Micro post; This months quote

"This months quote" is back! I mentioned a while back that I am currently working through all the translated works of Funakoshi, carefully taking notes as I go, and I just could not help to write down many quotes as I went along. Funakoshi is one quoteable guy! Eventhough this is a blog dedicated to Taekwondo, Funakoshi had a tremendous influence on the art we practise and so I think that his works are highly relevant to us as martial artists. We call ourselves "Taekwondo students" (or some variations like Taekwondoin) but eventhough we use other forms, we use Korean terminology and have aspects of our system that is unique to our system (most noteable the sport sparring system and high kicks), much of the base of our art comes from Funakoshi.

"You can not train through words. You must learn through your body."

-Gichin Funakoshi Karate Do Nyumon 1943

I read this statement and had to read it again. We can talk about Taekwondo, watch videos, and blog all we want, but true learning happens on the Dojang floor. Sometimes that is easy to forget, but it is true. Sure we can gain new insights through watching, listening and reading about Taekwondo or related material, but we need to actually train it and study it on the Dojang floor to make it an integral part of "our" Taekwondo and not just something "interesting" that you read/ listened to/ watched.

Over the next few months the quote of the month will come from Funakoshi. I am planning to go through a different book series when I am "finished" with Funakoshi, so if you do not like Funakoshi quotes, do not worry, he will be followed by other martial artists in due time :-)