In modern ITF Taekwon-Do the karate roots of Taekwondo is often overlooked, or downplayed. I think this is also true for most schools of Taekwondo, and I think that is a mistake, because we need to have a good grasp of where we came from to see where we should continue to go. Without a proper setting off point, how can we determine the route or destination? Some "Taekwon-Do rebels" such as Paul O'Leary has written for many years on the Karate roots of different Chang Hon Ryu forms, noting how Won-Hyo Hyung is a composite of two different Pinan/Heian Karate Kata. There are several forms in Chang Hon Ryu who lifts whole sequences of Karate Kata move for move or with very small tweaks. There is nothing wrong with that, and I truly enjoy practising them, because Choi and his team really has in my opinion taken their Karate roots and infused them with a Korean identity by repackeging them, lifting sequences from Karate kata, but also expanding upon them and so on. I find great value in them in other words. One form that few people if any have noticed is also largely a repackaged Karate Kata is Chon-Ji Hyung or Tul. In this post I want to shed some light on the roots of Chon-Ji Hyung, and how it is repackaged. I have previously written about how the technical makeup of Chon-Ji Hyung is brilliant, and closely linked to philosophy, I will try to do it justice here as well. If however you want to check out a deep dive into Chon-Ji Hyung as a philosophical-Physical link you can click here for that. For the Karate roots of Chon-Ji Hyung please click to read on on this post :-)
The technical makeup of Chon-Ji Hyung
The technical makeup of Chon-Ji Hyung is simple. It consists of 2 or perhaps 3 parts.
The first part is comprised with Low section block in front stance (apkoobi), followed with a step forward and middle section punch in front stance.
The second part is comprised with outward middle block using the thumb side of the forearm (or momtong an palmok bakkat makki in modern Kukki Taekwondo terminology) performed in back stance (or dwitkoobi) followed by a step forward into a middle section punch in front stance (or apkoobi)
The third part consists of the punches at the end of the form, 3-4 punches depending on how you divide the parts up, and some stepping forward and some steping backward.
The Karate root
Now much has been written about the karate roots of other forms but I can not remember anyone else making the link between Chon-Ji Hyung and Karate Kata, but here it is: I see Chon-Ji Hyung as a reformatting (and even improvement upon) the Shotokan Taikyoku Kata series. The reason I think this link is overlooked is simply that the Taikyoku Kata of Shotokan does not seem to get much attention. In fact many Shotokan Dojo has simply stopped practising and teaching them, which I find incredible seeing as how this is a Kata series developed by Funakoshi and or by his son with his fathers blessing.
Choi Hong Hi learned Shotokan Karate in Japan before returning to Korea. In Korea he established Oh Do Kwan within the military and he surrounded himself with several top people from the Chung Do Kwan which also was a school with strong shotokan roots. Choi was an honorary director of the Chung Do Kwan too at some point. The reason I say this is that it is highly likely that they trained and taught the Taikyoku Kata series at the Oh Do Kwan at least as late as 1959, seeing as how Choi Hong Hi included the three forms in that book at that time. They were however seemingly gone from the curriculum by 1965 when he published the first book on Taekwondo in english. That book still retained several Karate Kata, but the Taegeuk were nowhere to be seen. We can speculate why they were dropped by that time and not the rest, but I think the reason lies within how Chon-Ji is structured, eliminating the need for the Taegeuk to be in active use within Oh Do Kwan once Chon-Ji was introduced.
The technical makeup of Taegeuk 1/Taikyoku 1:
This form has a different floor pattern than Chon-Ji, but it mainly consists of sequences of Low section block in front stance (apkoobi), followed with a step forward and middle section punch in front stance. Theres a short sequence repeated where the performer does one front stance and low block, followed with walking forward 3 times while walking in front stance and doing middle section punches, with a Kihap on the third one. So even in this short deviation from Chon-Ji's technical makeup, we are still working with the same concept of low block into a walking forward middle punch. This is very much the technical makeup identical to Chon-Ji's first half.
The technical makeup of Taegeuk 3/Taikyoku 3
This form shares identical floor pattern with Taegeuk 1 (and 2), but it deviates a little by introducing back stance (or dwit koobi) and an palmok bakkat makki (middle outward thumb side of forearm block). In fact most of the form consists of the performer doing the outward block in back stance, followed by walking forward into a long front walking stance and middle section punch. This is the exact combination that you see in the second half of Chon-Ji.
Why did I skip Taegeuk 2/Taikyoku 2?
Honestly it is the same form (in essence) as Taegeuk 1/Taikyoku 1, except that all punches are delivered to high section. That is also an almost direct quote from Choi's 1959 book on Taegeuk 2 where the only documentation of that specific form consists of the heading "Taegeuk 2 Hyung" followed with a single sentece (which I paraphrased). This suggests to me at least that Taegeuk 2 was not really focused upon, as it was seen as "just a variation on 1", while the third one was documented thouroughly with both descriptions and images.
Conclusion?
Several Chang Hon Ryu forms seems to be a repackaging of two (or more) karate kata with small differences and elaborations. The opening of Won-Hyo Hyung for instance has a 3 count combination that you will find in the older Pyongahn/Heian/Pinan series (Pyungahn/Heian 2, Pinan 1). The difference is that the second count makes use of a knife hand hand-formation, while the "original" uses a closed fist throughout. Won-Hyo Hyung's 4th count is a side kick to the front of the starting point, while Heian and Pyungahn often uses a sidekick (sometimes front kick depending on style and school) to the back of the starting point. Won-Hyo Hyung can likewise be traced back move for move back to the Pyungahn-Heian series and the only uniqueness is the ending back stance, forearm guarding blocks on both sides.
Chon-Ji Hyung likewise has a different floorplan to the Taegeuk Hyung, but in essence you have in part 1 a repackaging of Taegeuk 1, in its second part you have a repackaging of Taegeuk 3, the only "uniqueness" comes at the end when you have both forward and backward stepping punches.
Choi Hong Hi and his team in my opinion managed to draw out the essence of 3 Taegeuk forms and make a concentrated form still containing much of the lessons of three forms into that one form. That is remarkable. If you read my blog post on Chon-Ji and philosophy that I linked to in the beginning of this post you will also see that he brilliantly packed the form to the brink of symbolism and linked its physical performance into its philosophical component in a far better way than what the Taegeuk Hyung did (again in my opinion).
What "everyone" is wondering now: Are there practical applications for Chon-Ji and Taegeuk Hyung?
The individual techniques, and even the combinations of techniques are drawn from older Hyung so in a manner of speaking Yes there are. On the other hand I do not think the Taegeuk or Chon-Ji Hyung was made with practical application in mind. I see them personally as pure movement training. This is also supported by the writings of Gichin Funakoshi on the Taikyoku Kata and by Choi Hong Hi's introduction text on the Taegeuk Hyung from his 1959 book). Chon-Ji Hyung in particular I see as something that works brilliantly along with Saju-Jireugi and Saju-Makki excersises. You learn the Saju as an excersise drill where the point is to train and incorporate hip twist into basic techniques, you then learn (and continue to train) Chon-Ji Hyung as a "hip twist" masterclass (that is the way I see it, and I have to thank the writings of Master Stuart A. Anslow for sharing his insights). I honestly think that "practical" applications starts with Dan-Gun Hyung in the Chang Hon Ryu, but that might be another post:-)
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