The Sabaki Revolution

As Seen Through the Evolution of Enshin Karate’s Rules, Concepts and Techniques

- Mike Ninomiya

In Japanese, sabaki means “to work with energy efficiently.” It’s a state of being that expresses strength coupled with ease and grace. My father Joko Ninomiya, the founder and grandmaster of enshin karate, created the Sabaki Challenge, a tournament designed to highlight this intelligent system of working with an opponent’s force, which often involves taking advantage of circles and leverage. Sabaki is not a martial art per se; rather, it’s a traditional idea that’s open to evolution and reinterpretation — and that just might precipitate a revolution in the fighting arts.

In this article, I will present four concepts and several related techniques that illustrate this special quality of sabaki. I chose these four because during the pandemic, my father decided to incorporate newaza (ground techniques) into the enshin curriculum. This serves as a bridge to grappling for people who are used to striking and a bridge to striking for grapplers who are used to the ground.

The irony is that when you use sabaki, you’re not fighting your opponent. You’re working with natural geometric shapes like circles, triangles, straight lines and spirals. This allows you to feel early on when a technique is done correctly or incorrectly.