Collection of "Good" Poomsae Videos (Black Belt Poomsae)

In my last post I provided Youtube links to all the colour belts Poomsae. I though I should do the same with the Black Belt Poomsae as a service to the readers:-) This way you have all the Poomsae in the Kukkiwon System together at one site. I started the Blog as a means for me to gather my thoughts, get rid of "frustrations" and to ramble away everything Taekwondo. The blog has not gathered a lot of attention, and there is little traffic on it (somewhere between 60-100 hits a day) but I know at least a few use this Blog as a resource, and providing good videos to all the Poomsae in the Kukkiwon system is one way of expanding on this:-) Anyway I wish all my present (future and past) readers out there a Merry Christmas, and if you are reading this then the world has not ended (set to publish at 22th December 00:01 so we can relax untill the next doomsday is on its way:-)

Collection of "Good" Poomsae Videos (Cup Graders Poomsae)

In my previous post I suggested that people should stay away from Youtube when trying to learn themselves forms. I got a few comments from my fellow students that maybe it would be more helpfull to "collect" what I would consider good videos for learning. I regret to say that I have not chosen "the best" as I consider the best videos on youtube "stolen". They are uploaded from a DVD collection that people have been working hard to produce and that they are making money from (at least trying to make money). The people who are uploading that should stop doing that and really look into what Taekwondo ethics and philosophy are all about. I have included one "stolen" video so you can see wich ones that you should stay clear of so you do not support this theft. The rest of the videos I have chosen to share are stolen too, but so long ago that they are not being sold anymore. They are in some rare sequences a little outdated, but all in all you do not go much wrong in following along these videos.

A holliday tip to all "form-collectors" out there

This time of year many people are going to grade up to a new rank in Taekwondo as many Dojang (at least the ones I know of) usually have two gradings each year, one before summer holliday and one before Christmas. In Kukki Taekwondo this means that now that you just ranked up a notch you now need to learn a new Poomsae (form). I strongly reccomend that you do not use your holliday trying to learn it yourself but to wait untill you once again are training under the watchfull eyes of your instructor.

Is Taekwondo really a "kicking art"?

I was going through all the Kukkiwon Poomsae the other day and suddenly it hit me. I no longer compete activly in the WTF sanctioned events where kicks are just about the only way of getting points, so my training in Taekwondo (not including strength, stamina etc) is centered mainly around basics, poomsae, matchoe kyorugi and ho sin sul drills (this includes practical application of poomsae). What hit me is that we are always looked upon as a kicking art from both other martial arts and people outside the martial arts, but if we take away our competition format of fighting we are left with an art that is very much centered on the use of the arms.

An Historical View on Matchoe Kyorigi

In my last post I wrote about Matchoe Kyorigi and I touched upon something close to my heart and that is "context awareness" in Taekwondo. Machoe Kyorigi (Predetermined Sparring) are often viewed as old fashioned and or outdated combat training. In my view however this is putting Matchoe Kyorigi in a wrong context as I believe it was not originally meant to be used purely as combat training. I quoted a famous Shotokan Karate Master that:
"Matchoe Kyorigi is training to Harmonize with you opponent"

This is not a post on that theme, but rather how Matchoe Kyorigi was used and described in the early Taekwondo writings of Son Duk Sung and General Choi Hong Hi. I do not wish to be accused of "editing" Taekwondo history so it is in line with my view because frankly I can not do that as the old writings of Son Duk Sung and General Choi Hong Hi disagree with me.

Matchoe Kyorigi, Taekwondo`s forgotten art?

Taekwondo is often presented as a uniquely Korean ancient martial art with no ties to "foreign" Martial Arts. I actually believed that people today would know better, but just a few days ago I was faced with several individuals who eagerly defended "the 2000 years myth". It did not matter how much logic I presented so I gave up and said I would agree to disagree with them. I am getting older and wiser I think as a few years back I would probably not given in so easily.

One thing that does show that Taekwondo has been influenced by Karate however is something I have concentrated on in my classes lately as there is a grading for our students comming up and Machoe Kyorigi is one of the requirements for all grades (in different guises of course). Machoe Kyorigi is predetermined sparring divided in our system into:

• Sambon Kyorigi (3 Step Sparring)
• Hanbon Kyorigi Son Dongjak (1 Step Sparring Hand Techniques)
• Hanbon Kyorigi Bal Dongjak (1 Step Sparring Foot Techniques)
• Hanbon Kyorigi Eungyong Dongjak (1 Step Sparring combination* techniques)
• Dubon Kyorigi (2 Step Sparring)
• Mechigi (Throwing)
• Anja Kyorigi (Formal Sparring from seated position)

*Eungyong means "practical" but it is in this case often translated into our language as "combination" because the formal sparring uses one foot technique, hand technique and a self defense technique and mixes them together into the counter attacks in that kind of sparring.

Sparring = Free Sparring = Competition Sparring?

Look at the equation in the headline of this post. That equation without the question mark at the end of it seems to be the general view of sparring in just about all the Dojang I have ever visited (and I have been to quite a few). Even in Dojang that claims to teach "Traditional", "Real", "No-Nonsense" (insert something along those lines here) Taekwondo seems to be infected by this way of thinking. Before you click the "read more" link I feel I should give a "Ramble Alert":)