22/05/2026
Ukemi, or rolling, receiving or falling in a dynamic way. This is a skill taught in many traditional Japanese martial arts, notably Aikido, Judo, Jiu Jitsu and ninjutsu. Its also seen in Parkour and gymnastics. So how many ways can it be done? Well there are at least six so far...
Rolling in and of itself is a useful life skill so that when you trip or fall you don’t get hurt. But when you apply it to a martial art it becomes something a bit different. In sport martial arts it’s a simple progression of a break fall and recovery from throws etc. In combative martial arts its purpose has to be different.
I remember when I started training a particular, and almost throw away comment by one of the instructors was ‘You know what, we need to reintroduce rolling to the sessions’. It’s been a few years since then, but it struck a chord. My initial thought was – why? It turns out that if you can roll safely then your taijutsu improves - as you are more relaxed and not worried about falling or being thrown.
But, over and above that is how you roll. If you watch sports martial arts rolling, look where they are looking as they roll. Inevitably it seems they look at the floor, or underneath as they roll. The worst cases they close their eyes. It is also said that rolling in combat is impractical a lot of the time as it gives the opponent an opportunity to attack as you roll.
First things first, when you roll you need to move off the line of attack. Rolling straight forward or backwards just allows the opponent to progress their attack in a linear fashion and finish you as you try to recover from the roll. You also cannot see the opponent as you roll in a straight line. So roll off at a diagonal line from the direction of the attack. This means your opponent will have to adjust or even overbalance to try and catch you, giving you space and opportunity to recover safely and possibly escape.
When you do a forwards roll, use your arms like shock absorbers. As with the forwards break fall that triangle position of the forearms helps absorb the impact, which pays off when you start diving over and at a distance with the forward roll.
With the backwards roll the arms need to be kept in tight to the torso. The laying out of an arm is a useful beginners tool to get the form but should be rapidly progressed to being drawn in. Remember these rolls need to have utility on concrete and uneven ground, not just mats.
In the sideways roll, if for instance going right, the right arm is brought in, the left arm reaching over as it functions as the shock absorber. The sideways roll is more a shoulder and upper back roll, whereas the forwards and backwards must always be diagonal across the back from shoulder to opposite hip to protect the spine.
The rolls need to be quiet, noise equals heavy impact which means injury – plus its ninjutsu so quiet is good 😏. Once you have that progress to one handed and then no handed rolls. These are particularly useful if holding weapons, either in hand or in the belt.
Rolling off at an angle also means you can watch the opponent through the whole of the movement. You will see them moving and be able to counter their next move, if only to get out the way. This practice starts with looking at a fixed point high above the opponent. Once you can see that through the whole of the roll, bring you point of focus down until you can do the same looking at the opponent.
Being able to do that with a forward, backward and sideways roll will mean you can now roll in any direction, as all other rolls are just variations of those fundamentals.
