Friday, October 9, 2009

Taido - A Unique Budo

By Bill Williams

Taido was thought up Seiken Shukumine. He founded this Japanese budo school in the early 1960s. The meaning of Taido karate is "way of the body, and it is based on a classical Okinawan fighting method known as Te. Taido was not the only time that Shukumine had founded a unique martial arts style. When he was not yet 30 years old, he created a new kind of karate he called Gensei-Ryu.

Karate and other martial arts have been widespread in the West for a number of years. In the 1960s, prior to the founding of Taido, most teaching was rudimentary and the original techniques for this "empty handed" style of fighting saw little change. yet, society was changing and Shukumine was a student of philosophy and tried to anticipate what would have to be rethought as far as how classical karate ideas of training were concerned.

Shukumine thought that there were some issues with karate that limited the way it could be applied and learned. There wasnt enough creativity and independence and the repetitions of the essential punches and kicks would quickly cease to challenge most trainees.

Older martial arts tactics consisted of rigid and uninspired movements. Karate didn't adapt over the years as far as the methods and instructions for the students.

Shukumine felt that the martial arts would be accepted as a defensive art form if he could devise a way to generate more movements and techniques. He wanted to allow students the chance to be inspired by their work and for this to happen the work and teacher had to inspire them. These thoughts became the driving force that would help him to create Taido karate. Before he founded Taido, Seiken Shukumine taught a martial arts form that was called Genseirvu karate. This was widely accepted, but still he felt it wasnt enough.

He felt that he could expand upon traditional karate techniques and training methods, and finally after ten years of experimenting his new Taido karate form opened. Taido is a contemporary, sophisticated styleof martial arts that used many aerial moves. It requires a student to make use of twists, spins, speed and changing angles of the body. Shukumine's wish was to use Taido karate to evolve the study and practice of karate and other martial arts.

The purpose of Taido is to improve the awareness of the students who train this martial arts form. Shukumine had one ultimate goal as far as the study of Taido karate was concerned. He expected to be able to help all Taido practitioners reach their maximum potential in everything they do.

The Five Principles of Taido

A Taido student must make sure that their mind is calm and relaxed. The mind needs to be as smooth as a polished mirror. Then they can understand the very heart of any situation. When the mind is kept untroubled and even it will prevent a student from being confused.

Taido teaches students that the mind and body must be harmoniously composed. They must work together as a single entity. When a person acts in the right manner, any type of threats will not worry him.

Taido students are encouraged to learn to call upon the deepest power that is at the center of their being. Once a Taido karate practitioner has achieved this level, they will not experience any anxiety of confrontation or battle.

If a Taido student maintains these actions, they will always manage to act in an respectable and right manner.

Taido teaches creativity, adaptability and flexibility in both movements and ideas. When a person has the correct moves, their opponents cannot best them.

Basic Techniques of Taido

Sen- Taido movements that involve vertical spinning. Un - movements making use of wave like motion that ascends and descends. Hen - kicks that involve a toppling motion resulting in changes to the axis of the body. Nen - movements with horizontal spinning. Ten - tumbling or flipping motions.

Besides the punches and kicks, there are two movement ways to set up the strikes. Unsoku - fast and strategic stepping movements for controlling space and angle to the opponent. Unshin - locomotion movements that are acrobatic in nature and dont involve actual stepping on the floor.

Taido Tournament Events

There are some special types of Taido Karate competitions that students can participate in. Jissen is Taidos sparring, Taido style. Taido forms are called Hokei - closely related to kata in Karate. Tenkai- these are routines that are acted out\enacted by teams of Taido members in which a defender is given the opportunity to defeat five of his "opponents" and show challenging or unique techniques.

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