Will you pick Taiji as your primary art if combat is your goal?

[YouKnowWho]

If the answer is yes, why? If the answer is no, why?

Let's stay away from health, self-cultivation, inner peace, performance, ... and concentrate on "combat" only in this thread.

[Jimbo]

No.

IMO, Taiji is a highly specialized MA. How does one initiate offensively as opposed to mostly defense/countering? How can it be used against someone who refuses to stay engaged in close? Those questions are the reasons for my vote.

These are my observations. I'm not saying that there aren't some bad@sses out there whose primary art is Taiji, though, as I'm sure there are.

[bawang]

taiji fist poems are a good reference for longfist and other northern systems, but taiji quan itself doesn't actually use the poems.

[PalmStriker]

I sparred with a black belt status Yang Taiji practitioner many years ago and got beat down for the attack I waged. Especially after he deflected a hand strike and my fingertips caught his cheek and made for a little bleed. He wasted no time in closing at that point. No grappling. His moves were all defensive. For this reason I will have to say no to the question stated by OP because there are times when offense beckons and you have to Bruce Lee the enemy.

[-N-]

For this reason I will have to say no to the question stated by OP because there are times when offense beckons and you have to Bruce Lee the enemy.

Sounds like you are saying that his Tai Chi was effective.

Or are you saying that when he closed in it was not Tai Chi?

[Fa Xing]

I train Taiji to relax, but I train JKD to fight.

Both have their use.

[PalmStriker]

Sounds like you are saying that his Tai Chi was effective.

Or are you saying that when he closed in it was not Tai Chi?

I had sparred with him on several occasions, I think he either thought I wounded him intentionally or just wounded his pride by being "marked" by a much lesser ranking fighter. In any case he hit both arms and one leg with strikes that left all but one standing leg temporarily paralyzed. Can't say I ever saw one of his strikes or kicks coming, only the impact. I used to like to spar to get hit and see how long I could keep going. They knew me for my tumbling feats off asphalt/concrete so they knew I was up for it.

[-N-]

No.

IMO, Taiji is a highly specialized MA. How does one initiate offensively as opposed to mostly defense/countering?

I had a student who was an Aiki Jitsu teacher who trained in Japan for ~20 years. Aiki Jitsu, not even Aikido.

He had a throw that he thought was not usable and didn't think it made sense.

It was the same idea as Praying Mantis' Dip Jang, the stacking elbows takedown.

I showed him the Dip Jang as a follow up to Fung Tung Chui, the grapple punch attack - which is a classic Praying Mantis combination.

His eyes got big, and he got all excited and told me that now he finally understood about that Aiki Jitsu technique that he thought didn't work.

Then he realized that there were other techniques that relied on initiating with an attack to provoke a response to take advantage of. And he began to revisit all his previous training with that in mind.

[Robinhood]

If the answer is yes, why? If the answer is no, why?

Let's stay away from health, self-cultivation, inner peace, performance, ... and concentrate on "combat" only in this thread.

That depends on your age, size and time frame. External styles will give you the most bang for your buck if you are in a hurry and are athletic. In the long run, the opposite will happen.

WC will probably give the fastest bang for the buck for street combat, sport combat probably MMA, both looking at the short run of time frame.