Reccomended reading part 2:

Called "blocking apparatus" this
kind of training is not gennerally
seen in any Taekwondo book!

Since I started out with the "obvious" Kukkiwon Textbook as number one in this series I want to bring your attention to another Taekwondo writer who has influenced me (and countless others) in
Taekwondo. You might have heard his name before; Choi Hong Hi. The book I am going to reccomend is not his 15 volume Encyclopedias allthough if you are a Chang Hon Ryu practisioner you should really really get that collection or at least the condensed Encyclopedia.

Part two: Taegeuk Pal Jang

In part one we looked primarely on the first two movements (though I added that the jumping front kicks could be a follow up, and another application for the jumping front kicks). This time I would like to continue with the form starting from the jumping front kicks. The form can be seen below:

 

Micro Post; This Months quote:

This time I will share one quote from Kenwa Mabuni. Like Funakoshi, Kenwa Mabuni was a Karate pioneer and taught by legendary masters. He was the first teacher of Yoon Kwae Byung which those who read my blog will know is the founder of the Ji Do Kwan (or reopener of the Yoon Moo Kwan as Ji Do Kwan depending on how you look at it). So eventhough Kenwa Mabuni is a Karate master and that most of Taekwondo`s Karate roots are with Gichin Funakoshi, Kenwa Mabuni also had a finger in the Kukki Taekwondo lineage. Mabuni is or was famous for his knowledge of many differen forms or Kata, but he was also famous for his deep knowledge of them. Knowing that he knew A LOT OF Kata or forms I found this quote very interesting when I first saw it. So here is the quote:

 

"If practiced properly, two or three kata will suffice as "your" kata;

all of the others can just be studied as sources of additional knowledge.

 

Breadth, no matter how great, means little without depth.

In other words, no matter how many kata you know,

they will be useless to you

if you don't practice them enough"

 

-Kenwa Mabuni

 

(To read the whole essay Mabuni wrote click here)

Reccomended Reading Part 1

My love for Martial Arts and my love for reading books has over the years made me amass a rather sizeable "library" on martial arts and martial arts related books. After being asked the question "What non Taekwondo book has enhanced your TKD the most?" recently I had to think through what books I have read and which had done the most for "My Taekwondo". The answer to the question of which book had enhanced my TKD the most (non TKD book) is probably Iain Abernethy`s Bunkai Jutsu as that book was the one who really started me out systematicly looking at the forms I practise and how everything fits together (or should fit together anyway). I have always been interested in the practical application of Taekwondo, but before reading the Bunkai Jutsu book I really did not see how Poomsae had combative meaning beyond being basic techniques strung together. Bunkai Jutsu by Iain Abernethy will therefore be in this series but not right now:-)

Part One: Taegeuk Pal Jang

I must admit that while I study applications from all the forms I practise I center my studdies around very few forms and "casually" interpret the rest of my forms. This way I can get a deep understanding of my "core forms" while still getting additional input from other sources. For this post however I

We Santeul Makki

wanted a challenge. I decided that I wanted to try to completly read a random form between Taegeuk Il (1) Jang and Hansoo Poomsae. So I searched out a random number generator and made it chose a number between 1 and 16 and got 8. So Taegeuk Pal Jang it is:p Unlucky for me this is not one of my "core forms" when it comes to applications study so this is going to be fun:-) I plan to do the same for Taegeuk Pal Jang as I did for Keumgang Poomsae; Make a series of post and give applications and thoughts for each movement in the form from start to finish.

How "deep" the applications are going to be will depend on the Outlook the reader has on forms applications. Some sequences in Taegeuk Pal Jang just lends themselves so well into a Kick Block Punch paradigm that making it more "advanced" might actually just make the sequences harder to apply in combat. I have no interest in making "advanced" applications for the sake of making them "advanced". I make "alternative" applications wherever the official or Kick Block Punch line of thought make no sense. So if you want to learn more about Taegeuk Pal Jang click the read more:-)

Open question to those who believe that Poomsae is only kick block punch

This post will act as an open question to those who believes and or states as fact that the Korean Taekwondo Association forms (Taegeuk and Black Belt forms) were based purely on a "Kick Block Punch" Paradigm. There are an awfull lot of People out there casually stating "cold hard facts" when discussing applications in Korean derived forms stating things like: "Koreans only knew kick block punch applications so there are no intentional applications within the KMA (Korean Martial Arts) forms beyond kick block punch." The Kick Block Punch Paradigm is the view that all techniques within the forms MUST be either a kick, a Block or a punch/ strike. I have written at length here about the old Kwan`s and their roots so I will not go into them here yet again. I will only say that I personally think the originators of the Korean Taekwondo Association forms knew more about their martial art than what people today give them credit for. My question for those who subscribe to the belief that the KMA forms only consists of kick block punch is this: