Taido Jissen

[Anais Wachowski]

TheTaidō is practiced in ten countries, including Japan, Haiti, Australia, England, France, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. The martial art is particularly popular in Finland.[4][additional citation(s) needed]

Initially, Seiken Shukumine had founded Genseiryū Karate. But eventually, Shukumine was convinced that the limitations of karate lay in its linear mode of training. He considered how to make the defense more flexible and universal.

In 1965 Shukumine introduced a new martial art.[2] This martial art is a further development of Genseiryū which he named Taidō. Taidō is not to be regarded as karate, but as a new martial art. Taidō's techniques offered many innovations: the inclusion of spinning and twisting movements, gymnastic maneuvers, speedy and effective footwork, and a changing body angle.

From that point on, Shukumine was mainly involved with Taidō and many of his pupils started to train in Taidō as well. However, some students of Taidō kept a friendly relationship with some students of Genseiryū and Shukumine was still occasionally involved with his former students, as he wished for them to join him in Taido.

Taidō's purpose was, and continues to be, the application of scientific methodology and traditional values to the evolution of the martial arts. According to its creator, Taidō's ultimate aim is to equip its practitioners to function at a high level in society.[5]

In 1984, the World Taido Federation was established, globally standardizing the martial art of Taido.[6] The first official World Championships in the sport were held in Japan in 1993.[4][additional citation(s) needed]

Taido is a semi contact sport. A taido match is won by the competitor who is either the first to score a full point (ippon), or has more points when the time ends. A good hit must have proper and legal technique, timing, target, contact and kiai (a shout accompanying the strike). The head is not a valid target. Also, hits must not knock out the other person, but simply indicate the weak point in the opponent's defence.

A kick or a punch is worthy of ippon when it is performed from proper taido movement, has control, lands on the opponent's torso and is finally followed by an immediate retraction and return to one's original position. Failing these, an imperfect hit can however merit a half point (wazari) or a quarter point (yuko).

Warnings are given for improper and bad movement, poor basic stance, wrong target area for strikes or physical damage to the opponent. Typical of a taido match is the constant movement, used for maintaining good distance to the opponent and gaining a feasible offensive position. Turning and twisting moves, acrobatics and shifts in body axes are integral parts of a taido match.

Movements sets are an inherent part of training in martial arts, and are made up of various basic techniques. They function as a powerful form of basic training, developing both technique, strength, speed and body control. The name for taido's movement sets is hokei.

There are 10 basic hokeis in taido. All of these sets have a basic, prearranged shape and form, but a competitor may change the rhythm and breathing of the hokei as long as the essence of the hokei remains unchanged. A competitor may also receive extra points from the referees, if the difficulty of the hokei is heightened via addition of somersaults or other moves, not found in the basic version.

The movement sets do not exist only for basic techniques, however, but also for practising combinations and training fighting against imaginary foes. Thus a good form will contain, in addition to good technique, changes in rhythm and features of offence and defence, such as focusing one's eyes on the imagined enemy, movement and production of power. Hokei is an official competition in taido, all the way up to European and World Championship level.

Those who have trained taido for a longer time will also practise hokeis for special techniques and breathing. In all hokeis the result of the match will be determined by three judges, all of whom announce via a raised flag which of the participants won.

Dantai jissen, or team sparring, is fought between two teams of five competitors each. Women may have 3-person teams. Matches are played out individually, and the team that accumulates more victories wins.

In dantai jissen the rules and scoring is similar to individual jissen, so a full point (ippon), half point (wazari) and quarter point (yuko) are available, but in addition a single match can also end in a draw, hikiwake.

A kick or a punch is worthy of ippon when it is performed from proper Taido movement, has control, lands on the opponent's torso and is finally followed by an immediate retraction and return to one's original fighting position. A perfect technique should also include a shout (kiai).

Not many may consider Taido a team sport, although training together is a key part of the art's appeal. Team hokei is a movement set performed by five competitors at the same time, in as unison as possible.

The intensive training will forge the team a strong and united one. Competitors attempt to maintain their formation from the very beginning as coherently as possible. The movement set must remain within the limits of the area.

The ultimate aim of the team is a performance in perfect unison. The rhythm and breathing in the set can be altered. Also, additional points can be awarded for more difficult techniques not found in the original basic set, such as somersaults.

Grading in team hokei involves, amongst other things, the maintaining of the formation, simultaneousness of the techniques and creativity. Also important are the general impression and the harmony of the set. All of the referees will score the whole hokei, and individual performances within will not be scored separately. The team with the highest score wins. In a tie situation, the head judge's points will determine the winner.

In tenkai both creativity and three-dimensionality are best brought to the stage. The group will design the fight together, which only adds to the team spirit. The timing of the techniques is crucial for the entire fight, and thus merit careful design and much practice. Tenkai thus gives one the opportunity to fully employ the large technique and movement repertoire in taido and also to utilize moves rarely seen in a normal match.

There are an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Taidoka worldwide, most of them in Japan. In Europe, Finland and Sweden are the countries with the most athletes. The world association, the World Taido Federation, was founded in 1985.[citation needed]

Taido first arrived in Finland in Lahti in 1972. It was brought by the Japanese student Minoru Okanda, 2nd dan. He appeared at the Sugata judo exercises in Lahti, after which he asked if people there would like to start practising a new sport.

The first Taidoka were the Judoka of the Lahti Sugata, who were impressed by Okanda's powerful technique and fast movement. Taido was started to be practiced under Genseidojo, which was the Taido section of Lahti Sugata.[7]

The Suomen Taidoliitto (Finnish Taido Association) was founded in 1981, and it operated as the umbrella organization of all Finnish art clubs[8] until 31 December 2013. Since 2011, the Finnish Taido Association was first a member of the Finnish Karate Association, and on 31 December 2013, after the dissolution of the Finnish Taido Association, its member clubs became directly members of the Karate Association as of 1 January 2014. Since then, the former arts association has formed an arts college in the Finnish Karate Association. Taido's sports college acts as a link between all Finnish Taido clubs and as an advocate for the sport in Finland and is called fi:Suomen Taido.[9][10][11]

Taido came to Sweden and outside Japan via Kauko Korhonen who founded the club Taidokan in Stenungsund, which was the first in Sweden/Europe. In Sweden, Taido is organized through the Swedish Budo and Martial Arts Association.[12][13][14][additional citation(s) needed]

According to American Taido Association, the presence of Taido in United States is extremely limited, with merely a single dojo situated in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. However, the association is aiming to expand in the future.[15][16][additional citation(s) needed]

Multiple university clubs, all acting as branches of the dojo in Peachtree Corners, exist in the Southeastern United States, including at the University of Georgia,[17] Georgia Institute of Technology,[18] and Mississippi State University.[19][20] Occasional Taido seminars are taught through the Dartmouth Japan Society at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Fort Lauderdale, Florida once hosted a branch of the Peachtree Corners dojo, but is now defunct.[21]

Yutaka Ozaki studied Taido in his childhood. Novelist Hideo Yokoyama also belonged to Taido Club during his college years.[citation needed] Finnish MMA fighter Aleksi Toivonen [fi] studied Taido in his youth.[22]

On November 12, 2023, Bandai Namco revealed a new character for the upcoming Tekken 8, Reina, whose fighting style is based on Taido. Bandai Namco collaborated with renowned Taido expert Tetsuji Nakano (中野 哲爾), four-time winner of the Taido World Championships, during the design and animation phase of Reina's moveset.[23][24]

Toyonaka Taido is my dojo. Well, not my dojo, but the dojo I primarily train at.Toyonaka is one of the northern suburbs of Osaka; I live in neighboring Suita, so the commute is fairly painless. We practice at Budokan Hibiki, which is a large public training hall, and we usually have plenty of space to work out.Though quite small, Toyonaka Taido is the main group in Osaka. All together, we have about fifteen members, most of us black belts between 25 and 45 years old. We have one 5dan, a few 4dan, some other black belts, a handful of rainbow belts, and sporadic small numbers of children. Sadly, there are only four women.Our official leader is Akitoshi Nakata. Though he has a pretty laid back management style, Nakata is really consistent in making sure that Taido stays active in Osaka. No matter what, he never misses a practice. Nakata tends to lead by telling jokes that make you want go along with him, and his influence can be very subtle.Since Nakata is typically standing by and guiding things from the background, a lot of the teaching duties are handled by about three of us: a Buddhist priest, manjigeri, and me. Training is held most Tuesday and Saturday evenings for one and a half to two hours. Since most of our members are adults with jobs and real-life commitments, attendance fluctuates, and it's often impossible to predict who will show up on a given night. As a result, the training program varies to reflect the needs of those present.I joined the dojo in April of 2008, just a couple of weeks after moving to Osaka. Around the same time, we also had two other transplants from the Tokyo area: former national jissen champ Masahito Sato, and Kitasato and Korenkan alum Takeo Suzuki. Before we arrived, most of the members (with a couple of exceptions) had practiced together since beginning Taido in university.As a result of this influx of new blood, we've had an interesting mix of training styles and ideas getting tossed around for the past few months. Mr. Manji's style is based on kihon. Yoshimoto (the priest) tends to focus on using unsoku and connecting it with techniques. Sato has been working on getting everyone to take the opponent's back in jissen. Takeo brings us a lot of drill ideas he learned from Nakano. I've been trying to build everyone's physical foundations so they can do all the other stuff better.Lately, we've begun to settle into some patterns that incorporate everyone's best ideas. The challenge is to give everyone the chance to develop their own Taido in the most effective manner. Practice has to improve our skills (techniques, movement, and hokei), attributes (physical ability, strength, stamina), and strategies (application in jissen and defense), time is really short. Since most of our members aren't able to devote more than two or three hours a week to training, efficiency is a big concern for us.Every dojo has its own style and traditions, and ours is no exception. We don't do a a lot of tournament training, because most tournaments are too far away to attend often. We also have a stronger connection to Okinawan karate than most Taido dojo, and a few of us even practice some Genseiryu kata. Everyone in our dojo has the chance to think for themselves and "choose their own adventure," so to speak. Still, perhaps the strongest of Taido traditions enjoys a place in almost every dojo: beer.We like to hang out outside of training. After practice on most Saturdays, we hang out and have a few beers at a Chinese place by the train station. Nakata and I often talk about martial arts movies - he's the only Japanese person I've ever met who knows about the "Shogun of Harlem." His brother has a (probably unhealthy) obsession with the Star Wars movies. One of our members looks uncannily like Bruce Lee. Yoshimoto is friends with Taido "comedian," TAIGA, so we try to laugh when he's on TV (easier said than done).Osaka is a whole different Japan from places I've lived before. People in Osaka speak different Japanese and eat different foods. There's been a lot of adjustment for my girlfriend and I to live here, but the crew in Toyonaka has helped make it fairly painless. For our birthdays last June, they threw us a small party and gave us (among other things) a takoyaki maker. The first time we made takoyaki at our apartment, we felt, briefly, like we could be at home here.Toyonaka Taido is good stuff and good people. I also train with other dojo as often as possible, but I really enjoy working out with this group. We have a lot of fun, and I think we're all getting better.If you can read Japanese, be sure to check out our training blog. For the English version, here's my personal training log.

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