Tan-Gun Hyung

 This is the second form taught in the Ch'ang Hon Hyung series. It is called Tan-Gun Hyung or Tan-Gun Tul in modern ITF and ITF-derived schools. In his 1965 book on Taekwondo, Choi Hong Hi writes this on Tan-Gun Hyung: "Tan-Gun is named after the holy Tan-Gun, the legendary founder of Korea in the year of 2334 B.C." And that is really all the background you get on this character. I only recently learned this form in my exploration and re-connection with my Oh Do Kwan roots (I have one teacher with Ji Do Kwan roots and one with Oh Do Kwan roots), but I was taught the story of Tan-Gun early on in my Taekwondo study. There are different versions but here follows the story as I was taught by my teacher:

"Once upon a time, a long long time ago, the Creator of Heaven and Earth got a son. The child grew up to be a handsome young man who was proned to be bored. When he got bored he searched out and amused himself by observing the wild animals. One time he chose a tiger and a bear and decided to put them to a test, but he also promised that if they passed they would become human. The test was that they would live in complete darkness in twenty days. The Tiger quickly became restless and left, but the Bear was patient and stuck to it for all 20 days. When the trial was over the Bear became a beutiful woman. She was so beutiful in fact that the Creators son layed with her, and together they got a son who they called Tan-Gun. He became a human and lived among humans and he founded the earliest Korean dynasty and society. "

As I said there are multiple different versions, but the gist of it remains the same. Tan-Gun is said to have established the earliest laws as well as religion as he is said to have made the first alter at Mari San, and it is also said he ruled with wisdom for twelve hundred years. 

The form itself is interesting as it really focuses on high section punches. One reason for the focus on high section punches is suposedly to symbolise Tan-Gun climbing a mountain. As the Kukki Taekwondo Poomsae deliver 90% of all punches to the midsection I find it very refreshing to keep all punches high :-) below you can see me trying to do the form 

Chon-Ji Hyung ( 천지형 ) Heaven - Earth Form

 I’m currently focusing on my Oh Do Kwan roots and therefore I’ve been studying the Ch’ang Hon Hyung lately. The Dojang I “grew up” in has both Ji Do Kwan roots through one of my teachers but the founder of the Dojang was originally taught in an Oh Do Kwan lineage. He originally graded with the Ch’and Hon Hyung, but discarded them later when he converted to a Kukki Taekwondo curriculum in favour of the Kukki Taekwondo Poomsae. He did keep the Dojang Kwan Heon (school life directive or philosophy) an Oh Do Kwan Heon. Therefore from white belt onward I was taught the Tenets of Taekwondo and the 5 Laws of Taekwondo to the point that it was tested in belt promotion tests as theory, it was called out before and or after training or discussed periodically in training. I’ve been fascinated by the Ji Do Kwan roots and researched both its philosophy and its forms, but now my attention has shifted as I have found a home within Oh Do Kwan through Hwallyeog Dojang. 

Chon-Ji means literally Heaven-Earth and according to Choi Hong Hi it symbolises creation of everything and therefore it is the first form taught to students, but as I heard him say in a 1968 video; it’s also important for black belts and masters to keep practicing it. 

It consists of two halves, one symbolising heaven and one earth, although Gm Choi never explains which was which. Therefore you’ll see different explanations some saying the beginning form symbolises heaven as low block is chambered up, while others saying the first half symbolises earth because the ending position of the low block points down. I’ve even seen some make the case that the last 4 punches symbolises Man(kind) so you get a SamTaegeuk symbolism going (Heaven, Earth, Man). That one is interesting but the creator of the form himself said there were two halves, not three parts. 

To my mind the Heaven-Earth symbolism equals Um(Yin) Jang symbolism where heaven (Chon) represents pure Yang Energy, and Earth (Ji) symbolises pure Um(Yin) energy. You’ll find both represented within the Palgwae or Taegeuk series that is taught in Kukki Taekwondo; namely Taegeuk/Palgwae 1 Jang which is based on Keon Gwe and Taegeuk/Palgwae 8 Jang based on Gon Gwe. Keon is Heaven/Father/Positive/Giver while Gon is Earth/Mother/Negative/Receiver. 

You will find it represented practically in the form itself as it consists of Makki-Jireugi or defense-Offense. Defense being Ji or earth principle and Attack is Chon or Heaven principle. The 4 punches at the end also represents the same duality even though they’re all “punches”. You see two of them moves forward (Chon or Heaven Principle) and two moves backward (Ji or Earth Principle). 

Below you can see me do a rendition of the form

Micro Post; The combo for the week (week 21)

You all thought I’d forgotten about this weeks combo didn’t you? Well here it is in all its glory (as much glory a chubby stiff inflexible guy can give it anyways😂) a jab-cross to the head which makes the opponent lift his arms to cover, an outwards crescent kick to remove his guard followed by a front kick to the head. Using crescent kicks as removing the guard is one of the “traditional” uses for them in combat, but you’ll also find many examples in old textbooks as “blocks” against both kicks and punches as well. 

Yu Pi Ryu Japanese Sword form from Korean Military Manual

 This is a video taken to check my technique last year. It shows the Wae Geom (Japanese Seord) form of Yu Pi Ryu which is one of the 4 Wae Geom documented within the Korean military manual Muyedobotongji published in 1790.

Micro Post; The combo for the week (week 20)

 Playing with twisting kick this time (biteuro chagi). I’m being mindful of how I move because of my injury, but I’ve never been a good kicker 😂 I do a jab, cross and flow into a twisting kick. All to the head at first, but the angle of the twisting kick sometimes bypass the guard. I also play around with different heights at the end doing a jab cross, low section twist kick (in my mind the opponent became off balanced and presented his head to me so I followed up with an outward crescent kick)

Micro Post; The combo for the week (week 19)

 As the song goes: “I hurt myself today…” I tore my calf muscle on my left leg so I’m not sure what that will do to this series as I have to be very mindful by in my training and take it sloooow while I recover. So if you don’t get more weekly combos for a while that will explain it.

Continuing on the theme punch-kick and utilising the versatile yet often overlooked front kick; in this combo I Jab, Cross (only doing a half hip twist as in a traditional reverse punch), and then flow straight into a back leg front kick. The punches to the head draws the guard up, so the kick goes to the midsection. The “half hip twist” on the cross let’s you put the hip into the kick so the rhythm of the combo is not a quick 1-2 and the BOOOM a kick, it’s a 1-2-3 no pause. 

Micro Post; The combo for the week (week 18)

I hurt my right ankle/achilles in December so I’m just starting to train myself in taekwondo again. As a part of my training I do shaddow sparring, so I thought a fun way of posting more regularly here (and YouTube) would be to present different combinations that I like (and you can try out yourself). 

This week and the first combo is supposed to be a Jab-Cross-Shuffle into lead leg front kick. The jab works as a range finder, the cross is supposed to be a power shot and the shuffle step is done to adapt to what an opponent is doing (in this case backing out of range). Try it out and let me know what you think in a comment (either here on the blog or on YouTube).