Sharing some of my favorite Taekwondo Poomsae Quotes (On application)

I recently made a 30 minute video of myself sharing a few of my favorite practical poomsae application quotes. These are taken from many sources, but both from the Karate roots of taekwondo and from "modern" taekwondo masters, as well as a short discussion on the stages of poomsae training as outlined in the Kukkiwon Textbook.

Below is the video itself, and if you click the "read more", you will be treated to the quotes themselves in text format as some prefer them in text. For more context and my own thoughts about them watch the video :-)

«Training of Poomsae

1) Pattern. The first step of training Poomsae is to learn the pattern. Concentration of spirit, eyes, angles of movement must be emphasized in addition to the accuracy of actions.

2) Significance. In the next step, the emphasis must be laid on the balance, strength and weakness, low or high speed, respiration and Poomsae line. The significance of movements, connection of pooms and the complete Poomsae must be learned correctly.

3) Practical use. One must adapt what he has learned to his practical use, finding out the practicability.

4) Self style. One must evaluate his findings about the effectiveness of what he has learned, comparing with his or her bodily structure, speed, strength, impulsive power, point of emphasis in training etc., and modorate the techniques into his own style.

5) Completion. One achieves a synthetic accomplishment of Poomsae training by mastering the art of taekwondo techniques including taekwondo spirit.» (Kukkiwon Textbook 2006 p 306)

"Once a form has been learned, it must be practised repeatedly until it can be applied in an emergency, for knowledge of just the sequence of a form in karate is useless." -Funakoshi

“You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning Karate is not very different from learning a dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of Karate.” – Funakoshi

Lee Kyu Hyung: «Poomsae training purpose:

1: Poomsae training primarily aims to learn the face-to-face fighting arts for an actual field to protect oneself in an emergency

2: Poomsae training is one way to learn face-to-face fighting arts for an actial field. It primarily aims to apply one`s learned techniques immediately to the actual field by repeating in advance countless attack and block techniques.

3: It is very improtant to understand exactly technical contents about how to make a defense and try attack back against opponents and characteristics, functions, and methods of each movement.

4: Apart from face-to-face fighting in Poomsae training, it has been considered as physical training for good health in recent years.

The true meaning of the hikite, or pulling hand, is to grab the opponent's attacking hand and pull it in whilst twisting it as much as possible so that his body is forced to lean against the defender." - Gichin Funakoshi

All kata use the so-called postures (kamae). In fact, there are many kinds of postures and many kinds of kata. While learning these postures should not be totally ignored, we must be careful not to overlook that they are just forms or templates of sort; it is the function of their application which needs to be mastered. – Choki Motobu

"Kobo Kenpo Karatedo Nyumon by Kenwa Mabuni as translated by Joe Swift:

The meaning of the directions in kata (Poomsae) is not well understood, and frequently mistakes are made in the interpretation of kata (Poomsae) movements. In extreme cases, it is sometimes heard that "this kata (Poomsae) moves in 8 directions so it is designed for fighting 8 opponents" or some such nonsense. I would like to specifically address this issue now.
Looking at the enbusen for Pinan Nidan (Pyung Ahn 2 Hyung), one can see that karate kata (Taekwondo Poomsae) move in all directions, forward and back, left and right. When interpreting kata (Poomsae), one must not get too caught up in these directions. For example, do not fall into the trap of thinking that just because a kata (Poomsae) begins to the left that the opponent is always attacking from the left. There are two ways of looking at this:
1 - The (Poomsae) kata is defending against an attack from the left.
2 - Angle to the left against a frontal attack.
At first glance, both of these look alright. However, looking at only number (1), the meaning of the kata becomes narrow, and the kata, which in reality must be applied freely in any situation, becomes awfully meager in its application.
Looking at an actual example, the 5 Pinan kata all start to the left, and then repeat the same series of techniques to the right. Looking at interpretation (1), the opponent must always attack from the left, and while fighting that opponent, another opponent comes from behind so the defender turns to fight that opponent. This type of interpretation is highly unreasonable.
Looking at interpretation number (2) however, the 5 Pinan kata show us that against an attack from the front we can evade either left or right to put ourselves in the most advantageous position to defend ourselves."

"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. "

-Kenwa Mabuni

“A student well versed in even one technique

will naturally see corresponding points in other techniques.

A upper level punch, a lower punch,

a front punch and a reverse punch are all essentially the same.

Looking over thirty-odd kata,

he should be able to see that they are essentially variations on just a handful.”

-Gichin Funakoshi

"The Secret was that when a small man faces an opponent,

he must not take backward steps to evade blows or kicks;

 instead he should take forward steps or side steps so

that he can take the offensive right after defending himself."

-Soshin Nagamine