[Norwegian language] Live Stream Taekwondo history part 1

 

https://youtu.be/dEbFm-tVCpU

I just got ordered to stay relaxed and not train for one week. I already has planned the regular training session I run every Friday so I simply changed it to a theory lesson on Taekwondo history. It’s all in Norwegian so if you know Norwegian Swedish or danish you’ll be OK :-) If not let me know if you want me to do it in English in the future. 

This talk covers military and civilian classical martial arts, the development and rise of modern Mudo/Budo, the formation of karate styles and their founders as relevant for Taekwondo history, Koreans in Japan, Koreans in China, development and founding of the Kwan (plural). I have A LOT more material so I’ll have to do a follow up with the rest (1950s to present day). 

Chulgi Chudan Hyung, essential learning for traditional minded Taekwondo students

 

https://youtu.be/pKV1aHodp40

I just did a “webinar” where I did a complete tutorial on Chulgi Chudan Hyung. In my opinion if you ever only learn one form outside of your curriculum you should really consider making that one form this one. It served for 100s of years as the foundation form for the root arts of Taekwondo all the way back to the time of “Tode” Sakugawa. 

It is also known as Kima and Naebojin Hyung in Korea or Naihanchi/Naifanchin and Tekki in Karate styles. 

In the webinar we go through opening and closing meditation, some sparring footwork and dynamic stretching and some kicking (there are no high kicks in Chulgi Chudan Hyung so I did include them in the training session so we got a complete Taekwondo training) and then most of the session focuses on learning the form itself. The emphasis is on the solo performance as I’m alone but I do talk a little bit on the practical applications of the form too. 

I hope you like it, and if you have something else you’d like me to do in the future please leave a comment or PM me :-) 

https://youtu.be/pKV1aHodp40

Online workshop English language 02 Feb anouncement

 

On February 2nd 2021 I’ll do a live class/Workshop focusing on teaching Chulgi Chudan Hyung. This form is also known in Korea as Kima and Naebojin too. In Okinawa styles it’s known as Naihanchi or Naifanchin, and in Shotokan it is called Tekki. 

Before the 1900s with the introduction of the 5 Pyungahn/Pinan/Heian forms, Chulgi Chudan Hyung was often the first (and only) form taught in Taekwondo’s root arts. Many early masters emphasised its importance both in training and in application. The workshop will obviously focus on the solo performance of the form. 

It is being held through Facebook live so go to my blogs Facebook page for more details 👍🏻 hope to see you there ;-) 

https://www.facebook.com/events/444198043605344/

Another live training session :-)

I just published my second live training session on YouTube:-) This time I did:

- Opening meditation 

- Olympic sparring footwork

- Dynamic stretching exercises 

- Kicking (front, round, side)

- Basic Hand techniques in Horse stance

- Taebaek Poomsae in depth

- Taegeuk 5-8

- 2 step sparring 1-5 as practised in the TTU

- Stretching 

- End of session meditation 

It’s in Norwegian language but it will be easy to follow along for anyone regardless of language :-) it is live so there is no editing or anything. It is therefore complete with water breaks etc. Just plug and play :-)

So If you’re interested go to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/XtSkHcb7j7o

Or see it here

(Epic) Guest post: The flower boys of old

 A long time ago (so long I don’t really remember if we were discussing history or what, Øyvind sent me a draft of an article he has started writing about the hwarang. It was easily one of the best pieces of writing I’ve ever read on them, so when he asked me if I remembered the draft he sent me and if I was willing to post his finished article I was overjoyed, humbled and homered all at once :-) I’ve been called a Taekwondo nerd many times, a badge I wear with honour, but Øyvind as you will see operates on a whole new level of greatness :-D This I am sure will be a great read for you, and unlike some people Øyvind has used good sources and critical thinking in his research. Thank you Øyvind :-) 

The flower boys of old

Written by Øyvind Kveine Haugen, independent researcher

 

If you have been involved with taekwondo for any period of time, you will undoubtably have been told that once upon a time, there were these mighty warriors in ancient Korea called "hwarang". They are usually mentioned in the curriculum when trying to explain the ancient roots of the martial art, right after the cave paintings of Goguryeo (37BC-668AD) but before the unification of Silla (668AD) and the Goryeo-Khitan wars (perhaps more correctly explained as a series of unsuccessful attempts of invasion, spanning roughly from 993-1019AD). In the ITF Chang Hon syllabus there's even a hwarang tul (tul being the ITF suffix for their forms, comparable to poomsae in WT style taekwondo), complete with the following description: "It is named after the hwarang group of scholar-warriors that originated in the Silla Dynasty in the early 7th Century." (Taekwondo Wiki).

The hwarang ideal has become a popular symbol in modern Korea. It has been used in the name of the Army Officers Training School, as the name of a high-ranking military decoration, as the name of multiple bars (one of which was frequented quite often during the author's stay in Seoul in 2010-11 due to its 3-hours-long "happy hour"), and generally brings about a sort of national pride mixed with romantic ideals of earlier days, much the same way as Shaolin monks are revered in China. However, this way of thinking about the hwarang is relatively new. It is an idea that has grown parallel to Korean independence after the war, and as far as I have been able to work out, the source of this idea might have been Yi Son-gun (李瑄根), who in 1949 published "a study of hwarang-do" (花郞道研究, hwarangdo yon'gu), which reads like a, frankly, speculative essay on hwarang ethics and ideals, and how these ideals influenced the entire Korean populace in the centuries after.

So, today I'd like to dig into these scholar-warriors and try to separate facts from fiction. 

All translations are my own unless explicitly noted. 

 

My first ever Live training session

This is my first ever live practise session. As of November2020 there is no regular Dojang practise allowed in my town because of COVID-19. So to motivate myself, and to perhaps give some motivation and structure to others training I went on my Dojang’s Facebook group and did a live training session. 

Its all in Norwegian language but it should be very easy to follow along the session if you know the Taekwondo terms.

The Original Koryo Hyung Part 2: Kim Daeshik version

In part 1 I wrote a general overview on the history of the form, who developed it, the different main
versions out there, and then I promised that in this part I would look at the performance of the form itself. I have selected the Kim Daeshik version to be the first one, as this is the oldest published version out there. 

The book "Karate and personal self defense" written by Kim Daeshik and Tom Leland back in 1971. If you remember the form was developed between 1965-1967 before it was replaced in 1972, so while the book is very close to the making of the form, there is a little gap between the introduction of the form and the publication of the book. As for Kim Daeshik himself, I think he is one of the best kept secrets of "Kukki-Taekwondo". He is no longer with us, and I am very sad that his work did not get more widespread recognition because he did write some awesome material during his career. The book this form is from is not one of them though, but it does contain a few gems like the original Koryo. I will try to write more about Kim Daeshik in the future and give a few book recommendations, because seriously some of his works are must reads. This post also lets me introduce my own teacher; Master Erling Oppedal. I sometimes get negative feedback on this blog since I am "rocking the boat" so I have purposefully kept him a little anonymous on this blog, but I asked him if he could pose for the illustrations for this post and I was so happy when he said yes :-D 

So with those introductions out of the way let us jump into the form itself :-)