I donÂ’t feel comfortable with giving my instructors name. I havenÂ’t seen him in over a decade. He his a very old-fashioned and private man. IÂ’m certain that he would not appreciate me divulging what he would probably consider personal information in such a public forum. Besides, I wonÂ’t share my own name, I donÂ’t think it would be fair to share his. I do intend to return to my home town with in a year or so. One of the first palaces I visit will be my old school and with his permission I will proudly introduce him to the MT community.
Understood. I look forward to that.
This brings up another interesting topic for discussion. It was my understanding that MDK founder Hwang Kee never had any formal O/JMA training and that the kata he practice was learned from Shotokan books. Were these seemingly Okinawan inspired bunkai brought in from other practitioners who had experience in different MAsÂ…or were they developed by MDK practitioners own interpretations of the movements within the forms?
Allow me to clarify. My teacher certainly did not learn many of the explanations he had for the pumsae from the Mudukgwan. Those coming up in the Mudukgwan Dangsudo and today's Subakdo learn the same elementary school applications that Exile has been criticizing. My teacher was a big advocate of crosstraining, and trained in Korean Sibpalgi, Shaolin Long Fist, Shorin-ryu, Judo...etc. His explanations were his own. Many of them resemble Okinawan bunkai. Many didn't.
From what I gather the applications that have been published to date are simply entry level applications that are meant to introduce someone to using the poomse.
That's pretty much the case, however, given that nothing else has been released officially does not lend much credence to the idea that another official application training system exists other than the elementary school explanations. The fact that the great majority of instructors I've met have no other explanation also casts doubt.
It would be extremely laborious to compile a comprehensive collection of all the applications with the explanatory philosophies and principles that make them effective.
Elimate the ones least effective, select the ones easiest to train.
The “elementary school explanations” are just that, very simple foundational teachings that are meant to be built upon. For example, “a crescent kick to block a punch that was too far away to strike you anyway” establishes the premise behind more advance applications. The idea is to intercept thrusting linear attacks. A more advance application would be intercepting a thrusting attack from someone with a knife or bayonet who is making use of the reach advantage their weapon provides and is just beyond the range of your strikes. There are several reason as to why this application is thought to be effective. It put to use your greatest range weapon against theirs, allowing to intercept the attack as far from your core as possible. An advantage when dealing against an edge weapon where a minor secondary attack or even unintentional contact can cause great harm. It puts forth a shoed foot as opposed to a bare hand, offering an other level of protection. It also makes use of the layered attack/defense rational of emphasized kicking. If the attack gets past my kick I can still defend with my hands, allowing for two chances to respond to a single attack. Kicks are generally more powerful than hand strikes and offer the best chance to completely derail the attack knocking it away far off line, instead of just deflecting it, from your body allowing ample opportunity to close the distance and step in with a powerful attack such as an elbow smash to the head.
The problem there is that you waste time by the teaching the kick to the punch defense. The whole idea of using it as a preparatory to the kicking against the knife is a waste of time. Just train the kick to the knife. There's no need for the "foundational teaching" you mentioned. The idea of interception, outside movement, circular versus linear, can be taught through gyorugi.
NoÂ…the majority of KKW instructors donÂ’t teach applications because they are just not a highly emphasized aspect of the art. Boon Hae arenÂ’t the fundamental core of TKD as with some other MAs. Other aspects take precedence. The applications arenÂ’t usually taught until well after one receives a BB. At the color belt level the forms are more like active meditation. Stressing crisp technique and fluid movement with focus but not necessarily conscious thought. This helps build that mind body link that allows for instinctive reactions.
That mind-body link is much better developed through reaction drills, through the gyorugi training that KKW TKD is so known for.
You can't train a form for instinctive reaction. In order to train reaction, you must have a stimulus to react upon. This is one of the modern sports science methodology that has made the KKW so famous.
Most instructor leave it at that. Many of the principles, philosophies and techniques that are contained within the forms are taught separate from them and are never liked to the poomse. It also has a lot to do with the personal preferences of your instructor. Very few, if any, teach the whole complete system. They shape their instruction based on their preferences, of which form application is seldom a priority.
You strike upon the core of the matter here, which is what many have criticized KKW TKD for. It is not a holistic system. Pumsae have nothing to do with gyorugi. Gyorugi has nothing to do with hoshinsul. Hoshinsul has nothing to do with gyeokpa.
As I've mentioned, it doesn't have to be this way. Looking at the pumsae applications and combining them with pumsae methodology pretty much does away with a need for a separate hoshinul curriculum as the entire art becomes hoshinsul. Train gyeokpa as a methodology for power and tool development rather than acrobatics, and you now have a holistic approach to TKD.
You must consider, especially when discussing KKW TKD, that many of the masters from the older generation haven’t fully embraced the all the “newer” methods and still teach some things the “old way”. This is most evident in how they view the forms. Younger masters from more recent times tend to focus on the sport and have little interest in or understanding of form application.
More than anything else, it's this political and technical disjointedness that has hindered Gukgi Taegwondo from developing.
There is a distinct possibility that if you and I got together and trained, you would recognize what I do. It wouldnÂ’t seem so unfamiliar to you. Often, so much gets lost in translation over the internet. ItÂ’s very difficult to condense knowledge gained over years of studying into a short paragraph. ItÂ’s likely that IÂ’m describing things you already know but from an angle your are not used to hearing them from.
There's only one way to find out...
