Professional Documents
Culture Documents
judo excellence
One of judos fundamental techniques is the application of proper Tai-Sabaki or ways to displace oneself lightly and smoothly. This activity is often described as the management of the body while performing translation activities. It is primarily concerned with the appropriate turning of the body to take maximum advantage of the push-pull energies. It is described in the Illustrated Kodokan judoi as one of the best use of flexibility (JU) since one can take advantage of the rotated effect produced to initiate or provoke an action-reaction. One of the best exponents of its application and mastery can be found in the great technician that was Sensei Kyuzo Mifune 10th Danii, and who said that: Tai Sabaki should remain natural, be well balanced and practiced daily. A common expression used to describe such movements is to apply the revolving door concept and the dynamic effects that take place. Another Kodokan professor of high rank, Sensei M Honda, 9th dan has always maintained that every effort must be deployed to learn and master such rotational movements as they are more natural , provide better balance and acceleration and supply the techniques with the optimal use of energy.iii
From the words of International competitors and World champions that were Sensei Isao Inokuma and Nobuyuki Satoiv, we learned that: Tai-Sabaki is the technique for changing position and direction of your body while maintaining a stable posture and that the basis of Nage-waza lies in keeping your opponent off-balance by executing excellent Tai-Sabaki. These two experienced fighters explained three major types of Tai-Sabaki being: Mae Sabaki, the front movement control with the use of right angle posture, the Ushiro Sabaki or back control by retreating and pivoting within the 90 degree angle and Mae Mawari Sabaki the front turn movement control with the execution of 180 degree turns.
Page | 1
Repeating the errors is not advancing After learning how to break the falls, most of us have learnt Tai-Sabaki and the use of natural postures. Unfortunately, in our haste to proceed with throwing the opponent, we have often taken devious shortcuts and developed bad habits such as: bending the torso forward, lowering the head, looking at the feet, leaning onto the opponent and using the muscles of the arms incorrectly. Those behaviors may have periodically contributed to land some Ippon but they are difficult to correct on the long road to excellence. Maximization of natural posture We have learned that the left and right natural postures provide the necessary balance and flexibility to respond to an attack or to entertain developing our own attack system. From either stance, it is easy to move into an open stance, retreat sideways or backward to conserve the energy or enter into counter attacks. I have previously discussed the importance of postures and Shizen Tai and you may refer to it for additional explanations.v The proper application of the theory is frequently twisted around when we begin the Randori and the Shiai routes. Contestants soon forget the fundamentals and launch into a wrestling match of strength and dominance. The natural posture (Shizen Tai) provides the best advantages while the defensive posture (Jigo Tai) should be used as a secondary and fallback position. Let us try to return to the basic principles and seek to make greater use of the teachings of the ancient Sensei. Composition and Interrelationship Tai Sabaki is composed of several parts: Sensei Toshiro Daigo, 10th dan of the Kodokan has described its five main components:vi 1. Tai Wo Hiraku, to open your body and shift it outwards in such a way as to create a gap between you and the opponent. 2. Tai Wo Kawasu, to shift the body to evade and avoid the effects of the opponents attack. 3. Tai Wo Sabaku, to shift and displace the body in order to control your movement and positioning. 4. Tai Wo Shizumeru, to sink or lower your body to drop the center of gravity in order to be under the opponents center of gravity. 5. Tai WO Suteru, to sacrifice tour body with an intentional fall or by throwing yourself down as part of the process of throwing.
Page | 2
Mastery of Tai-Sabaki is the key to executing effective throwing techniques Kodokan Judo, Jigoro Kano and Kodokan Editorial Committee, 1986
As I often said, judo techniques must be executed with the entire body functioning as an integrated whole. All the Tai-Sabaki elements are similarly integrated in the methods resulting into the subsequent displacements around and about the opponent. Without repeating what you have already deducted from the above, let us keep in mind that while advancing or retreating, we can use two forms of translation actions called Tsugi Ashi (shuffled steps) and Ayumi Ashi (alternate walking style). Of course the feet/legs do not operate separately from the rest of the body. They are linked with the hips and trunk (Koshi-Sabaki) and they need the coordinated actions of the hands holding onto the opponents judogi and called Te-Sabaki or hand movements. These premises must be followed whether we adopt and alternate between the two basic standing positions: Shizen-Tai and Jigo-Tai.
Page | 3
Page | 4
Page | 5
Risei Kano and the Board of Instructors, Illustrated Kodokan Judo, Kodokan Tokyo, Dec,1954,p 44 Kyuzo Mifune, Canon of Judo, Japan Publications Trading Company,1963,p 33 iii M Honda, Tai Sabaki, Judo International, Revue, A H Plee, Paris 1950 iv Isao Inokuma and Nobuyuki Sato, Best Judo, Kodansha International, Tokyo, 1979. P 16 v Ronald Dsormeaux, Judo Ron 19, Into the depth of Shizen Tai, August, 2009, @ WWW.Scribd.com vi Toshiro Daigo and Teizo Kawamura, Kodokan New Japanese-English Dictionary of Judo, Kodokan2000,p 125 vii Ronald Dsormeaux, Judo Ron 41, The power associated with movements in Judo, Nov 2011, @www.Scribd.com viii Jiichi Watanabe and Lindy Avakian, The Secrets of Judo, Charles Tuttle Coy, Tokyo,1960, chap 3 ix Kazuzo Kudo, Judo in Action, Throwing techniques, Japan Nippon Printing, Pub Coy, Tokyo, 1967. p 11-14
ii
Page | 6