Tai Sabaki

[bushido_man96]

Lots of good stuff in your post up there, Justice. I like the idea of using the chair, too. I will have to play with that some. I have done plenty of moving in front of a heavy bag, but I always hit it while moving. That is good, I think, but the chair would take away the drive to hit, and I could just work on movement (and maybe kicking over the chair).

Lots of good stuff so far, everyone. Great coverage on this topic by all contributors.

[Dobbersky]

I was hoping you'd chime in, Dobbersky. Thanks for your insight (and Wikipedia's).

Lol it would have been dishonest to claim it as my own and that is not the Kyokushin way, OSU!!!

This video goes int Sabaki a bit

[sensei8]

Hi, first non-introduction post.

I just wanted to step in because I also struggled with tai sabaki for a long time. A couple of drills helped me. I also want to reiterate an above poster by saying kata, espicially certain kata, are great for developing an understanding of taisabaki if you practice them correctly and with that in mind. (Naihanchin in paticular helped me).

Two things we did at my dojo that helped me:

1) The stick drill

Part of my problem with Tai sabaki wasn't even the movement itself as it was predicting when to step. I needed a better understanding of distance and where my centerline actually was. Our sensei took bo and jo staffs of varrying length and had two karateka balance them between eachother dandien. Then we would start to move. At first simple stuff, just seisan stance back and forth, then more complex sideways movements, almost pa kua like circle walking, etc. We had to do pushups if we dropped the stick. It takes a while to get used to this but learning when the centers of two people were alligned helped establish when they were broken.

2) close in sparring.

Probably the most controversial thing about me thats not going to make me many friends on here is that I'm not at all for free form free sparing. Thats another story. But I find it useful with context. We used to tape off a very small square of the mat we were not allowed to leave, and then give one combatant only the ability to block or evade, he could not attack. His tai sabaki had to be on point to avoid getting hit. He didn't have the option of making the common mistake of constantly stepping backwards to avoid a strike, he or she basically had to advance and reach the side. Necissety became the mother of invention. Doing this while utilizing the techniques taught in kata proved effective for me.

These may be worth a try. There is some solo stuff too. In Pa Kua Zhang they use a technique called circle walking that almost kind of acts like their kata. It may be worth looking at how they do this to get better practice at home or when you have no partner. I find every artist is different though and you have to find out whats going to make it click for you before it will build into your muscle memory. Good luck and please keep me posted! This isn't the easiest skill to learn but its so useful.

Solid post!!

[sensei8]

Tai sabaki is, essentially, using footwork, yes?

I'm not a karateka, but the art I do is based primarily on movement/footwork.

Go through all your kata and find all of the transitional stance changes that involve stepping. Now start chaining them together so that you can move across the training hall using only those transitions. Go through all of them, mirroring and adjusting to move around the space with each one.

Go forwards, yes. Then go sideways to cover the whole distance staying directed at the side of the room. Both left and right. Get to the point where you're able to race across the distance naturally. Maybe from one end of a football field to the other for each, say; you want chaining transitional steps to cover ground to be natural and second nature. Don't do anything that isn't starting and ending in a stance and staying at the same level, guarded, all the way through.

Now take a folding chair and circle completely around it in transitions, staying guarded against the chair as if it were an attacker. Reverse and circle the opposite direction. Work through all your transitional steps, even attempting the ones that don't immediately seem useful - sometimes an easy adjustment can cover space. Don't show your back or the space behind your lead leg.

Now do the same exercize, but use a VARIETY of steps. Don't repeat yourself or let yourself use a pattern. Use every movement you've got all at once in a chaotic riot of stance transitions and variations. Pay attention to your distance from the chair.

Now start chaining them together to wander around a space filled with obstacles. Take some folding chairs or traffic cones and put them in a very ragged line or large circle.

Weave around them; as you pass one, the next becomes your enemy. Don't show your enemy your back! Don't step on the other 'defeated' 'enemies'. But use the transitions that you pulled from kata and training to weave and shuffle your way around the space. Cover the space quickly, but with solid form. Make sure you have a solid defense aimed directly at each one of your 'opponents' at all times.

Are some of your techniques linked to, or usable as part of, a step? Drill, but this time, if you do a kick, don't put your foot down in the same place as you started. Mix every movement with a step. Now shadowbox circling around the chairs like this.

Now do the same thing, but with your blocks. Even changes that don't seem to move much can be useful if your weight shift can be used to slide your foot into a new position.

Once you don't have to think too hard to do these, go back to class. Spar. Instead of just focusing on beating your opponent, you'll be scoring differently.

Focus on not being beat too badly, yes. Block out a small, possibly irregular 'ring' in which the spar will happen. If you go outside of the space you're working in, you will lose a point. When you start, look at the space directly under and behind your opponent. That space is worth a point. Once you're standing over it, wherever they're at now or directly behind it is worth a point. You may not simply push them out of the way; you have to make them retreat or just move past them. Now see how high a score you can rack up.

Once it is second nature to be able to move wherever you want, whenever you want, your ability to simply move in response to events such as an attack is just a minor detail of seeing an application of it.

Solid post!!