Korean Taekkyon

[chenyaolong]

http://www.monkeystealspeach.co.uk/trav ... outh-korea

My blog about beginning training in Taekkyon

[Andy_S]

Chenyaolong:

RE: Blog on Taekkyeon
Good intro, but I would add:

RE: Hwarang
There is no actual historical reference to the Hwarang being warriors. In fact, they were a youth corps of children and teens, though some of them (such as Kim Yu-shin) did go on to become warriors. All we can say for certain is that they were groups of children who made themselves up and danced in the mountains. (Hwarang means "flower boy"). I sense that modern Koreans have mythologized the hwarang with great inaccuracy.

RE: Subak
You are right that subank is mentioned in one document (Goryeo Dynasty) but it is also mentioned that it is a "play" or a "lark" which indicates to me that, like taekkyeon, it was a folk game rather than a battlefield MA. (As you know, taekkyeon has not weapons, so was useless for warriors.)

RE: Taekkyeon during colonial era
It is an article of faith in Korea that the art was "banned" by the crafty Japs, but in fact, Song never said this: He just said that the Japanese broke up gatherings of spectators. (And indeed the colonial authorities did ban large gatherings, for political reasons). Ergo, it was not taekkyeon that was banned, but crowds, but his statement has been disingenuously misinterpreted. I would also argue that the art was not particularly popular: people only practiced it in order to compete (after all there was betting involved, and so money could be made) rather than for love of the art per se, which is why it died out. Furthermore Hwang Kee, who founded tangsoodo (a combo of karate, with elements of the Muyedobotongji added, as well as taiji and long fist forms), once saw a taekkyeon guy winning a street fight, but though he searched high and low, was never able to find an instructor in the art. And there are only two pre-modern visual representations of it; a painting from 1846 and a photo from the late 19th century. Compare this to 19th century English boxing, which has hundreds of paintings and accounts of the champs and the matches, even though boxing matches were illegal.) Moreover, the Japanese actively encouraged gundo (archery) and ssiruem (rassling) which had associations which continued up to and beyond 1945 - and if anything, gungdo would be far more dangerous than taekkyeon, so why would they ban the latter, not the former? Finally, scholars have searched colonial judicial archives and never found any reference - either a statute banning taekkeyon or a court record of anyone being punished for practicing it - to taekkyeon.

My guess is hat there are more people practicing it in 21st century South Korea than ever practiced it in Joseon. The question of course is: How close to the Joseon "original" is the art being practiced today? I would be interested in what your instructor has to say about spinning kicks. A friend of mine who has a PhD in MA tells me that these have been added to the art from taekwondo and the original taekkyeong - practiced by Song and his main student, Chung Kyung-hwa - did not practice these.

Regards!

[chenyaolong]

Great points Andy!

I did edit the article with regards to the points you made about Taekkyon never being banned. Despite whether it was banned or not, I dont believe that would have made it almost extinct. Look at Chinese Martial Arts. My Shifu had, like many many others, continued his training in secret throughout the whole Chairman Mao era. Sure, things were lost, weapons weren't trained as much, old manuals were burnt, the culture of Leitai challenges and school rivalries mostly died off. But on the whole CMA has survived relatively intact to this day.

I cant say I know enough of my Taekkyon teacher's credentials to say how "authentic" his Taekkyon is, I do know he was a student of Song Duk Ki and was recommended to me over other teachers in Seoul by several TKD practitioners I know. My guess is the curriculum has had a lot of outside stuff added in to make a full system.

[wayne hansen]

Kend did you train with my late friend bob caputo

[Andy_S]

Chenyaolong:

Judging by the clip, it looks good to me and I assume you have a good eye/feel for MA, given your training in Shandong.

When all is said and done, how cares about the history if the material is good? We train in the here and know, not the misty middle ages. So carry on, carry on!

FYI, I did not know there was a dojang in Insadong. That is a five-minute walk from my office. When we get together I know an excellent makgeolli house nearby, which also serves great grub.

[chenyaolong]

I do love Makgeolli!

[KEND]

I studied with Shim in Detroit 66-67, no nonsense hard core MA, it was more kick oriented than Shotokan. Full contact, running around the streets in bare feet,.Dont remember the names its possible your friend was there Wayne.
In the mid 90's I guess TKD was fully commercialized, I went to a tournament and was surprised to see forms with somersaults, a dozen high kicks, disco music.

[wayne hansen]

No Kend bob did not train in the states he trained in Korea
He was Hawang Kees adopted son as I was old
He was a fifth or sixth dan when I met him in the mid 70' s

[Interloper]

KEND,
Shim was very outspoken and bitter about the Japanese Occupation of Korea, and wrote a lot of very disparaging things about karate in the magazine Taekwondo Times. I remember a lot of his editorial rants, which often included his utter rejection of the notion that modern TKD was in any way, shape or form derived from Japanese karate. He never relented, to the very end, even though the evidence was overwhelming in support of Shotokan's influence.

Andy, my TKD teachers - as well as articles in the Taekwondo Times, frequently mentioned the Hwarang as being "the Flower of Youth" -- the absolute cream of crop of youth from aristocratic Korean society of that period. They allegedly were schooled in all of the classic arts of the day, including music, poetry, and fine arts. At some point, the young men were also supposed to have been trained in the martial arts, but there is no documentation that would prove this. I suspect that if they were, it would have been more as a sport or form of courtly entertainment, as taekkyon was purported to have been.

[Andy_S]

Interloper:

There is really not much info on the hwarang - we are, after all, talking about the Dark Ages here, and to suggest that their MA someone made it down to the present is a farcical (Although yes...one Californian-based MA school claims exactly this. I am tempted to say "Only in Merka" but it was Koreans started this school.) But it was a youth movement, not a combative movement, albeit, many hwarang, when they grew up, fought in Silla's military.

Much of what we know of the hwarang was written during the colonial period, when Korean historians were determined to (re)discover a glorious history for Korea to overcome the humiliation of being colonized. And much of this entered the national consciousness in the Park Chung-hee presidency (1961-1979).After taking power in a coup in 1961, General Park Chung-hee - the president best known for the "Economic Miracle" - radically reformed Korean society. Park was a product not just of the Japan-run Manchukuo Military Academy but also the elite Tokyo Military Academy, and was very impressed with the Japanese warrior spirit. It was during his rule that Korea became fiercely nationalistic and in many ways militaristic.

This is the era when TKD was massively promoted (though taekkyeon was not: Song, the taekkyeon master, had not affiliation with the schools that started TKD, I am not sure why). This is also when the hwarang were promoted as something analogous to the Japanese samurai - Park tried to create a Korean version of everything Japanese (eg ssireum for sumo; tkd for karate; Mt Sorak for Mt Fuji; Jeju Island for Okinawa; etc). And I suspect - though this is a guess - that this was when the Korean Military Academy was named the Hwarang Academy (which it remains to this day).

In sum: It is a national pastime for Koreans right - from President Park (daughter of the gent above) to lambast the Japanese for "distorting history." Somewhere, a pot is calling a kettle black...

I'd be curious to know on what basis Shim claimed tangsoodo had no Japanese influence. The founder admitted that it was a blend of karate, long fist and taiji forms, and a recreation of the Muyedobotongji (which he found a copy of in the library of Seoul Rail Station, IIRC!)

All:

FWIW: I think modern TKD is an excellent and demanding sport, and I am very impressed by the sport's governing body and administrators. Sure, they have taken it away from its martial roots, but it is now more an activity for children in Korea, and, of course, a very widely practiced Olympic sport with 80 million practitioners in 205 nations. Arguably, sport TKD is a more valuable thing than a rough, half-learned, kick-centric version of karate - which is what the "original" TKD was.

[Interloper]

Andy,
Thanks for the additional thoughts.

You might be interested to learn that there is a small movement to bring adults back into TKD in South Korea. One of my former TKD teachers, Jae Hun Kim, is working to establish programs there for older people. He has been successful in setting up schools multi-nationally, and apparently this is one of his present pet projects.

[windwalker]

some may not remember michael echanis.

Echanis developed a two-week hand-to-hand Instructor combat course sponsored by the United States Army John F. Kennedy Center for Military Assistance (USAJFKCENMA) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The program was authorized in December 1975 and Echanis was formally appointed the "Senior Instructor and Advisor to the USAJFKCENMA Hand to Hand Combat/Special Weapons School for Instructors" in a Memorandum For Record signed by Major Jerry C. Williams, then Chief, PSD, at the JFK Center. Six courses were presented in 1976. Echanis' combatives program was titled the "Hwarangdo Hand to Hand and Special Weapons Program".[7]

The USAJFKCENMA, then commanded by Major General Robert C. Kingston, issued formal Certificates of Participation in the "Hwarang Do/Hand to Hand Combat School" to include the Instructor Course the participant attended. Both MG Kingston and Colonel Timothy G Cannon, Chief of Staff, signed the certificates. Joo Bang Lee, founder and then leader of the International Hwarang Do Federation affixed his personal seal to each certificate which conferred Black Belt ranking on the participant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Echanis

many talk of being warriors, he lived and died it.

Echanis received the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), Purple Heart and Bronze Star with "V" device for actions during a company size NVA ambush in which he is credited with saving the lives of six of his comrades. He was also awarded the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.[4] Although severely wounded to include a head wound Echanis was the only soldier capable of fighting back until help arrived in the form of U.S. helicopters. The closing paragraph of the Army's award narrative states:

Spec 4 Echanis' aggressive spirit and undaunted courage were decisive in preventing the anhilation (sic) of the truck and its personnel. His actions, at the risk of his own life, were in the highest traditions of the military and reflect upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

On September 8, 1978, at 1300 hours, Echanis, Chuck Sanders, Nguyen "Bobby" van Nguyen, and General Alegrett would die in an aircraft accident at the mouth of the Sapoá River near the Nicaragua/Costa Rican border.[11][12]

President Jimmy Carter sent the Echanis Family a Presidential Certificate honoring their son's service to the country several months after his death.[13]

On October 8, 2013, Echanis was designated as Black Belt Magazine's 2013 Weapons Instructor of the Year.[2]

[asiawide]

There are three different schools about taekkyon. I don't know which school you are going to now. But if you are interested you can check three of them and feel the difference!

[chenyaolong]

Thanks

Im training at the school in Insadong... it came highly recommended by several friends..... I already signed up, I dont think it would be appropriate to go visiting the other schools as it might be misinterpreted.

[Doc Stier]

I studied Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan and Hapkido from 1961-1968, earning a 2nd Degree Black Belt in both. My Korean Master was of the opinion that Taekkyon and Hwarang-Do were being promoted by some Korean teachers in an attempt to disassociate what they were practicing and teaching from any connection with Japanese martial arts, primarily due to the intense hatred of the Japanese stemming from the many years of the often harsh Japanese Occupation of Korea until the end of World War II.