed guard, and even standing clinch exchanges, which is exactly why the Kimura is considered an all-position, all-purpose submission.
3. Setups and Timing
Opponents rarely hand you a Kimura for free; you are usually reacting to one specific mistake:
First, the posted or framing arm in side control. The bottom player instinctively reaches out to push the top player's shoulder or hip away, and that extended arm is the single most classic Kimura entry.
Second, the hidden arm in turtle. The attacker threads a hand under the armpit, digs the hidden arm out, and links straight into the figure-four; this route also feeds naturally into a back take.
Third, the posted hand from closed guard. The bottom player often plants one hand briefly on the mat to change angles or sit up, and that instant is the standard moment for the top player to attack the Kimura, or to hit a Kimura sweep outright by using the shoulder lock's control to reverse the position.
In live rolling the Kimura is also seldom used in isolation. Typical chains include transitioning to an armbar when the Kimura is not tight enough, or using the Kimura grip to pin the arm while switching hands to attack the back.
4. Strengths and Limits
| Strengths | Limits |
|---|---|
| Legal at every belt from white up, in both Gi and No-Gi | Without control of the far hip or legs, the opponent can roll out and unload the pressure |
| Attackable from many positions (side control, mount, turtle, guard, standing) | Against opponents with unusually mobile shoulders you need a much deeper angle to finish |
| Even when it does not finish, it works as a way to pin and control the arm | Once the free hand pries the grip open, the entire advantage evaporates |
| Effective against stronger or larger opponents because it relies on leverage, not muscle | Beginners commonly pull with brute force instead of rotating the shoulder, which is why it fails |
5. Common Escapes and Counters
The window for escaping a Kimura is concentrated in the phase before the grip is fully formed; once the figure-four is locked in, escaping becomes far harder. Three mainstream escapes:
First, preventive elbow control. Never let your wrist drift away from your body and never post a straight arm on the mat. This is the most fundamental and most effective prevention, because the Kimura needs wrist control before anything else can develop.
Second, prying the grip. Once the figure-four is on, slide the fingers of your free hand into the gap under their thumb and use leverage to break the grip, then get out in the moment while they are regripping.
Third, turning to unload the shoulder. Roll your body toward the trapped side to change the angle at which the shoulder takes tension. This kills the Kimura's leverage, but you have to start it before the angle reaches its limit.
What the attacker has left after being defended
When they pry the grip and escape, they usually lose arm control and switch to framing, so the attacker can use the Kimura's existing control to flow into an armbar; the arm angles are close, which makes the transition cheap.
When they turn to unload the shoulder, their back or side is being exposed, so the attacker can abandon the shoulder attack and chase the back instead, turning their escape into a positional leak.
6. How Often It Shows Up in Competition
Under current IBJJF rules (checked for the 2026 season), the Kimura is legal at every adult belt level in both Gi and No-Gi, unlike heel hooks, neck cranks and certain leg locks that carry belt-level restrictions. That is exactly why it is one of the few joint locks a white belt can train from day one.
On the numbers side, the official organisations (IBJJF, ADCC) do not publish technique-level statistics, so the figures below come from third-party tallies (a competition database compiled by BJJ Blog, checked 2026/08) and should be treated as indicative only: within that sample the Kimura accounted for roughly 6% of all submission attempts, making it the fourth most frequently attempted submission, with a success rate of about 23% (15 successes out of 64 attempts). Breaking it down by rule set, 12 of the 15 successful Kimuras at IBJJF Worlds 2019 came in the Gi divisions, likely because the Gi offers extra gripping control, while the success rate at ADCC 2022 (No-Gi) was roughly one in six.
7. Safety Notes
The Kimura is a joint lock, and its injury risk is concentrated in the shoulder. A cross-sectional survey of 1,140 jiu-jitsu athletes found that submissions are the most common injury mechanism in the sport, accounting for 29.7% of all injuries, ahead of the 26.4% caused by takedowns. A separate analysis of 10 years of US emergency department data reported that the shoulder made up 12.14% of all injured body regions, but 32.49% of all dislocation injuries, the highest share of any joint, ahead of the knee at 28.45%. Neither dataset is specific to the Kimura, but both point to the same conclusion: the risk in shoulder locks does not come from the technique being inherently dangerous, but from tapping too late and from applying the lock too fast and too hard.
・When you are caught, tap immediately as soon as you feel clear pressure in the shoulder or the angle reaches its limit; do not try to gut it out
・When applying it, load gradually and stay alert for your partner's tap or verbal stop signal; never jerk or explode into the lock
・If your partner has a history of shoulder dislocation or rotator cuff problems, keep the angle even more conservative
・If you already have a shoulder issue, see our full breakdown of shoulder injuries in BJJ
FAQ
Can white belts use the Kimura?
Yes. The Kimura is one of the few joint locks that is legal from white belt onward, in both Gi and No-Gi and at every adult division, which is why it is among the first submissions beginners ever learn. The techniques that are actually restricted are leg locks and certain neck cranks, which carry belt-level limits; the Kimura is not one of them.
How do you escape a Kimura?
The instant you feel it coming, pull your elbow tight to your ribs so your opponent can never drag your wrist away from your body to build the figure-four grip, which is by far the most effective prevention. If the grip is already locked, you can dig your free hand under their thumb to pry the grip apart, or turn your body toward the trapped side to change the shoulder angle and kill the leverage. If the angle already feels like it is at its limit, tap early rather than trying to muscle out.
What is the difference between a Kimura and an Americana?
Both belong to the same ude-garami family of shoulder locks; the difference is the direction of rotation. The Kimura drives the arm up and behind the back into internal rotation (the angle you would use to reach behind your own back), while the Americana rotates the arm externally toward the head (the hands-up surrender angle). Both use a figure-four grip, but the loaded structures and the escape routes are different.
Does the Kimura still work in No-Gi competition?
Yes, it works in both Gi and No-Gi. Third-party statistics suggest the Kimura finishes at a slightly higher rate in Gi than in No-Gi (most successful Kimuras at IBJJF Worlds 2019 came in the Gi divisions), likely because the Gi offers extra gripping control. That only affects the finishing rate, not legality or frequency, as the technique is legal and common under both rule sets.
Can drilling the Kimura injure your own or your partner's shoulder?
Every joint lock carries injury risk. Jiu-jitsu research identifies submissions as the most common injury mechanism, and the shoulder is among the joints most frequently dislocated. The risk comes mainly from the receiving partner not tapping or tapping too late, and from the person applying the lock jerking the arm instead of loading it gradually. Going slow and stopping the moment your partner signals a tap is the most direct way to keep it safe.
References
1. Wikipedia. Masahiko Kimura. en.wikipedia.org (accessed 2026/08; supports Kimura's biography, his age at fifth dan, and his All-Japan Championship record)
2. Wikipedia. Masahiko Kimura vs. Hélio Gracie. en.wikipedia.org (accessed 2026/08; supports the date, venue, result and naming origin of the 1951 match)
3. Judo Info. Masahiko Kimura Biography. judoinfo.com (accessed 2026/08, used as a second source to cross-check Kimura's biography and medal record)
4. BJJ Blog. The Best BJJ Submissions (According to Data). bjjblog.ca (third-party competition statistics covering ADCC 2022 and IBJJF Worlds 2019, accessed 2026/08; supports the Kimura frequency and success-rate figures)
5. GrapplerHQ. The Kimura Lock: Complete BJJ Guide. grapplerhq.com (summary of IBJJF rules as checked for 2026; supports the statement that the Kimura is legal at all adult belt levels)
6. Hinz M, Kleim BD, Berthold DP, Geyer S, Lambert C, Imhoff AB, Mehl J. (2021). Injury Patterns, Risk Factors, and Return to Sport in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: A Cross-sectional Survey of 1140 Athletes. Orthop J Sports Med;9(12):23259671211062568. PubMed PMID 34988235 (supports the figure that submissions cause 29.7% of jiu-jitsu injuries and are the most common mechanism)
7. Hasegawa ME, Obana KK, Ishikawa KM, Tamate TM, Chang SB, Crawford SN. (2024). Increasing trend in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu injuries presenting to U.S. emergency departments, a 10-year analysis and injury profile. Phys Sportsmed;52(2):167-174. PubMed PMID 36995123 (supports the figure that the shoulder accounts for 32.49% of dislocation injuries, the highest share of any joint)