Following from the last months quote on Taekwondo history this months quote is also grounded in Taekwondo history. Many readers of this blog will know the origin of modern Taekwondo lies not only within Korea but also within Okinawa, Japan and China. What many people do not know is that Choi Hong Hi founder of the Oh Do Kwan and the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) included Karate Kata in his teachings at least untill 1965. That year he published "Taekwon-do the art of self defense" and included 15 different Karate Kata in the book along with the first 20 forms he developed for his own school. The Karate Kata were treated and documented with the same depth as his own creations in this book which I also find interesting. I do not know how long after 1965 the Karate Kata were considered part of Taekwondo, but in his next 1970s book they were no longer there, and the Korean Taekwondo Association would present the Palgwe forms to replace the Karate Kata in 1967. To show how highly the Karate Kata were regarded in Taekwondo at this time you can see the quote below by Choi Hong Hi on the Heian Kata:
Hei-an means safety and peacefulness.
This name is obtained from the fact that anyone
who has mastered this type is able to protect himself
or herself easily in any unforseen situation.
-Choi Hong Hi; Founder of Oh Do Kwan
The Heian forms were most often called Pyungahn in the Korean schools. They are known as "Pinan" in Okinawan Karate and most Karate styles, but Gichin Funakoshi renamed them "Heian". One of the forms along with some combative interpretations can be seen in the clip below:
Recently (time is subjective) I started a Taekwondo "study group" and one of the first posts I shared on it was my post Myths: All blocks are blocks! (Not) and more . The example in that post consists of Hecho Santeul Makki or Spreading Mountain Block. Two other members of that Group shared videos of how they approach their systems Mountain Blocks. While their examples ends up in the same
ending position they do not show the Hecho Santeul Makki from Pyungwon Poomsae but rather the "regular" Santeul Makki that can be seen in Keumgang Poomsae. I thought it would make a great post to gather all the information on that technique from this blog that have been published earlier coupled with the new material that was kindly shared by my study buddies:-) The video that features Colin from Traditional Taekwondo Techniques blog was put together especially for the study Group which explains the names being mentioned in the beginning of the Clip as well as the youtube label:-)
This interview was first published in Totally Taekwondo Magazine early January. As it came to dominate the first page of that issue I waited until the next issue was out before posting it here. I think that the Readers of this blog will really enjoy it as it touches on many Things that I have written about before (a little history, training Methods, drilling, and a Whole lot more). Simon manages to say stuff in a few sentences that I need a Whole or series of blog posts to get accross, so as I said before I really think you will enjoy it, I know I did, and that I learned a lot from doing the interview. The bold text is mine and the questions I asked him while the regular text that is not bold is Simons replies.
Simon O`Neill has shared yet another Clip from his brilliant Taegeuk Cipher DVD where he explains self defense and fighting applications derived from the Taegeuk form series. I have confessed that I love his work and especially admire the coherent way in which all his applications fit together as a logical syllabus. I hope to acchieve the same level of coherentness myself one day. An interview with Simon O`Neill is scheduled for release on this blog the 5th of March (Previously published in the Totally Taekwondo Magazine)
In this sequence he demonstrates the "knife hand block" from back stance moving into long front walking stance and "middle section punch" from a more strikingbased viewpoint. The "blocking movement" might seem a bit off if you are used to the "Kukkiwon standard" but it is wholly inline with the older Kwan (the schools that together made Taekwondo) method of moving.
The most basic application is a simple block punch combo and as far as block punch combos go this one is not that bad, yet it can still be used in more sophisticated ways as shown below
If you like Simon`s work, or you want to buy the DVDs or his book please visit http://palkwon.com/en/index.html and if you want to show your support you can visit the Taegeuk Cipher Facebook page and "Like" here: https://www.facebook.com/taegeukcipher?fref=ts
both will help his promotion of the Taegeuk Cipher works (book and DVD series).
Chris Denwood has a great site with lots of good articles and clips on applied Karate. Karate and Taekwondo having common roots has a lot of overlap when you look at combative applications to the movements and I was pleasently suprised when I clicked on the video only to see that one of the applications I have covered on this blog was demonstrated the first few seconds into the clip. The application is described here: http://jungdokwan-taekwondo.blogspot.no/2012/06/practical-application-from-taegeuk-il-1.html and as you can see my post is way older than his clip:-)
He does expand this into a whole drill using mainly the low block (arae makki) movement. For more videos and blogposts etc from Chris Denwood visit his site on www.chrisdenwood.com .
This is going to be a relativly short post but it will deal with three Taekwondo "myths". All of the myths are being propogated by many people and even by relativly higher Dan grades too. It is time to put an end to these myths so this post will adress it and hopefully put it to rest. I will use an example from the Kukkiwon Textbook as my main argument against the myths as it is difficult to say that the Kukkiwon Textbook is wrong for the propogators of the myths.
I really enjoy making "This months quote" posts. I get to sift through a lot of interesting material and then choose one quote to share with the world. In the first "This months quote" post I wrote last year I wrote that I would chose Martial Arts related quotes and that some would be funny, some would be serious and some would make you think. I chose the following quote for 2 reasons:
I get brilliant comments on this blog (both questions, discussions and further Insights to what I have written) and often they are just as good as the post itself. I relly want to highlight this fact by chosing a quote from the blog. (Sorry Richard this time it is not you, but to all the readers out there if you see a comment from Richard please make sure to read it as they contain a wealth of knowledge and additional Insights from an experienced and knowledgeable martial artist).
Taekwondo history is very controversial because people like to believe in the 2000 years myth, and focus exclusivly on the Korean roots of Taekwondo. While the Korean side to Taekwondo is not to be ignored this view on Taekwondo history (ignoring all the other factors involved in the development of Taekwondo) can be likened to a guy researching his family history solely on his father side and ignoring what happened on his mothers side of the family tree. Obviously you are the sum of both sides just like Taekwondo is the sum of several different sources. The quote sums up a very healthy attitude on Taekwondo history that I think all should endevour to follow
So With that lengthy introduction (this is almost starting to become something else than a micro post) here is the quote itself:
"I'm convinced about the karate roots of taekwondo
(I know there is some chuan fa influence, too, although it is not explicit in KKW forms),
and I just won't deny them --
instead I will dig them up and try to use them in favour of our art"
