Part 3: The lost Ji Do Kwan Taegeuk Hyung (not the modern taegeuk poomsae)

This is a series on the original taegeuk forms or Taikyouku Kata that were practised in the Kwan era. More specifically the version practised in Ji Do Kwan. I strongly suggest you click here for part 1 and start the series there as I will asume you already have the knowledge shared within part 1 and 2 :-)

Part 2: The lost Ji Do Kwan Taegeuk Hyung (not the modern taegeuk poomsae)

 This is Part 2 of a series. I strongly suggest you click here for part 1 and start there, as I will assume you know the information contained within that part. 

In part 2 I will continue documenting the original tae keuk hyung of Ji Do Kwan, not to be confused with the modern taegeuk poomsae series. Tae Keuk Hyung is a series of three forms, all following the same floor pattern (an inverted "H-shape") and all consisting of fairly basic stances and attacks. The first form in the series which we covered in part 1 is identical to Shotokan's Taikyoku Shodan (1) Kata, move for move, and even the Kihap points. Its when we come to the 2nd and 3rd form we see differences. When I first stumbled across these I looked at the first form which was illustrated (the 2nd and 3rd were text only) and I recognised the form as Shotokan's Taikyoku Kata 1. I therefore assumed given Chun Sang Sup's background in Shotokan that the Tae Keuk forms were simply shotokan copies. Years later when revisiting them since I thought it was a tragedy that the Ji Do Kwan forms were lost (or at least it does seem like they were) I was hoping that there might be something different about them and it was. So without further adu let us look at how the 2nd form of the Tae Keuk Hyung were performed. 

Part 1: The lost Ji Do Kwan Taegeuk Hyung (not the modern taegeuk poomsae)

 In my last post I walked you through a short history of the Ji Do Kwan and the issues we have when it comes to lineage, which is why I believe that we have lost all the original Ji Do Kwan Hyung as they were practised in the Kwan-era (in Ji Do Kwan's case 1946-1966 since they adopted Palgwae and then Taegeuk forms). The students focused very much on the practical applications of the basic techniques as used in sparring and the school became legendary for its fierce fighters. Later they joined the Korean Taekwondo movement fullheartedly in 1966, and got to have their own representatives in the poomse comitte who made the Taegeuk poomse series of 8 forms and the new Koryo poomse which replaced the older Koryo Hyung made by the orignal comitte. Why they left the rest of the Judanja poomse largely in peace I do not know. This focus on the sparring applications, and then the fullhearted joining of what was to become modern Kukki-Taekwondo unfortunatly came at a steep (in my opinion) price; The loss of the original Ji Do Kwan Hyung as practised in the Kwan-era. The school originally had instructors comming with dan ranks from Shotokan (most possibly), Shudokan Karate and Shito-Ryu Karate, or in other words their knowledgepool flowed from Gichin Funakoshi, Kenwa Mabuni and Toyama Kanken. All Karate legends, and this wide array of "knowledge rivers" is rather unique in Kwan terms. Therefore the loss of their forms is truly a tragedy. When going over some of the more obscure books in my collection I revisited Sihak Henry Cho's book called Better Karate for Boys". It is a short and simple book covering some stances and basic techniques and basic facts like what to expect from a class, how to fold your training uniform, how to tie your belt etc. One of the things that he also covered were three "Tae Keuk Hyung" or taegeuk hyung which is how we would have spelled it today. 

The tragedy of Ji Do Kwan

I have often written about the roots of Ji Do Kwan, and I have "talked them up" because I am biased when it comes to Ji Do Kwan coming fra a Ji Do Kwan background myself through one of my first primary teachers in Taekwondo; Grandmaster Cho Woon Sup. In this post I will try to give a more balanced view and talk a little about the link in the lineage problem. I might do another post where I discuss this more thouroughly because this is not only a Ji Do Kwan problem, but I am going to gift Ji Do Kwan practisioners with a small treasure (in my view) that I happened to come across in my research, but before gifting it, I want to give a little perspective so people can appreciate what I am giving.