07/01/2026
Tai Sabaki - 体捌き - Body Movement
By Paul Manogue
Tai sabaki is an essential tenant of our aikido practice, and the fundamental that I increasingly find myself obsessing over. Tai sabaki is made up of 2 kanji that mean "Body" and "management", how we manage the body, sabaki also has a nuance a skill or intelligence and that that being managed is complex. Tai sabaki are the body movements that allow us to evade, reorient and deliver our technique. During Covid I became more reliant on tai sabaki drills as the foundation of both my own training and my remote teaching. Without other bodies to use in the aikido practice I was left with making my practice purely about how I was "managing my body". So, I decided to dive in and break down my understanding of tai sabaki with both my mind and body.
The movements listed below are the core movements of Aikido which when connected, create technique. While our movements should be flowing and continuous, it behooves us to understand the individual movements which unite the whole.
I would like to talk about the movements and their etymology and how it relates to our practice, understanding, and instruction. The names listed below contain the literal translations of the individual characters; however, in each following paragraph we will dive deeper to gain a clearer understanding of the meanings of combined characters beyond their common modern usage. I have kept the Japanese kanji order for the English translation so that the reader may become familiar with the kanji, the pronunciation, and individual meaning.
• Iri mi - 入身-Entering Body
• Ten Kan - 転換 - Rotation Interchange
• Ten Kai - 転回 - Rotation Rotation
• Ten Shin - 転身 (modern) 転進 (archaic) - rotation body (modern) rotation advance (archaic)
Irimi - 入身-Entering body
When separated these kanji can be read as enter and body. It is important to note here that the word 体 karada which also means body could be used, but the difference between “karada” and “mi” is in the nuance, “mi” has much more of a sense of entirety (body, oneself) while “karada” is more anatomical (body, form). Once we put the kanji together for a word it becomes “entering” and with that the nuance can be lost. The body moves in, the entirety, one’s whole self. Entering in this context should not be seen as agreeing, accepting or even blending at this point; it is merely moving to a place. We have moved from where we were to a new, perhaps physically safer place. When I teach I like to use “the entering body” over just “entering” as a movement, by separating the individual kanji I feel the essence of the word is better communicated. The most important of all movements, without which most others are not possible. Whether sliding in, stepping in, or sensing intent, we must first get in. If we do not enter, we play the opponent’s game. I have had many teachers, and over my time in the art and the most often repeated phrase I have heard is “There is no tenkan without irimi, Irimi can also be entering in terms of the others mind or intent, but I will save those for another time and for the purposes of this discussion I will limit it to the physical movement. What comes after the initial entry, to deal with the force of the attack are the movements that come after the irimi. All three that I will go over begin with the same first kanji, ten 転.
Ten - 転 - rotation
By itself it can be read as korobu, to tumble, not falling flat, but with a feeling of rolling, and in that way, it hints at rotation. All these movements involve a rotation, but the confusion comes from the Jikku 軸, the axis. Where is the rotation taking place in space, which we will explore with the movements after the irimi.
Ten Kan - 転換 - rotation conversion
The above definition is the 2 individual characters meaning when they are separate, rotate and convert, the rotation causes a conversion. The kanji together can be read as; switch, transpose, divert, distract, swap, or convert. In a motion context it is a slide or a step irimi with a full rotation and a step back. The axis is on the front foot making the movement an outside motion, the axis is outside your body. Outside your center and affect the outside forces. My preference when using this term is to emphasize “divert” where we are redirecting ukes energy and intent and causing him to step forward and turn to reacquire his target.
Ten Kai - 転回 - rotation rotation
Interestingly, with this example, as can often happen in Japanese, the two kanji have similar meaning, and this can sometimes emphasize, or radically change the meaning when they are together. Together they are defined as; pivot, revolve, rotate, or spin and I believe this is emphasizing the rotation and perhaps showing a double rotation. In a motion context it is a slide or step irimi followed by 180 degree pivot and a gathering of the feet, making the axis between both of your feet, the movement is an inside motion. Inside your center drawing uke in, and down, grounding him. My preference of these definitions is pivot, as around your own central axis. If we combine two tenkai it can be a wind up and delivery, if we do only one it can be a deflection or assessment of the environment. It is very versatile as it allows us to reorganize around our central point in a unidirectional balanced position.
Ten Shin - 転身 (modern) 転進 (archaic) - rotation body (modern) rotation advance
In Budo, O sensei’s 1938 aikido manual ten shin is written in its archaic form rather than the modern. Old budo texts from before WW2 often use archaic meanings for kanji that a modern Japanese reader may not be familiar with. Broken up rotation body or rotation advance do not give any real sense of the movement, and together the modern meaning is a bit vague as a body shift, or a body change. But the archaic seems much more in line with the movement itself as it is described as a forward-facing swing and specifically not a pivot. In a motion context, from hanmi the front foot is brought back to parallel with the back foot, which is then swung up to become the new front foot, or, the back foot is brought up to parallel with the front foot, then the original front foot is swung back to become the new back foot. Both movements change the hanmi and the angle of engagement to a safer angle and neither require an irimi beforehand making it a position movement, the axis is between the first and second position. My preference for English translation is a position shift. Ten shin can be used as the first motion, as an evasion, or as the last motion as an angle change, and force application.
In conclusion, Irimi Tenkan, outside motion to redirect. Irimi Tenkai, inside motion to reorganize. Tenshin, to reorient. By breaking down a technique into its individual movements, and understanding the nuance of the movement, we can make it simpler to learn and perhaps cleaner and more precise. Although these are not easily understandable solely in written form, when used in instruction or one’s own training they add structure to the movements and a more concise way of keeping notes and examining techniques.
Paul Manogue
Chief Instructor - Aikido of Raritan Valley - Renseikan Dojo
18th Head of Edo Yagyu Shinkage Ryu
