Once I read a long article on the process of becomming a black belt in Kukki-Taekwondo and what you should focus on in your training for each Dan rank. This was linked in great detail to the Poomsae assigned to the rank, and the symbolism that the Poomsae was made with in mind. The fact that the Black Belt Poomsae has a name and a philosophy or theoretical background assigned to it is written in stone in many masters minds, but as I will demonstrate in this blog post, things in Taekwondo are never written in stone. This post might be a little controversial for some but it is time someone shed some light on this to a wider audience, and it might also save a few people from going completly down a rabbit hole.
As we all know modern Taekwondo starts in the time periode of 1944-1972. It starts with the opening of the different Kwan, the cooperation between them, the evential merging of them, and the official abolishment of them (eventhough they are currently having a resurgence these days). In the early part of this time period the forms practised was imported Karate or Chinese forms. These were renamed into Korean and practised with slight if any modifications. Pinan/Heian became Pyungahn, Naihanchi/Tekki became Chulgi, Kushanku became Kongsokun and so on, but they remained the same. In 1965-1967 representatives from the greatest schools (Kwan) except Mu Duk Kwan and Ji Do Kwan came together and made the 8 Palgwae forms, and the 9 Judanja/Black belt forms (Koryo, Keumgang, Taebaek etc).
These people were:
- Kwak Kun Sik (Chung Do Kwan/ Captain of millitary academy and therefore also Oh Do Kwan)
- Park Hae Man (Chung Do Kwan)
- Hyun Jong Myun (Chung Do Kwan/ Oh Do Kwan)
- Lee Yong Sup (Song Moo Kwan)
- Lee Kyo Yun (Yoon Moo Kwan/ and founder of Han Moo Kwan)
- Kim Son Bae (Chang Moo Kwan)
So far so good, nothing controversial here :-)
Around 1967 due to several different factors, the comitte came together once again with the addition of representatives from Ji Do Kwan and Mu Duk Kwan.
- Bae Yong Ki (Ji Do Kwan)
- Lee Chong Woo (Ji Do Kwan)
- Han Young Tae (Moo Duk Kwan)
The reasons were many but a few factors that gave rise to this:
- Ji Do Kwan and Mu Duk Kwan joined the KTA in 1966 and had not had any say in the development in the new forms.
- It was felt that the Palgwae resembled the older Karate forms too much
- It was felt that the Palgwae did not follow the different Gwe/Trigram it was based on
- The education system wanted new forms with higher stances developed.
When it all comes down to it, it was a matter of politics :-) In 1967-1972 this new comitte developed the 8 Taegeuk forms which replaced the Palgwae (although the Palgwae would live on abroad, and as additional forms for a few decades) as well as a form that replaced the original Koryo. The older Koryo virtually vanished only to be documented in a very few places, and practised by a few Dojang outside of Korea. This blog post is not about this older form, I will write a follow up post that focuses on that form, but this segways into the first controversial point of this post:
Controversy 1: The Koryo you are most likely practising today is NOT the original Koryo.
If the Koryo you practise today starts with you slowly raising your hands in knife hand in front of you, pointing the knife hand forward, before turning 90 degrees and doing a knife hand guarding block and doing a low into high section side kick, you are practising a version of Koryo that did not come into being until the late period 1967-1972. The physical movements of the form that "should" be somehow linked to the theory and background of the Poomsae was actually the original Koryo. The new one that replaced it replaced the physical movements, but the theory and background, including the very name of the form remained the same. This suggests that the KTA that developed the Poomsae had no qualms of making new forms of movements and latch them on to theory and background later. Either the comitte thought the original Koryo was somehow poorly based on the theory and background of the form and saw fit to replace it with a new form, or they did not see a strong link between the two aspects. If the first was true, would they not do the same to the rest of the black belt forms? And here we do a nice segway into the next potentially controversial topic:
Controversy 2: Illyo was not originally called illyo
Illyo Poomsae has a buddhist swastica sign, (in western culture perhaps more associated with nazism) as its performance line, and the theory and background of the poomsae is strongly linked to buddhist philosophy (I emphasise philosophy, NOT religion). Illyo means "Oneness", and according to one early 1970s textbook it means
"oneness in which the body and mind, I (the subject) and you (the object), the spirit and the substance are unified into oneness. It means that one derives the state of pure mind from profound faith, namely the state in which one has discarded all worldly desires. The ultimate ideal of Taekwondo is in this state of illyo. In this state of mentality or "nirvana" one overcomes ego. The final goal Taekwodo pursues is indeed a discipline in which we concentrate attention on every movement, shaking off all worldly thoughts and obsession." -Taekwondo Poomse from 1975 page 215
This is heavy stuff right? You would believe that a lot of effort was made with the physical movements linking them to this lofty philosophy. What if I told you that the original name of this poomsae was Silla? As in one of the ancient kingdoms of Korea in the Three Kingdoms Period? This means that the physical movements if they were made with a background and theory in mind was more to do with one of the ancient kingdoms of Korea rather than on "oneness". According to my books at least it is believed that Silla was the last of the 3 kingdoms that received Budhism, it first being introdused to Koogoryo, then into Paekjae and finally into Silla.
So the KTA could make a whole new series of physical movements to replace an old set and keep the theory the same, but they could also keep the physical movements and replace the name and theory, so they have now proven that they could go both ways, and in my subjective opinion this shows that the link that "should" be there between the philosophy/theory and the physical movements are a lot weaker than what is most often taught and believed. Surely this was the only case where they did this though? No it is not, I have another example of this:
Controversy 3: Pyungwon was not always Pyungwon
Pyungwon is named after "Plain" or open field. I will let the same early textbook on Poomsae explain it to us: Taekwondo Poomse from 1975 page 166:
"The living lot of human being is the plain. Fertileand vast plain gives us food. It also hasbeen the place where human life has been lived and carried on.
On the other hand, a great open plain stretching out endlessly gives us a feeling of majesty that is different from what we feel on a mountain or the sea.
The application od teh providence of the plain which is blessed with abundance and grace as well as boundless vastness into the movement of Taekwondo is Poomse "Pyungwon (Plain)".
As this Poomse primarily applies Koa-Seogi and Keum-gang-Makki against the plain, its core is to be found in the potential strength and flexibility as well as in the majestic spirit of the vast plain."
The textbook even links certain specific movements to the theory and background of the form. The thing is though that this Poomsae was originally developed under the name of Paekje. Paekje like Silla was one of the three ancient kingdoms in what is today modern Korea. So the creators of this form had something entirely else in mind other than "Plain". This name change and theory change happend AFTER the physical movements of the Poomsae was finished. Again showing (at least to me that) the link between the theory/Background of the Poomsae to the physical forms being weak if not non-existant.
Controversy 4: The link between physical movements of Black belt Poomsae and its theory or background might not be as strong as you think.
Whereas the Taegeuk actually follow the Gwae it is based on (which the Palgwae does not), the movements of the black belt poomsae and their background is much looser than what is commonly taught and believed. If you remember back to the introduction of this blog post you might now come to the same conclusion I did regarding the work of the Master and the article linking the black belt training to the poomsae based on the poomsae name and symbolism. The name, symbolism, background and philosophy linked to the different Poomsae are not strongly linked to the physical movements of the forms themselves. A deep dive into the history of Taekwondo demonstrates this very strongly. This is why Taekwondo History is so important; now you do not have to go out of your way to link the philsosphy, name, and theory of the poomsae to the physical movements. Read the textbooks, study the theory and philosophy by all means. I find that aspect fascinating and nothing in the blog post should stop you from doing that or considering stopping that. The names, theory, philosophy and background was so important for the creators of Taekwondo and they wanted us to study them, so they put them together with the poomsae. The rabbit hole(s) I have seen people jumping into is not studying the theory etc, but the search for linking the physical movements to the theory. History of Taekwondo shows us that it is either not there, or that the link is so weak that we should not worry about it,so why do?
A very interesting article, it's amazing that so much thought was put into the development of Teageuk poomsae linking it to the philosophy and patterns of the individual gwe in ways the Palgwe forms were not. Then I see from your study that the same effort was not made with the black belt forms.
ReplyDeleteThis is perfect material for a video!
ReplyDeleteComing from the ITF side of things, I agree that hyung/tul have almost no connection to their names, outside of odd facts like "Jhoon-Gun has 32 movements because Ahn Jhoon-Gun was 32 when he was executed". I have never come across an explanation of how the movements represent the individual they are named after, with the exception of Chon-Ji being split into two parts to represent "Chon" and "Ji".
ReplyDeleteI believe that both Gen. Choi and the Kukkiwon wanted taekwondo to be a vehicle to spread Korean culture, hence the names.
i started writing about the relationship between the "philosophical" elements of the Korean forms (KKW) that i was familiar with, and contrasting them with the Japanese and Chinese approaches that i had experienced as well. Bottom line, almost none.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this sounds harsh, but my personal belief is that this idea had more to do with marketing than anything else.
When you look at some of the Chinese internals they are built on the trigram paradigm. They will show you the palms, elements, etc. My experience with the Japanese arts doesn't feel that way at all. Here i think the overlay of a kind of ersatz Zen is a more modern construct as well. It does not appear to have much of an historical antecedent.
TKD (the most modern of these) developed in large form for the army (not always a very philosophical bunch) was a quick results oriented approach. While i believe all fighters and fighting arts have a moral code either explicit or implied, it doesn't necessarily follow that the arts syllabus is infused with it in an overt manner.
This post is one of those "nuggets of wisdom" posts I look for to help inform my own research into the what, how, and why of taekwondo poomsae. My current working hypothesis -- really an informed hunch at this point, but I'm building it out as I dig deeper -- is that key events involving South Korea's relationship with Japan coincided with the tensions within the KTA to make 1965 a pivotal, tumultuous year, making it almost inevitable WT taekwondo would be changed forever and result in the art and sport we have today. That was the year that saw ROK normalize relations with Japan, even as the population continued to harbor (well-founded) resentments against its former imperial oppressor. That year also saw the last black belt test to use the old Shotokan kata, quan fa two-person forms, and Choi's (first five) Chang-Hon hyung (according to Kingsley Umoh's book "Taekwondo Poomsae: The Fighting Scrolls," which I highly recommend for its wealth of history, theory, and practical applications).
ReplyDeleteWhat I suspect happened is this: the Park regime, in its zeal to build out South Korean nationalism while at the same time building up its economic base, felt the need to thread the needle between exploiting anti-Japanese sentiment for political purposes while re-establishing relations with Japan for economic purposes. Given the growth in taekwondo's popularity, it was an easy task and quick political win to demand it "purify" itself of "Japanese influences" (never mind that the art wouldn't exist without these "influences"). These impulses had been growing for some time, starting with Park's coup in 1961, but for reasons that are still not fully clear to me (though they should be soon as I continue my research), they came to a head in 1965.
I suspect these events are also the reason the Palgwae forms (which my school practices, introducing PG 1-4 as additional 2nd Dan forms and PG 5-8 as additional 3rd Dan forms) seem somewhat more haphazardly arranged and much closer to the Shotokan (and if we're being honest, Chang-Hon) forms they replaced than the Taegeuk forms that came a few years later. To wit: the KTA was suddenly in a hurry to develop and roll out a new forms curriculum in time for the next black belt test, noticeably different from the old forms but still familiar enough that they could be learned quickly and demonstrated for testing purposes. This may also be why the Yudanja forms similarly appear only loosely connected to the philosophies they supposedly espouse, in two cases being renamed, in one case just being jettisoned entirely in favor of a new form -- while some forms may have been in development for a while (there's evidence of this, actually), they all had to be finished quickly to meet the demand to portray a fully "Korean" art and teach it to a generation of black belts who almost overnight had no forms to perform.
With the old forms supplanted by the Palgwae and Yudanja forms, the KTA Poomsae Committee had a little breathing space to finish work on the Taegeuk (and a new Koryo) poomsae, as well as more time to ensure representation from all the original kwan on the committee. I am fairly confident this is why the Taegeuk series appears more structured (and less like a re-cut clone of Shotokan) than the Palgwae series.
As I alluded to above, this is still as much supposition as it is a firm assessment, as my research is still at an early stage. I'm adding to it all the time, however, and hope to start publishing some findings in the next year or two. Your blog is a huge inspiration and valuable source for that endeavor, and I look forward to sharing ideas (and crediting your excellent work!) as my own research progresses.