Tai Sabaki

I'm surprised there wasn't a thread dedicated to tai sabaki, the essence of wado.

But, any pointers to move faster. I know relax, move whole body (from hip?), feel like your falling and let the leg that's following catch up with rest of body.

Any more?

Always react to your opponants intital movment rather than the technique.

For instance when using tai sabaki (nagashi) to defend against a front kick, start your movment as soon as his foot leaves the floor, rather than waiting untill his foot is chambered and thrust towards you.

This takes much practise but is the best way to defend and will make other think your reflexes are amazing.

Imagine a triangle that runs from the centre of the forehead and out to a point on the lower section of the shoulder across the upper chest to the other shoulder area and back to the mid forehead. All but the more experienced fighters will initiate everything they do from this triangle. learn to spot this and it will help you with initiating your techniques. it will take time but it is a very common 'give' that once understood can help you immensely.

Once grasped you will notice they will forewarn what limb they are about to use via the characteristics of this initial tell.

also once understood you can use it to 'trick' your opponent by making a false 'tell' with your triangle area

good luck

Hi And2premiere,

I was discussing your question with one of my students (who also follows the forum) over a beer after training last night.

Because Tai Sabaki is such a general phrase covering all manner of movements inside and outside of Wado it’s difficult to give you an answer.

I noticed from one of your very early posts that you have only been practicing Wado for a short period of time, so with that in mind I thought I might offer an opinion.

I’m guessing that what you are talking about are maybe the body evasion movements within the Wado curriculum.

Speed alone may not be what you are looking for, afterall that could be down to something as fundamental as muscle contraction. To operate at maximum potential it often means that you have to understand the economics of the strategy you are training to employ. This may be about how you invest the use of energy and how you connect with the problem you are trying to overcome. Often, in Wado, things go wrong in those areas because people fail to make the right movements in relationship to the timing of the attack and the position both you and your attacker are in at the moment of engagement. In the early days of an individual’s training it is important to study the form correctly under the guidance of a Sensei who knows his/her stuff and to try and get a grasp on the principles behind what is supposed to be going on.

Scaramouche

And2premiere

The advice added in the above posts are good and can help you with vision and timing.

If you want to work on tai sabaki with respect to the kihon kumite and tanto dori for example then some exercises that Ohtsuka Kazutaka did may help as a starter.

It was last winter course he got us to stand in jigotai dachi, ie wider than yoi as in Kushanku. From there whilst keep the feet firmly on the floor and not moving, we worked on turning the body to let an attack pass behind you back and also in front of the body.

The movements were done in a loose wave-like way. As ever, always hard to describe in words.

The core reason was to work the centre and get that moving and not rely on the feet. Once that is instilled then the transitions in kihon kumite/tanto dori etc are initiated by the body centre and not by stepping with the feet. Nothing worse than looking like a robot.

He, he, amen to that

Scaramouche

He, he, amen to that

Scaramouche

Oh I dunno, a little tinkering might be interesting.?

oneya

He, he, amen to that

Scaramouche

Oh I dunno, a little tinkering might be interesting.?

oneya

Oneya,
I'm beginning to worry about you.
Did you Google for this, or was it something you had laying about in a file somewhere.....just in case such a subject cropped up?

Scaramouche

and2premiere

just to add more into the pot, tai sabaki isn't all about beating the opponent to their timing.

Look at kihon kumite number 7, in the first movement you are drawing them out as a strategy so there is no point in 'going backwards' as fast as you can. I put that phrase in quotes to signify that really it isn't about going backwards but hopefully you know what I mean. You manage the distance between you and them during their attack so ultimately they feel they have nailed you but in the end they haven't and end up over committing.

On the second movement, the strategy is different (in my view). It is now about nailing them as soon as you see their body move and able to make the entry.

There are two different strategies in play in number 7. Also remember when practicing, if they don't kick you have to wait after the first move as you don't know what they are doing, right?

He, he, amen to that

Scaramouche

Oh I dunno, a little tinkering might be interesting.?

oneya

Oneya,
I'm beginning to worry about you.
Did you Google for this, or was it something you had laying about in a file somewhere.....just in case such a subject cropped up?

Scaramouche

I was actually thinking about adjusting her timing chain just a week ago so I knew where I'd left her --- She was still ticking over...

oneya

Some help with Japanese terminology with respect to tai sabaki:

Can someone tell me the differences of:

ten kan
kai ten
ten kai

as they would relate to tai Sabaki in Wado????

Thanks,

MSPain

MSPain,

For as far as I know,

tenkan is often used in Aikido to describe movements where the body rotates 180 degrees, not sure though. Never heard it before in Wado. (as terminology)

Kaiten means rotation or turning.

Tenkai, I don't know, but, I found the following kanji: (also (I) never heard before in any Wado class)

tenkai  展開 = development, expansion
tenkai  転回= revolution, rotation

AJ

Thanks, AJ.

Yes, I heard the terms in Aikido also. I was wondering what it would be called in Wado.

Whichever refers to:
Stepping ayumi ashi then turning the body and just turning the body 180 degrees without stepping through.

It's not a big problem, I was just wondering.

Thanks again.

MSPain

don't know if there is a name.

Most of us hear tenkai for the first time in Japanese elementary school science class when the teacher is explaining mechanical revolution of bodies.

Kaiten just means turning around. We use it in Japan when we are telling people they should turn their body around. But that is because we can't say 'turn around' in English..(being sarcastic).

So in a Wado dojo if I hear kaiten then I am assuming I am in Japan.
If I hear kaiten used in a dojo outside of Japan I will assume either that the person is a native Japanese speaker or someone trying to communicate to a native Japanese speaker. If two non native Japanese speakers use that word then I will just assume they are practicing their Japanese vocabulary.....or are total dweebs.

I think the JKF Wadokai Technical committee expects Wadokai people to be familar with teni tentai tengi because one of them questioned me about it one day saying 'you do know about the 3 major principles......' and I responded with 'which 3 major principles?'....