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Wastelander
Wastelander's picture
Basic Sabaki and Tenshin: An Evasion Primer

Hello, everyone!  

My new article just went up, today, and takes a look as some examples of evasive movement in karate. For the most part, people like to say that karate is a very linear art, but in reality it has an awful lot of arcs and circles in it, and that really shows up in the more complex evasive movements that can be found.

http://www.karateobsession.com/2017/01/basic-sabaki-and-tenshin.html

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Good article Noah! Thanks for posting the link.

When we run with the historically established idea that the angle in the kata represents the angle we assume in relation to the enemy – and not the angle the enemy is attacking us from – then we realise just how much angling and tactical positioning there is in karate.  

As well as evading an attack through motion (go no sen), we can also proactively position ourselves when executing our own methods such that the enemy’s ability to stop our attack / counterattack in greatly reduced.

I think there are two key principles there:

1 – Never be in front of the enemy, but ensure the enemy is in front of you (i.e. you are off their optimum attack line while they are on yours).

2 – Move toward what you know and away from what you don’t know (i.e. if my left hand has checked the enemy’s right arm, then I should pivot to my left).

Pretty much every kata motion that takes an angle utilises those two principles. The idea is that the kata, bunkai and drills internalise these principles so they become habitual. We therefore find ourselves intuitively taking the optimum position in the free-flowing world of combat.

Away from foot movement, moving the head is a skill which is generally better developed in boxing than in karate. Defiantly something we should seek to emulate though … and there are examples in the writings of Funakoshi, Mabuni, Motobu, etc. One little drill we use to help develop / isolate that is close-range hand sparring where we are not allowed to move our feet. The importance of head movement (proactive and reactive) and having active hands (i.e. controlling limbs and not passively held in a guard) becomes readily apparent.

Once again, great article Noah!

All the best,

Iain

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

Excellent points! Thank you very much!  

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Thank you for posting! I included it in thie week's Practical Karate Weekly too :-)

All the best,

Iain