The Pillars of Taekwondo training part four; Ho Sin Sul

In an earlier post I mentioned "The pillars of Taekwondo training". I defined them as Basic techniques, Forms training, sparring, self defense and breaking.(The post I am reffering to can be read by clicking here:)This has long been the format of what is usually labeled "Traditional Taekwondo" and I thought that I should write a little more indepth about each "pillar" this time. In this the fourth part of this rant I will look closer on what many consider "the fourth pillar" of Taekwondo training namely Ho Sin Sul (self defense). I would recomend readers to go through this series in the order they came out. Click here to go to part one (basics), click here to go to part two(Poomsae), click here for part three (Sparring).

What was old hard style TKD like?

I often get the question of how old hard style Taekwondo was like. This is a good question and I must say it is very difficult to have an accurate answer to it. You see old hard style Taekwondo was formed in several different schools. The different schools had their simularities but also differenses. For a quick guide to see when the schools opened and who founded them see my Taekwondos Karate roots post. I also had a post titled Taekwondo time travel that featured old style Taekwondo. Because of the number of schools involved and their differenses I have to talk generally here. The other problem is that old hard style taekwondo can be many things. In this post I will focus on the striking art as taught in Korea in the 40s-60s.

The Pillars of Taekwondo training Part Three; Sparring

In an earlier post I mentioned "The pillars of Taekwondo training". I defined them as Basic techniques, Forms training, sparring, self defense and breaking.(The post I am reffering to can be read by clicking here:)This has long been the format of what is usually labeled "Traditional Taekwondo" and I thought that I should write a little more indepth about each "pillar" this time. In this the third part of this rant I will look closer on what many consider "the third pillar" of Taekwondo training namely Sparring. I would recomend readers to go through this series in the order they came out. Click here to go to part one (Basics), and here to read part two (forms/poomsae).

Part Four; A Dan Promotion Test in 1962

Ok ready for the fourth and last part of this series? We have seen the requirements for 1-4th Dan. This time lets see what the students had to do for their 5th Dan. If you are wondering about the background for this post and its source please read through it in order:-)

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three

Part Three; A Dan Promotion Test in 1962

In my previous posts regarding the requirements for Dan Promotion in 1962 I covered the forms required for 1st to 3rd Dan. This post contiues from part two. As such we are now going to step into the Taekwondo Time machine and see what forms were required for Dan promotion for 4th Dan in 1962. Here is a video from Youtube (please leave a comment if the link dies) with early Korean Taekwondo students doing Heian/Pinan/Pyungahn 2 (the last half at least) and whole number 5. Enjoy

                                                                   

Part Two: A Dan Promotion test in 1962

In the last post I showed what the students had to do to reach their 1. Dan and 2. Dan in 1962. I started listing all the forms they had to do and I found it interesting that there were so many forms to choose from. Maybe it was not so strange after all beacuse the forms on this test was collected so that the students from each Kwan could choose a form he was familiar with. One thing that was interesting however was that there were three names for the Naihanchi form (see my last post). I guess there were three names because the different schools had different versions of the same form. For instance if someone would say that they were about to show me the Naihanchi form I would expect any of its variations accross all the Karate styles, while if someone said they wanted to show me the Tekki form I would expect the Shotokan version as they are the only school using the term. In this post I will continue with the forms list and try to give video examples from the forms as well as little on their background information.

Part One: A Dan Promotion test in 1962

Have you ever wondered how a black belt test was in the old hard style Taekwondo? Would it not be great to go back in time and see what the students had to to get their next Dan rank? I know I would love to do that, but unfortunatly we do not have the technology yet. I do however have some idea of how it all went down after reading  a little of "A Modern History of Taekwondo" by Kang and Lee. You see this wonderfull book contains a great part on the Dan tests of old. Hong Jong Pyo kept the paperwork after the first promotion test that the Kwans did together in 1962 and Kang and Lee used his paperwork and testemony to show their readers how the test was conducted.

Hyung, Tul, Poomse, Poomsae, whats the difference??

Pyongahn Hyung

Most styles of Korean Martial Arts do some kind of forms in their training. ITF has its "Tul", Kukkiwon had "Poomse" but changed the spelling in the 1980s to "Poomsae" and GTF (Global Taekwondo Federation) and other styles of KMA has "Hyung" in their systems. What is the difference between all these forms and names you ask??? Why do some styles use Hyung while others use Tul or Poomsae? First of; good question. Click the read more button and you will become much wiser on this issue:-)

A combative study of the "forkshaped punch/Chetdari jireugi"

Chetdari jireugi anno 1986

Training and studying Taekwondo at a University in Korea made me do things I would not normally do. Being a "traditional" Taekwondo student I believed that you had to perfect your poomsae one at a time and only what was required for your grade. But at the Korean university all Taekwondo students had to learn how to perform all of the Kukkiwon Poomsae. This made me the only 1st Dan that I knew of that could perform all the Poomsae from Taegeuk Il Jang to Poomsae Ilyo (I never really got the jumping sidekick down but I know that Poomsae well enough to be well aqainted with it). One experience was that the higher the Poomsae the more "strange" and "exotic" techniques appeared. One of them was the "Cetdari Jireugi", also known as "forkshaped punch" or simultainious punch with both hands to the front.

How old is Taekwondo??

Koogoryo toomb paintings
often seen as evidence
of Taekwondo`s existance
thousands of years ago

"How old is Taekwondo??" If I am ever going to make a FAQ (frequently asked questions) for Taekwondo this would probably be on the first five questions answered. Unfortuantly this is a difficult question to answer, and if you search the web you will find anything from 5 000 years old to 40 years old. Why this discrephancy and confusion? I guess you first need to be a little more spesific in the question. You see Taekwondo is different things to different people.

The Pillars of Taekwondo Training Part Two; Poomsae/Patterns

In an earlier post I mentioned "The pillars of Taekwondo training". I defined them as Basic techniques, Forms training, sparring, self defense and breaking.(The post I am reffering to can be read by clicking here:)This has long been the format of what is usually labeled "Traditional Taekwondo" and I thought that I should write a little more indepth about each "pillar" this time. In this the second part of this rant I will look closer on what many consider "the second pillar" of Taekwondo training namely Poomsae. Part one was about basic techniques and it can be read by clicking here

Whats the fuzz about stances anyway?

The "horse stance". Perhaps
South east Asian martial arts
most famous stance?

Besides pulling our non striking/non blocking hand to our hip and leaving us completly open to (counter)attack, our great arsenal of unrealistic "blocks" (think blocking two attacks at the same time), one of the other major "faults" with Taekwondo as an effective combat system is all its seemingless static and unusable stances. This is somthing we share with our sister martial arts Karate. It is no coincidence that we share this with Karate as we share a lot of history with the Okinawan/Japanese martial art (click here for more info). The hand that we pull to our hip has allready been covered here, and allthough I have not really plunged myself into my view of "blocking techniques" I have presented them briefly in earlier posts. So this time I would like to explore our "unrealistic" stances and hopefully show that the stances are not really that unpractical after all.

Learning by teaching

In many years now I have been teaching Taekwondo as well as studying it. I have found that one of the best ways to learn Taekwondo is by teaching it. And many of my most important "learnings" has come by teaching kids.

The Pillars of Taekwondo Training Part One; "Basic Techniques"

In an earlier post I mentioned "The pillars of Taekwondo training". I defined them as Basic techniques, Forms training, sparring, self defense and breaking.(The post I am reffering to can be read by clicking here:)This has long been the format of what is usually labeled "Traditional Taekwondo" and I thought that I should write a little more indepth about each "pillar" this time. In this the first part in this rant I will look closer on the first one (and many will undoubtfully say the most boring one:-p ) namely "Basic Techniques".

Get some function in your form!

The famous "Crane Technique".
"When done right no can defend"
(Quote from the film)

One thing that I seem to keep comming back to when writing this blog is Poomsae. I admitt that this part of my training is something that has fascinated me from the beginning and that I choose a TMA (Traditional Martial Art) because I wanted to learn fighting (I was confused as of what Self defense was) and Poomsae. It was mystical, mythical and excotic all at once and I wanted to be able to defend myself like "Daniel San" from Karate Kid:) I even wanted to learn the mythical "crane technique":-D Looking back it is all very funny but back then I took my studies very seriously. I can not recount how many times I have done my Poomsae over and over again.. I still do them everywhere I go, if I have nothing else to do or I am simply waiting for somthing (or someone) I can easily dish out a Taegeuk form or three:) One thing that fascinates me these days are that there are so many people out there who practise these forms every single day but who does not know or have any idea of what the movements mean. To all these people: "This post is dedicated to all of you:-D"

Muyedobotongji The oldest KMA manual part 2




 

This is part two of the article regarding Korean martial arts`s oldest manual. If you have not read part one yet I strongly suggest that you read that first before starting to read this part:) It can be read by clicking here

Enjoy:

There are a great deal of myths and misconceptions regarding this book and one of the most common is that the unarmed fighting section shows Taekwondo (or insert your KMA here) and is therefore evidence of Taekwondo (or insert your KMA here) being an ancient fighting art.

Muyedobotongji The oldest KMA manual.

Part one



Illustration on unarmed fighting from
the manual

Muyedobotongji (Muye Dobo Tongji) is a martial arts manual dating back to 1791 and is the Korean martial arts answer to Karate`s Bubishi. I wrote an article about the manual called "Debunking the Muye Dobo Tongji" and it was published in Totally Taekwondo Magazine issue 2. In the article I explain the history of the manual (its sources are much older than 1790s), the motivations of writing the manual, the sources of the manual, how it has affected modern KMA, what the manual contains and shedding some light on the myths and misconceptions sourrounding the manual. It is a long article so I have divided it in two parts.

Strategy and tactics. Whats the difference???

This is an article that I wrote a while back for Totally Taekwondo Magazine. I have included it here on my blog since I think that to have a clear understanding of what strategy and tactics really are can be helpfull for the Taekwondoin ("in" means people or person in Korean) This is especially true for teaching of Ho Shin Sul (Self defense). After reading this article try and ask yourself if you are an instructor: "Do I teach my martial arts strategy to my students or do I teach them a bunch of tactics?" And if you are a student: "Do I learn to master my martial arts strategy or do I learn a bunch of tactics??" A seperate post on what I think Taekwondo`s strategy is will be covered in the future:)

 

"Teacher I know all the Poomsae in our system! What now??"



(This is not the student in the story)


"Teacher I know all the Poomsae in our system! What now??" I was asked this by one of my students once. He had on his own studied all the Kukkiwon sanctioned Poomsae by training with senior students and with the great grand master You Tu be. I asked him if he could perform all the poomsae, and he proudly answered yes. Great I said. Now you are a chef who have memorised all the recipies in a coock book, but you are still starving because you have no idea as to how to actually make the food, or what the ingridients in the recipie are for.

Funny Taekwondo videos

In the Traditional Taekwondo world people always seem very serious about their studies and many never jokes or have fun about their training. I am not one of those as I find humor very important:) If you can not step out of the "Traditional Martial Art box", look back in (while you are on the outside) and laugh a little then you will find little or no joy in training. With this in mind I thought that I could share a couple of videos I found on Master Youtube with all of you. Bear in mind that these are not my movies, and that they are meant to be humorous. So if you do not think martial arts is a little funny then do not press the "read more button":) To all the rest: Watch these (and if you share my sense of humour) laugh a little:-D

Taekwondo Time Travel.

Would it not be great to see what "original" Taekwondo was like (if there ever was something we could call "original Taekwondo"?) Fighting has been around since humanbeings came into existence, so it is very difficult to say what original Taekwondo is. If we say that "original Taekwondo" is the striking art(s) taught in the old Kwan (schools) of the 40s and 50s in Korea then we can look at some old video footage from the 50s and 60s and get a glimpse of what the art of the old schools were like. These videos are rare and far between, and there is very little to find on the internet. I bet that as more and more people (re)discover footage and share them on the interent that more and more will be available. To save you from a lot of trouble I have asked Grandmaster Yu Tu Be and I got a few good hits from him. So here we go:

A closer look at Poomsae training part two

Application from Taegeuk Yuk (6) Jang.
Notice how the "pulling hand" is used
to hinder the oponents defense.

This is the 2nd part of an article I wrote for a Taekwondo magazine. Please read part 1 before reading this part. Part one can be read by clicking here. It is still a work in progress, but I think the readers of this blog will find it interesting:) So without further adu here is part two:
Part 2

Surrounding the Poomsae there are many myths as of why we practise, and what we can acchieve with the training. One of the strongest myths and one I want to put to rest first is the myth that if you are good at Poomsae you are good at fighting/sparring/self defense.

 

A closer look at Poomsae training.

This is part one in an article I wrote for a Taekwondo magazine. It is still a work in progress, but I think the readers of this blog will find it interesting:) So without further adu here is part one:

Author being explained the finer points
of the long front stance (apkubi)

A closer look at Poomsae training:

(By Oerjan Nilsen)

  

In this article I want to discuss what Poomsae training can do for the Taekwondo students and what it can not. I want to put some of the more common myths to rest and try to shed some light on this controversial and often missunderstood part of our training. To acchieve this we first must define what Poomsae or "patterns" are.

Label disease

Start thinking outside the "box"

In my post entitled "The hand on the hip? Why?" (Can be read by clicking here) I touched on one of the more common problems when viewing our patterns and basic techniques in terms of functionality. We can see "form" (how the technique looks like) but we can not see "function" (the purpose of the technique) by looking at the techniques themselves. Normal Poomsae training consists of performing the basic tecniques in prescribed order from beginning to end. There is no opponent, and the trainee and observer only sees "form".

Where is the interest in Poomsae applications?

Searching the internet for information regarding practical applications for the Taekwondo patterns I study, I am always suprised as to where the information is. All I can find is a big roaring silence. I can find a wealth of information regarding Karate and Quan Fa applications and their history, theories, etc etc, but I can not find anything on Taekwondo. Why is this? Are practisioners of Taekwondo less interested in pattern applications, grappling and vital points applications than their Karate and Quan Fa counterparts?

The hand on the hip? Why?

If you practise a traditional martial art of Asian origin that focus on striking, chances are that you do some kind of "form" in practise. Prearranged motions strung together into a set series of techniques performed alone. Karate has Kata, Quan Fa (or Kung Fu) has its Quan, and Taekwondo and the other Korean striking arts have Hyung, Tul or Poomsae. One distinct feature in these forms are that the performer will sometimes do techniques with one hand while the other goes back to the hip. Why on earth would anyone do this in a fight? It leaves the head wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide open to (counter)attack? Does it not?

If you are one of the people who are wondering why we pull one hand to our hip and you are tired of lame explanations ("It is tradition, now stop asking questions!!!", Because (insert pseudo science answer here) ... ", "more power" etc) then read more:)

Please read this: Stop with the basterised bowing!

NO NO NO.... WRONG... Do not look at each other...

Why do we bow to each other in Taekwondo? Or in the martial arts for that matter? Some would probably say that we bow because of tradition, others would give the reason as to keep diccipline and others yet again would say to show respect (to your partners, teacher, the art, etc). I say that they are all correct:) But there is one thing that really annoys me. That make me shrugg, and I just can not keep silent anymore. I hope every Taekwondoin (in is Korean for people and person) reads this: Do NOT KEEP EYECONTACT DURING THE BOWING!!!!!!

Another long lost form: Chulgi hyung

This time I would like to share with you another form that used to be practised widely in the Taekwondo comunity but wich is now almost dissapeared in Taekwondo practise. Before we had the Chang Hon forms (these are now practised by ITF or ITF derived Taekwon-Do schools), the Plagwae forms (These are now practised by a small part of the WTF/Kukkiwon derived schools) and the Taegeuk and black belt forms (Now practised in all the main stream WTF/Kukkiwon derived schools) we had the old Hyung that the founders of Taekwondo brought from outside sources and "borrowed" to form Taekwondo.

Taekwondo`s Karate roots

In these modern times most main stream texts regarding Taekwondo history maintains the wrong view that Taekwondo is a 2000 (sometimes its even said 5000 years) old native Korean martial art. This is probably due to the nationalist feelings in Korea after the Korean liberation from Japanese rule after world war 2. But is this the true story? I think not. At least not the whole story. Now in this post I will reveal the martial roots of the founders in the original Kwan`s.

What is "Traditional" Taekwondo?

What is traditional Taekwondo? This is something I have struggled with for a long time. The thing that is truest to say for tradition in Taekwondo is Taekwondos tradition for change. Think about it a little. In 1944 Chung Do Kwan opened its doors in Seoul Korea and the first Kwan of what was to become Taekwondo was opened. Other Kwan followed in the years after the Japanese occupation ended and before and after the Korean war.

Are there practical applications in our forms???

Funakoshi demonstrating a throw.
This is from a Japanese source so
look at it from right to left:)
This is an application from Empi Kata

This question pops out time and time again. Go to any martial arts forum (martial talk, etc) and look at the discussion conserning poomsae/Hyung/Tul/Kata/forms and there should be several discussions centered around this question or theme. Even within several discussions that does not start out with this question you will probably get someone who raises the question. This is a trend that has been going on since we first got martial arts that had forms in them. The same discussions are being held in all the JMA (Japanese martial arts), CMA (Chinese martial arts), OMA (Okinawan martial arts) that employ forms. Its just that before the work of people like Iain Abernethy, Bill Burgar, Chris Wilder, Victor Smith, Patric Mcharthy etc the question was slightly different, but the theme of practical usage of the forms or the movements therein was still there.

Koryo the lost form of Taekwondo?

In my history studdies regarding Taekwondo and its evolution of poomsae I learned something very interesting (at least it is very interesting to me:-p ). In the 1960s what was to become the KTA (Korean Taekwondo Assosiation) started developing the Palgwe forms series as well as the Black belt poomsae series we use today. In the early to mid 70s however the Palgwe form set was replaced by the Taegeuk form set. Poomsae Koryo was also replaced by a "new" version which is taught to the vast majority of WTF/Kukkiwon affiliated Dojang around the world. For some reason the Palgwe poomsae survived to a great extent since many people used them as additional poomsae to the Taegeuk, but the original 60s version of Koryo seemed lost in the sands of time.

How many poomsae do you know? Part 2



Could this be one
intrepretation for the move
in part one??



This is the 2nd part of two parts. Part one can be read by clicking here.

In my last posting I wrote a little about what it means to actually know a poomsae. I wrote that it was a lot more about your knowledge of how to apply poomsae movements and principles in self defense and combat than your performence of the patterns. The performance part does have its purpose, but it is not the end of poomsae practise.

How many poomsae do you know?

What is the most
practical meaning for
this move??

"How many Poomsae do you know Teacher?" I was asked this question not long ago by one of my students. Usually I just answer with the number of Poomsae I can perform since that is what the students are really asking anyway. This time however I froze. And then I started something scary.. I started thinking.