Kyle Sloan
The concept of what I call partner throws is simple: you sincerely attempt the first, and the second is naturally available in the event of failure. I don’t like calling them combinations, because people want the second technique and don’t really give the initial technique a great try. You really want to throw with the initial technique. It’s only with a resistive uke or really blown timing does the second technique really enter the picture.
The ouchi-gari/kouchi-gari (and vice versa) partner series is pretty well known.
I typically work my kouchi-gari so that my right leg is the sweeping leg. Interestingly, this is the only one of the footsweeps that I do this with; all others (okuri-ashi-harai, de-ashi-harai, harai-tsurikomi-ashi, kosoto-gari) are all performed with the left leg. I suspect this is largely a natural by-product of the arms and body relationships in standard gripping conditiongs.
Last Saturday, I stumbled across another one: kouchi-gari to uchi-mata.
Interestingly, this combination is only available if your feet are setup correctly. Your support foot must be pointing the direction of the sweeping action for kouchi-gari. I know we teach it this way, but people will often develop their own twist on the throw or get a little lazy with foot placement. I know I certainly have. My kouchi-gari is pretty sweet, and occurs directly in front of uke. But let me tell you, no amount of athleticism and strength would lead to a successful uchi-mata even with a compliant partner.
When teaching kouchi-gari to beginners, I typically go to a three feet on the line position, exactly as if I were performing hiza-guruma. Oddly enough, I teach it such that tori is using his left foot for the sweep, exactly the opposite of how I execute it. From this point, tori’s heels come together so that the feet remain close together. The foot that is on the line will be used to execute the throw, while the other foot will become the support foot. The support foot points the direction of the throw, which is exactly where uke’s feet are pointing (like in okuri-ashi-harai). This allows the sweeping action of kouchi-gari to be anything from a very abrupt dashing of the foot to very long sweeping action across the floor.
If uke is going forward we would typically continue his motion to throw him forward. So, kouchi-gari to uchi-mata is a pretty nice option if you get a piece of the kouchi-gari. If uke blocks the kouchi-gari, his energy and resistance tends to shift his weight backward, so throwing ouchi-gari in that direction makes more sense.