Kumi-kata

Most judo matches are decided before anyone tries a throw. They are decided in the seconds when two people fight over cloth: who gets the lapel, who gets the sleeve, whose grip is dominant and who is left holding on and defending. That is kumi-kata, grip fighting, and it is the quiet half of judo that spectators tend to miss.

The standard grip is one hand on the lapel and one on the sleeve, but the fight is over who gets the dominant version of it first. Competition rules limit unusual grips and punish passivity to keep matches moving, which tells you how much of judo happens in this one exchange.