A.B.C. Alert

[glad2bhere]

To the Avid Book Commandos among us:

In case people are not very familiar with my take on the Hapkido arts I tend to do a lot of digging and research. My special interest is the relationship between Korean arts and their influence drawn from Chinese arts. Along these lines I am offering a couple of titles people may want to checkout.

1.) Just about everyone knows that the recently (2000) translated issue of the "Illustrated Manual of Korean Martial Arts" (MU YE TOBO TONG JI) by Dr. Sang Kim is available through Turtle Press (ISBN 1-880336-48-0). This work is a result of a number of earlier works which drew on over 200 various works spanning from the 15th Century up to 1795 when it was published. I personally don't think it is possible to speak intelligently about the KMA without having read this work regardless of what modern art people may practice.

2.) Kuk Sool Won is related in no small way to Chinese Boxing and there are four major traditions to consider when studying the relationship between the Hapkido arts and their Chinese influences.

a.) The Secrets of Seven Star Praying Mantis; Lee Kam Wing, Author. Can be found in many MA supply stores, and Chinese Book stores. Publ by Lee Kam Wing Martial Art Sports Assn. out of HK. (tel: 852-2777 2661). For insight into many of the hand and arm motions seen in KSW this is a resource to consider.

b.) For the TSD people among us, you may want to pick-up on a copy of TAIJIQUAN IN 88 FORMS (ISBN 962-238-049-2) for insights into the TAE KUK hyung. Part of the Chinese Kung Fu (sic) Series this book does a posture by posture examination of the material reportedly taught by Hwang Kee in developing his take on TSD. Hai Feng Publishing Company, HK makes this available.

c.) And while we are looking at the Chinese Kung Fu Series I can also heartily recommend the Chinese Wu Shu series--- BASICS OF LONG-STYLE BOXING by Foreign Languages Press (ISBN 7-119-01538-9). This is NOT the Chang Chuan associated with the Emperoro Taizu. Rather this is the Long Style developed by the government of the PRC to capture the main points of several Long Fist Related arts. All the same it is simple, challenging and easily read and practiced and will provide some insights into some of the material folks run into in the KMA. A comparable book (IMHO perhaps a bit better) is another part of the Chinese Kung Fu Series-- CHANGQUAN- LONG SHADOW BOXING (ISBN962-238-028-x).

d.) A second Chinese art practiced widely in Korea is Tan Tui or the "springy leg" art reportedly derived from the Chinese Moslem community over the last 400 years. Though an art in its own right, its basic form "TAN TUI 12" (sometimes reorganized as "TAN TUI 10") has worked its way into the basic material of many major Chinese Boxing arts. WUSHU AMONG THE CHINESE MOSLEMS is distributed by the China International Book Trading Corporation (PO. Box 399, Beijing China) though I got my copy through inter-library loan from the University of No. Carolina out of Chapel Hill. While Dr. Yang wing Ming has a version available to the public through his fine set of tapes, the version in this book is a bit more challenging for those hardy souls who want nothing to come easy to them. For folks who are always playing up the role of kicking in the Korean arts it may be instructive to experience how people trained their legs to do extraordinary things before we had some of the more modern training skills we have today.

Thats it for now.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[brothershaw]

Not a kma person ( tried tkd for awhile) but I am glad to see some one posting legitimate, and verifiable sources of information regarding the arts.

 

[dosandojang]

Great thread.

 

[glad2bhere]

Now its true that most people are very content to just go to class and participate in a group activity, maybe even learn a little self-defense on the side. If this is your cup of tea I certainly don't want to dissuade anyone from it. If however, you like to dig a bit here are a few more titles to consider.

I'll start with a kind of nasty one first. UNDER THE BLACK UMBRELLA by Hildi Kang may cause you to reassess what you thought you knew about Korea during the Japanese Occupation. When a book is a little (?) controversial as this one was in Korea I don't like to say to much for fear of influencing peoples opinions as to content. It may be a bit disturbung to find out how eye witnesses viewed what was happening in their country under Japanese rule. A real think piece. (ISBN 0-8014-3854-3)

Some people always want to know what the Korean documents were that shaped Korean history. SOURCE OF KOREAN CIVILIZATION by Peter H. Lee may give you some insights by presenting Korean history as a series of translations of important people and their thoughts beginning with the Tangun Myth at the dawn of Korean culture and ending with the National Culture During the Colonial Period. Its a 2-volume set (ISBN 0-231`-07912-5) and can be pretty intimidating until you start rolling and get used to the way people of old wrote and thought.

For people who would like a bit lighter history reading there are the following.

The Japanese Seizure of Korea by Hilary Conroy.

The Abacus and the Sword by Peter Duus

A New History of Korea by Ki-baik Lee.

So why would anyone torture themselves with such heavy reading? Well, you don't HAVE to. What I have found, though, is that many people are not well-served by relying on the KMA teacher to furnish all services as purveyor, interpreter, and director when it comes to understanding Korean culture. I think its important to remember that KMA are Korean culture, but it can be a mistake to draw conclusions about an entire culture by simply participating in a single activity.

Oh. And BTW: If you are NOT a reader and just want to sit and let a movie wash over you, go down to the local Hollywood Video and rent MU-SA - The Warrior. Its a good action flick based on events in Korean history right about the time that the Mongols were being pushed out of China by the folks who would become the Ming Dynasty. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[Kodanjaclay]

I cannot vouch for the work presented by Bruce on Tan Tui... but it also should be pointed out that Dam Doi (Tan Tuy) is common in KMA, particularly within TSD circles.

Bruce.. since you have read about mantis, let me ask you this. As you are aware, I enjoy CMA as well, though I would not consider myself to be much more than a true beginner... There is a Seven Star Mantis group here. Would it be worth looking into? I have been assigned by Master Lim to work on softness. He says I am too Yang. Do you think this would be something that would help me with that task?

Thanks in advance.

 

[glad2bhere]

Dear Frank:

At the risk of over simplifying---- well, I'm going to do a GROSS oversimplification and let the cards fall as they may.

For me, I see significant contributions from all four of the more Chinese-oriented traditions and their influence on the KMA.

My love affair with the MYTBTJ supports the contributions of what everyone now identifies as the Ship Pal Gi. I think it is a travesty that people focus on MTHand and eschew weapons work (or worse) and even import weapons work from other martial arts.

I support the study of Long Fist, not because of its recent namesake but because of the traditional connections between Taizu Long Fist and General Qi's material that came to be included in the MYTBTJ.

I support the study of Tam Tui, not so much for its combative skills (which I think are pretty common to many arts) but for the susinct approach it takes to leg, hip and abdominal conditioning over a range of motion.

Now you asked specifically about Praying Mantis. I heartily support Praying Mantis material for two aspects. One is the additional emphasis that it seems to place on controlling the elbow and therefore controlling the arm. My experience is that most biomechanics stemming from other influences on the Hapkido arts seem to focus on controling the wrist. Nothing wrong with this but when one expands that focus to also include the elbow it can only increase the number of options and improve the efficacy of the trapping/locking technique.

The other aspect that Praying Mantis seems to press is the idea of "snaring" (my word) using the hook of the hand, elbow, knee and even the lap on occasion. This idea of guiding (very common with the hand) by drawing or pushing WITHOUT necessarily grasping is a very important skill that seems to get little play except in countering kicks. The idea of pinning or grasping using the crook of the elbow or knee likewise gets short shrift, though in fairness to the DRAJJ people I have seen Kondo Sensei execute several such snares. It is even something of a protocol that when one successfully pins using the knee snare that both hands are clapped to underscore that only the knee (legs) and pelvis are performing the action and not the upper body. There are also a few pin finishes which, on occasion are executed using only the inter-action between the knees which routinely pop-up among the Japanese influenced Hapkido traditions. We could bounce back and forth over many posts arguing how these came to be in the Hapkido curriculum so for me its enough just to acknowledge that they are there and leave it at that. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce