There is a great upside to embracing your Kwan-roots fully, and that is the opening up in rich forms material and historical forms material that is no longer normally preserved in the mainstream Kukki-Taekwondo or modern ITF curricula. This post is not about proving one version right and another wrong. It is about tracing how one movement in Balsae/Bassai was described and performed across Japanese and Korean sources, and what that tells us about Kwan-era transmission.
One of the very oldest forms in the Oh Do Kwan repertoire is Balsaek Hyeong. It is also perhaps the oldest form I know and practice (along with Cheolgi / Tekki / Naihanchi and Ban Wol / Hangetsu / Seisan).
"The Balsaek forms come in two versions, large and small. The distinctive feature of this form is that the blocking hand is quickly turned and transformed into another block, thereby shifting one from a disadvantageous position into an advantageous one. Its energy resembles the action of piercing through an enemy’s defensive fortifications, and from this comes the name “Balsaek.” - Choi Hong Hi 1959
It is a very interesting form, and among the forms that Anko Itosu drew from when he developed the Pyeongahn / Pinan / Heian Forms. We see the form echoed even into modern Taekwondo Poomsae. In Koryo Poomsae for instance you have right after a side kick, placing the foot down you do an upset low section spear hand thrust with one hand while the other one comes in front of the opposite shoulder in a long front stance. You then move the front foot back while pulling the "spearhand-thrusting-hand" back and up (to your hip in modern Koryo) while performing a low block.
This short sequence originated quite possibly in Bassai Kata or Balsaek Hyeong, before being mined to be included in Pyeonghan 5. One of these two then served as inspiration or knowledge-well for the originator(s) of modern Koryo Poomsae when it comes to this short sequence. I am not claiming a direct documented borrowing here, only that the technical resemblance is suggestive when viewed against the background of the KTA forms committee.
