The word is a

Japanese-language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been m ...

term for various mythical techniques of rapid movement. The characters in the word can be rendered literally as "shrinking the earth," referring to how the technique reduces the spatial distance between two points to achieve its effect.

History

The word first appears in Shenxian Zhuan to describe the ability of Taoist magician Fei Changfang. The term ''suōdìmài'' denotes the power of

teleportation Teleportation is the hypothetical transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. It is a common subject in science fiction literature and in other popular culture. Teleportation is oft ...

attributed to some ''

xian Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqin ...

s''. Those possessing this ability were believed to be capable of moving vast distances in a single step. The term is sometimes used to refer to a similar ability in

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

belief. The Japanese terms , or are used for the same ability attributed to ''

sennin ''Xian'' () refers to a person or similar entity having a long life or being immortal. The concept of ''xian'' has different implications dependent upon the specific context: philosophical, religious, mythological, or other symbolic or cultural ...

''.

Appearances

In martial arts

In modern

Japanese martial arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usage ...

, ''shukuchi'' refers to a sudden movement into an enemy's maai (space) or blind spot to attack. This definition is relatively recent, and is, therefore, used somewhat differently by various schools.

In Korea

The ability of ''chukjibeop'' (축지법 縮地法) was attributed to North Korean leaders

Kim Il Sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

and

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

in the propaganda song "

The General Uses Warp "The General Uses Warp" () is a North Korean song praising Kim Jong-il. The song was first released in 1996 by Wangjaesan Light Music Band, with lyrics written by Chong Ryol () and music composed by Kim Un-ryong (). Background The song clai ...

". According to a quote in an

DPRK North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and Tu ...

official newspaper, the attribution is purely a metaphor for

People's War People's war (Chinese: 人民战争), also called protracted people's war, is a Maoist military strategy. First developed by the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the basic concept behind people's war is to mainta ...

In popular culture

Fictionalized versions of ''shukuchi'' are common in

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

and

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

. In this context, it is usually portrayed as short-range teleportation or as the ability to move quickly enough to become

invisible Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light in ...

Manga and anime

* Son Goku, the main character of the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise, is seen performing this feat as a child and eventually masters the art of teleporting when an adult. *

Seta Sōjirō , addressed as Sojiro Seta in the English anime, is a fictional character from the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' manga series created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. He is Shishio Makoto's right-hand man. Sōjirō has been favorably popular with the ''Rurouni Kenshi ...

from ''

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work ...

'' can use ''shukuji''. *Various characters in '' Negima!: Magister Negi Magi'' employ such techniques. *In the

and

Prince of Tennis is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from July 1999 to March 2008, with its chapters collected in forty-two ''tankōbon'' volumes. ...

'' the ''shukuchi'' method is used by players of the Higa Middle School from Okinawa to give the illusion of moving from the baseline of a tennis court to the net in a split second.

Video games

*Weaver, a character from the popular video game ''

Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota 2' ...

'', has an ability called Shukuchi, which allows it to become invisible and run with very high movement speed for a short period of time. *In the

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

Final Fantasy XIV ''Final Fantasy XIV'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix. Directed and produced by Naoki Yoshida, it was released worldwide for Windows and PlayStation 3 in August 2013, as a rep ...

'', the Ninja job has an ability called Shukuchi which allows the user to move extremely quickly to a targeted location, almost teleporting. *In the ''

Touhou Project The , also known simply as , is a bullet hell shoot 'em up video game series created by one-man independent Japanese ''doujin'' soft developer Team Shanghai Alice. Since 1995, the team's member, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed ...

'' series, the sennin Toyosatomimi no Miko has a technique called Shukuchi Cape, which allows her to teleport. *In the video game '' Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony'', the character Ryoma Hoshi mentions this technique as a way to escape others quickly. *In the video game ''

Fate/Grand Order is a free-to-play Japanese mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon's ''Fate/stay night'' franchise, and ...

'', Shukuchi is one of Okita Souji's skills and a part of Ushiwakamaru's "Usumidori - Heavenly Blade Steps".

References

Japanese words and phrases {{Japan-myth-stub