丹 – tan, ‘rust coloured’ or ‘red’ and 田 – den ‘rice paddy’ or ‘field’. Together tanden (丹田) literally translates as ‘red field’ or ‘burning place of fire/energy’. Sometimes Sensei refers to kikai (気海) tanden where the characters of ki 気 ‘spirit’ and kai or umi 海 ‘ocean’ describe the tanden as the body’s ‘sea of energy’.
To say that the tanden is important in martial arts would be a pretty big understatement. In Eastern traditions, the tanden (or dantian in Chinese) has for a long time been considered the physical centre of gravity in the human body and the source of all internal power, energy or chi. The point is believed to be about the size of a grapefruit and is located three finger widths below and two finger widths behind the belly button.
Above is a small diagram of the tanden drawn by Chief Instructor and Chairman, Yamashiro-Sensei on a piece of paper one night when were discussing internal power over dinner. My tanden was near full of awamori at this point but I remember Yamashiro-Sensei delicately folding up the paper as if it contained a marvelous secret and I decided to keep it.In many traditional Japanese arts – shakuhachi (Japanese flute), shodo (calligraphy), kyudo (archery), kendo (swordsmanship) and even chado (tea ceremony) – students are taught to act from the tanden. This area also serves as a focus point in Taoist and Buddhist philosophy and Zen meditation and is believed to help center one’s mind and aid in controlling thoughts and emotions.
In martial arts, internal power is believed to originate from the tanden and is often expressed in a kiai, which must be synchronized with physical techniques and kimei (a moment of full body tension) to deliver maximum power. Sensei frequently refers to the importance of the tanden in this way:
“External power ashi kara (comes from the feet); internal power tanden kara (comes from the tanden). Kimei and kiai must together!”Whether you’re a believer of chi and internal energy or not, most martial arts practitioners acknowledge the importance of tanden as the body’s centre of gravity and the role it plays in initiating movement. Martial arts historian and practitioner, Charles Goodin recently described his experience with generating power from the tanden or koshi (hips) and it’s role in preventing the telegraphing of movement:
“When power comes from the koshi (the core of the body), it is much harder to anticipate a movement... When you pull back your right arm, the odds are that you are going to throw a right punch (or some other right handed technique). When you "squeeze" or "twist" your koshi, a movement could come from anywhere” (Goodin, 2009).Whether it’s using dropping or winding power, or pulsing from the feet, it's worth concentrating on pivoting and moving from the tanden. I think overall this focus may help to generate power while giving stillness, silencing the body, and improving overall efficiency of movement.
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Hi Krista,
Found this blog interesting. I do xing yi, one of the 3 chinese internal martial arts, & Dantien(or tanden) is an important part of it. From what I have heard, other martial arts dont focus on it, as learning to move from the center is hard, & its easy to just throw punches. This is espeically true of Karate, from what Ive seen & heard(before I read your blog, that is :-) ).
Its interesting that Karate also focusses on this. Are there any books/websites that describe how Karate(& other Japanese arts like tea ceremony, as you mention), focus on acting from Tanden?
You've raised some really interesting points.
You may be right about some of the more typical karate styles. I'm not aware of the tanden featuring as a key point in much mainland or sports-orientated karate. However, it is mentioned occasionally in some style e.g. Shotokan
I wonder if the strong Chinese influence on Okinawan Goju-Ryu would go some way to explain our emphasis on tanden? I know that tanden is also talked about within some of the other Okinawan karate systems - Shitoru for example.
Again, I can't speak for any other styles, but I've always felt that Goju and Kung Fu are rather closer relatives than most people would think. Higaonna-Sensei frequently talks about Goju-Ryu's Chinese roots. He's very committed to preserving our Chinese origins and carries out much of his own research in this area. In fact, he's leaving for China in a few days for another trip to meet with some Sifu from various styles.
As for books/websites that talk about the tanden, I was surprised by how little there is on the web. Most of my thoughts have come from discussions with people who practice these arts (like my old shodo teacher for example).
It really is interesting how many parallels there are between martial arts, zen and other Japanese traditions.
Xing yi sounds like a fascinating style and pretty old one too (at least by our standards). I'd love to learn more about it and the role of tanden in your training. Can you recommend any good books/website?
Hi Krista,
Like internal Karate, there is very little information about the "internal" part of kung fu- most books/websites on Xing yi just give few external forms.
A good book is "Neija: Internal Martial Arts" by Jess o Brien. It has interviews with several masters, including Xing Yi.
Bruce Kumar Frantzis wrote a few books, though his main focus is Bagua(a sister art of Xing yi).
The reason Xing Yi is called internal is- it focusses on moving from the Dantien from the 1st day- punching & kicking are not so important. Neither are forms, as if you are moving from the center, you will act automatically.
The other 2 internal arts are Bagua, & the famous Tai Chi, but these are(nowdays) mainly practiced for spiritual health reasons, while Xing Yi can be used for both fighting/spiritual.
Hope this helped.
Shan