Definition of taijutsu

My understanding of "Taijutsu", is the body movement behind the art. Taijutsu is used for both armed and unarmed combat...

Taijutsu is a term used by a variety of Japanese martial arts to label their unarmed defense technique. Many systems of aikido, and some classical samurai sword traditions, in addition to systems we associate with the ancient ninja lineages, use the term taijutsu to describe the unarmed methods of their overall art. Bojutsu, kenjutsu, and other terms utilize the name of the other specific tool ("long staff" or "sword") around which training in that part of the art focuses. There is, for example, aikido kenjutsu sword technique, in addition to aikido taijutsu unarmed technique.

Hatsumi sensei also notes in Grandmaster's Book of Ninja Training that taijutsu is a very generic term in Japan, a lot like dance is a very generic term in the US. He notes that shopkeepers have shop taijutsu, martial artists have martial arts taijutsu, and strippers at clubs have club taijutsu, too. It's the way you move to do things.

Well... I think Hatsumi Sensei is having a little fun with us there.

Taijutsu is a martial art term, so in referring to shopkeepers and strippers, Sensei is urging us to see body movement in a light of how practical it is supposed to be, as opposed to the delusion that there is some sort of magical "perfect mechanical form" for taijutsu technique.

We could use the boxing idiom of "keep your guard up" in a similar manner, pointing out as a metaphor that workers of all vocations have their own ways of "holding their gloves to ward off the blows of adversaries".

- Stephen K. Hayes