Since kuruma can also be attributed to the arm and leg movements of karate, separately, this can seem a bit overwhelming to think about, because there is so much movement to consider, but with practice the kuruma will begin to make more sense. As an example, you can see Jan Dam Sensei of Genten Kai, formerly a student of Onaga Yoshimitsu Sensei’s Shinjinbukan, demonstrating some basic kuruma that can be found in Naihanchi in this video. For those who have researched old-style karate and Uchinadi (Okinawa-Te), these circles (and points associated with them) come up often, and are called kuruma (wheels). This can still be divided into eight primary directions, but because of the shape of this metaphorical sphere of movement, arcs and circles become more accurate representations of possible planes of movement, rather than lines. If life were two-dimensional, and viewed from above, these would be our only real options of movement, but life is three-dimensional, and we have the ability to change our angles of movement within a 360 degree sphere around our body. In judo, jujutsu, and Aikido, these same directions are referred to as “happo no kuzushi,” which means “eight points of off-balancing.” While those arts are generally talking about the balance of your opponent, they also use the same term to refer to the directions which you can move, which makes sense if one considers that stepping is just a change in balance. To get started with the basics, it must be understood that there are 8 primary directions one can move in–forward, backward, side-to-side, and to the angles in between. In Japanese, the evasive methods of martial arts are generally referred to as sabaki–either tai sabaki (body movement) or ashi sabaki (foot/leg movement)–and tenshin (shifting).Īn overhead view of the typical happo no kuzushi diagram

Moving straight forward and straight back are not the only types of evasive maneuvering in karate, however, and exploring these other ways of moving can benefit both your sport fighting, and your self defense application. It is not unusual for MMA commentators to say that fighters with sport karate backgrounds are “difficult to hit,” for this very reason. This certainly has its place, and catches attention when sport karate competitors cross over into other realms of fighting, such as mixed martial arts competitions. Now, sport karate does this by fighting at a long distance, finding an opening, and building up a great deal of speed to shoot in and land a strike, before shooting back out of range again. Miyagi said in Karate Kid 2 “best way to avoid punch, no be there.” The idea behind this is that you don’t have to block something if you aren’t in its path. Even so, there are still many sport karate competitors who maintain the in-and-out approach, and for good reason. Lately, though, the kumite used in the increasingly popular World Karate Federation (WKF) competitions seems to involve the “in” component, but not so much the “out” component, with competitors often simply running straight into each other at the end of combinations. Sport karate has long been known for its fast in-and-out approach to fighting, largely because of the way points are assessed–you want to get in and touch your opponent, and get away before they can touch you. A clip from a Japan Karate Association tournament in Tokyo in 1985

Importance of ashi sabaki