Which martial art is most similar to Tai Chi

[Nitedragon89]

I think Da Cheng Chuan is pretty close to being similair to Tai Chi

 

[Laoshi77]

The essence of taichi is the essence of all martial arts.

I like that. To elaborate further I feel that most martial arts at a higher level actually begin to resemble Taijiquan. I've seen high level Ninjutsu practitioners resemble a Taijiquan stylist; Glenn Morris often spoke of the benefits in learning Taiji and he was a man who practised many effective martial arts.
Again Aikido and Wing Chun stylists also possess the grace of the Taiji practitioner; the more you learn the softer your movement and techniques will become. This is the ultimate level of martial arts in my humble opinion.

 

[kubrick]

Many thanks for all your replies.

 

[furtom]

Ah. The thing with Internal Chinese MA such as Taijiquan, Bagua and Xingyi is that it generally takes a long time to get to a point where you can use it in self-defence. From what I've experienced and read, anyway.

That said, I think the closest you could get for your needs would be Aikido (as kaisasosei wrote), which has its roots in Bagua as I understand it.

Or maybe you could find a school that does Chen style Taijiquan for self-defence, but that could be difficult.

Or maybe a Kung Fu school (as grydth suggested) that has a strong internal component to its curriculum would suit your needs.

Well, I started with aikido and recently added tai chi to my practice. It has worked very well for me, but I have been studying aikido for more than 2 years, which still isn't much, but more than the OP's 6 months.

Having said that, I don't think it would hurt any. We all know when we are satisfied and when we feel we need more. Maybe a few (or many) years later, we will realize we didn't need to make such-and-such a move or change, but that's not of much use in the present.

My tai chi is probably a little better than most beginners because I have some experience in another internal art. The study of tai chi has been like approaching the same "problem" from another angle and has helped my aikido in just a very short time.

In the final analysis, we study this stuff to satisfy and challenge ourselves. Each individual is his own light in that regard.

BTW, we haven't considered in this thread the possibility that the OP wants to study a more practical martial art because his teacher may not teach tai chi as such. There are plenty of such teachers out there.

Best.
Tom

 

[kubrick]

.
BTW, we haven't considered in this thread the possibility that the OP wants to study a more practical martial art because his teacher may not teach tai chi as such.

Best.
Tom

Thanks again to everyone. The above quote sums it up. In fact I did not even realise TC had any practical applications until I started looking on YouTube. We don't really get taught these applications ... yet. Of course the other prob is that I started with the Toaist TC dudes who deliberately remove ANY and ALL practical applications from thier syllabus

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

You may want to contact a poster here named Eastwinds who is in Scotland and does Taichichuan. He may be able to assist you in your area.

 

[Xue Sheng]

You may want to contact a poster here named Eastwinds who is in Scotland and does Taichichuan. He may be able to assist you in your area.

Although eastwinds and I do not always agree I will say I second that.

If I were in Scotland looking for Yang Style Taiji I would look to his school, he is very knowledgeable.

 

[Franzfri]

"My opinion as to which martial arts most resemble taichichuan would be aikido for one, as it was intended and taught by UeshibaOsensei.
Aikido at first glance may seem more mechanical and less round than taichichuan, but i believe that the conepts are the same. Many aiki exercises can be seen as qigong, and ki is a central subject in the philosophy of taichi and the practice of taichichuan."

It's interesting that you say that. We had a student at the school I attend that ran an aikido school. I often wondered why someone who was an expert at aikido would study taichichuan. My school teaches bagua and xiang yi (please forgive my spelling) as well as taiji and our sifu encourages taiji students to study both forms. I've resisted so far as I would like to become more adept at taiji and I'm 65 years old. I believe that the grey belt shoulin students at my school are required to take a minimum number of taiji classes before testing for black belt.

 

[ggg214]

after reading some replies, i am wandering why does somebody worship a style named taiji so blindly.
yes, i admit that taiji is also the name of one great chinese philosophy, and taiji quan in some extend uses yin and yang concept in its explanation. but it's just a style, as the same as many other CMAs.
in somebody's eyes, taiji quan's concept interprets the basic and most important principle of MA.but it's no mean to consider taiji quan is the principle of MA.
IMO, taiji quan is not so practical, this is its disadvantage. without passing any MA's basic traing, i suggest not to choose taiji quan. on the other, if you are looking for health, it's a good choice .

 

[Xue Sheng]

after reading some replies, i am wandering why does somebody worship a style named taiji so blindly.
yes, i admit that taiji is also the name of one great chinese philosophy, and taiji quan in some extend uses yin and yang concept in its explanation. but it's just a style, as the same as many other CMAs.
in somebody's eyes, taiji quan's concept interprets the basic and most important principle of MA.but it's no mean to consider taiji quan is the principle of MA.
IMO, taiji quan is not so practical, this is its disadvantage. without passing any MA's basic traing, i suggest not to choose taiji quan. on the other, if you are looking for health, it's a good choice .

It all depends on your teacher, the style and how much time one is willing to spend training and how long a period of time they are willing to dedicate to it

 

[geezer]

I would like to compliment my TC training with another martial art. Have previously trained in TKD and Shotokan but I am now looking for a softer form. Any ideas?
Thanks

First you need to clarify your goals. What do you want to get out of Tai Chi? How far do you want to take it, and how patient are you? If you are making Tai chi your main focus and foundation, and want to pursue it deeply, both for health and as a martial art, then carefully consider the excellent advice given by Xue.

On the other hand, if you are practicing Tai Chi more casually, mainly to give yourself better balance and flow, then you may want to practice another martial art that you can apply in fighting more quickly. You already have experience in hard, external styles (Shotokan, TKD). And, another Chinese internal system will take a very long time to master--especially if you are dividing your time between two arts. Maybe you could try a soft external style, like Wing Tsun? It teaches relaxation, yielding and flow, but is more immediately applicable. But whatever you choose, you will have to stick with it a lot longer than 6 months to learn anything of value. Good luck.

 

[kubrick]

Thanks again everyone. I have a good instructor and I think I'm making good progress. Since my OP several months ago I have gained a little more understanding about the martial applications, but the school I am at doesn't go too deeply into these or into things like push-hands.

I know of another school with classes near me which does foreground the self-defence applications (Five Winds in Scotland) so I may attend some classes there.
​

 

[Xue Sheng]

Thanks again everyone. I have a good instructor and I think I'm making good progress. Since my OP several months ago I have gained a little more understanding about the martial applications, but the school I am at doesn't go too deeply into these or into things like push-hands.​

I know of another school with classes near me which does foreground the self-defence applications (Five Winds in Scotland) so I may attend some classes there.​

Did you check here

 

[SteffenBerg]

I think rather than looking for arts similar to Tai Ji, perhaps one ought to shift the paradigm a bit and think of what would complement Tai Ji - while still adhering to the principles of grounding, relaxation, generating power from the center etc.

While Ba Gua, Xing Yi and other internal arts use the same/similar principles to Tai Ji I think you would benefit more from going outside of the traditional realm of internal arts. The same goes for Aikido (and I have to say most Aikido taught is lacking internal structure - even though it ought to be present).

I've personally chosen to study Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to complement my Tai Ji. While BJJ does not teach internal principles per se, they are definitely present in the system and the principles taught in Tai Ji complement it well - particularly when it comes to the throwing and chin-na aspects and even while on the ground.

I would however suggest that you get a firm grounding in the internal principles before venturing out and exploring another art... 2 - 3 years should probably do the trick (provided you have a good instructor in the internal).

Just my 2 cents.
Stef

P.S. Just to give some background on my training, I'm currently a student of Chen style Tai Ji, but have a broad range of experience in various arts: from hard style Karate (e.g. Kyokushinkai and Hawaiian Kempo- about 7 years each); to some experience with Xing Yi, Ba Gua and Aikido (about 3 - 4 years each)... and I chose to seek out and focus on Chen style and BJJ.

 

[Quotheraving]

Personally i find that Brazialian Jiu jutsu involves giving up one's root at the first possible opportunity and grappling on the the ground. It may well complement Tai Chi, but it certainly isn't in any shape or form similar.

What surprised me however was how the skills of Tai Ji and judo can complement one another and how both rely upon a solid root.

Take this Judo player for instance :

note the solid root.

Now have a look at the same fella practising Tai Ji :

 

[SteffenBerg]

Personally i find that Brazialian Jiu jutsu involves giving up one's root at the first possible opportunity and grappling on the the ground. It may well complement Tai Chi, but it certainly isn't in any shape or form similar.

The trick is to not look at it one-dimensionally as standing art vs. ground art - because, believe it or not, they actually have quite a few similarities... You just have to think about how you would apply the principles of Tai Ji while on your back or in the mount etc.

There are ways to use your structure, spine and center etc. (in a very similar way to Tai Ji) to make life very difficult for your opponent.

I've had several conversations with the Aunkai guys here in Tokyo (who use a great lot of principles from Chen Tai Ji) and also had conversations with Tim Cartmell (in So. Cal) a few years ago about this. They can all show you how to use internal principles while on the ground.

/Stef

 

[Quotheraving]

The trick is to not look at it one-dimensionally as standing art vs. ground art - because, believe it or not, they actually have quite a few similarities... You just have to think about how you would apply the principles of Tai Ji while on your back or in the mount etc.

Tai Ji isn't just rooting you are quite right, but it starts there, giving up your root immediately simply isn't TaiJi.
I used the 'desire' to abandon root as an obvious example of the major difference, but there are others.

In the absence of rooting the only possible similarity that you can draw between Tai Ji and BJJ is if you could clearly demonstrate that BJJ uses the 8 energies as well as sticking and listening.

Take a look at this video of Sam Masich explaining how the Tai Ji principles can be extended to ground fighting for a clarification of how the principles of TaiJi do translate to ground fighting.

the same principles can be seen here in defenses against attempts to initiate grappling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cel1-hIO_dc&feature=related


I don't mean this as a slight to you or your art, and recognise that practising a ground fighting style can make for a more rounded martial artist, it's just that I see less similarities between TaiJi and BJJ than I see between TaiJi and say Crane style

(as can be seen here demonstrated by Huang Shen Shyan, who incidentally also studied TaiJi) or Wing Chun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrEDhQBicUs&feature=related.