Sentai & Sengi

| Knowledge Base

Sentai is a class of Taido techniques that make use of a spinning motion. For the most part, they are executed with the body upright and consist of a spin with an attached strike or kick. Of all the sotai, sen- is probably the easiest to conceptualize, but still...

Hentai & Hengi

| Knowledge Base

Hentai is a class of techniques in Taido characterized by tilting the body axis. Since most hengi are kicks, it’s usually a case of “head goes down; leg goes up,” though there’s no rule that the technique must be a kick (in fact, there are...

Nentai & Nengi

| Knowledge Base

Nentai is a class of techniques in Taido employing a twisting movement of the body. Nentai movement is characterized by the body axis being tilted to near horizontal while twisting about that axis in order to strike, kick, or “scissor” the opponent. Most...

Taido’s 5 Simple Rules

| Experiments / Ideas, Knowledge Base

The gojokun (or five guiding principles) is the set of statements that forms the heart of Taido ‘s philosophy. Since it is prescriptive rather than descriptive, the gojokun acts as a sort of mission statement for Taido. Though it gives us a few ideals to shoot...

Stretching for Taido

| Knowledge Base, Practice

I believe that attribute training is just as important as skill training. Most Taido practices are about developing skills – and this is probably the most efficient use of class time – but poor attributes (strength, mobility, endurance, and flexibility)...

Movement Notes for Unsoku

| Knowledge Base

Though each unsoku step has a different purpose, they all work on the same basic principles of movement. Mastering these principles will make your unsoku more effective. You can apply the concepts below to any unsoku practice and should keep them in mind when...

Opportunities and Liabilities

| Knowledge Base

In everything we do, there are opportunities and liabilities. Recognizing them at the appropriate time can mean the difference between life in death in certain cases; in other cases, it can mean getting a good parking space. Shukumine broke down some of the common...

unshin

| Knowledge Base, Practice

i recently spent five days talking and training with two of members of the hanshikai, and let me tell you this much – they are crazy excited about unshin. everything we practiced came back to a very select number of themes, and the possibilities of moving in...

Unsoku Meanings

| Knowledge Base

Note: This article was originally written for the Finnish Taido Kamae Magazine. It is republished here in for the benefit of English-speaking Taidoka. There are a few Japanese characters in this article which may look like gibberish on your computer. The Japanese have...

Untai & Ungi

| Knowledge Base

Untai si a class of Taido techniques that includes jumping and lunging movements. Since they tend to move in a direct path, they are probably the simplest to perform from a mechanical standpoint. One important point to understand is that untai is characterized...

hokei guidelines

| Knowledge Base

Taido’s hokei is more than a complex series of techniques. It’s the reflection of Taido’s principles and philosophy in a physical format. The hokei is a chance for us to express our own interpretations of Taido’s theory. The art of hokei lies...

Tentai & Tengi

| Knowledge Base

Tentai is a class of Taido techniques based on gymnastic-style tumbling and aerial movement. Though closely related to unshin, the difference is that unshin is transportation, while tengi include integral strikes or other techniques. The most difficult obstacle to...

A Rough Definition

| Experiments / Ideas, Knowledge Base

Note: This article makes use of some Japanese characters. If they look like gibberish on your computer, try changing your browser’s text encoding and installing the appropriate language packs. If that doesn’t work, you will just have to use your...

Unsoku

| Knowledge Base

Where to begin? The first thing to understand is that, to a large degree: Unsoku is Taido. Unsoku is the primary technique of Taido. We have a lot of flashy kicks that are quite ingenious, but unsoku tops them all. Most martial arts have stances and techniques. Taido...

Unsoku Practice Routines

| Knowledge Base

Below are the basic patterns and routines for practicing unsoku. I’m willing to bet that you haven’t mastered them all… Unsoku 8po The most basic unsoku practice is unsoku happo, which contains the eight unsoku movements. The order is: so – in, ka –...

Technical Notes on the Unsoku Steps

| Knowledge Base

Below are technical notes for the various types of stepping in Taido’s unsoku. The Eight Steps Let’s go over some points for executing the eight steps of unsoku happo. SO So-soku is an advancing step for narrowing the distance to the target. Since it moves...

Types of Hokei

| Knowledge Base

As far as I knew when I was starting out, there were only six hokei in Taido. I was off by a bit. Taido has five kinds of hokei. Each type of hokei looks totally different from the other types. This is because they are each designed to practice different things....