ist English Article on Koryo Hyung - April 1972

[rmclain]

The following is a link to a scan of the original magazine article on the 1967 Koryo. This version of Koryo was created in 1967 and introduced to high-ranked black belts from various schools in S. Korea at clinics starting in December 1967. The author of this article, GM Kim Soo, attended these clinics and immigrated to the US (Houston, Tx.) in January 1968. He was the first to teach these new forms (Koryo, Tae Baek, Jee Tae, etc.) in America and many instructors sent their black belts to learn from him.

Shortly following this publication, the KTA (WTF) created a replacement version of this form.

http://www.arlingtonkarate.com/articles/Official Karate Magazine Cover April 1972.pdf


R. McLain

 

[jim777]

That's pretty cool

 

[IcemanSK]

Thanks Master McLain! It's great to have an historian on this board!

 

[exile]

This is a rare jewel indeed—many thanks!! :asian:

 

[Brad Dunne]

Here's the form in action.................

 

[chrispillertkd]

Very interesting article and video postings. Thanks for this little bit of history.

Pax,

Chris

 

[rmclain]

This video shows a changed version of the form from the magazine. It is the same up until near the end. My direct teacher is the author of the article (GM Kim Soo) linked in this thread and we still practice Koryo exactly as in the article. The video is different. Thanks for posting the link though.


R. McLain

Here's the form in action.................

 

[StuartA]

I get an error when opening the document

Stuart

The following is a link to a scan of the original magazine article on the 1967 Koryo. This version of Koryo was created in 1967 and introduced to high-ranked black belts from various schools in S. Korea at clinics starting in December 1967. The author of this article, GM Kim Soo, attended these clinics and immigrated to the US (Houston, Tx.) in January 1968. He was the first to teach these new forms (Koryo, Tae Baek, Jee Tae, etc.) in America and many instructors sent their black belts to learn from him.

Shortly following this publication, the KTA (WTF) created a replacement version of this form.

http://www.arlingtonkarate.com/articles/Official Karate Magazine Cover April 1972.pdf


R. McLain

 

[terryl965]

Yes that is a great article andI believe I still have that very same copy somewhere.

 

[exile]

What we really need to know—really and truly—is what the thinking was, the specific thinking, that went into this form. Okinawan and Japanese kata weren't designed by committee, so far as I know. But the somewhat odd nature of the modern KMAs—the way they morphed into increasingly 'native Korean' forms from an O/J base, as a result of top-down decisions imposed by quasi-governmental agencies—means that it really does make sense to ask the question, 'what were these guys trying to do when they strung this move and the next move and the next move together to create this/that/the other form?' I'm pretty much convinced at this point that the motivation for form creation in the TKD of the 1960s and thereafter was no longer rooted in the logic of combat, i.e., bunkai in the Okinawan tradition. It's almost certainly true that the roots of this version of Koryo, being clearly closer to the Shotokan rootstock, echo certain classic O/J katas that are increasingly diluted in the later Koryo, where these movements are in a sense 'dissolved' amongst a bunch of others. But already you can see a number of distinctly Korean elements—the mid/high kicks most obviously—being introduced here. What I'd really, really like to know is, what were the creators of this particular form thinking when they came up with this hyung? What were their specific intentions in introducing this particular sequence of movements? What was simply homage to the O/J past, and what was deliberately innovative, and in the case of the latter, what was the intention of the innovation?

If we could only answer that question, we'd have a huge insight into what was driving the modern development of TKD and the KMAs generally...

 

[Laurentkd]

I get an error when opening the document

Stuart

Me too, I thought it just wasn't working because I was at work, but I can't get it at home either.
Any help?

 

[rmclain]

Me too, I thought it just wasn't working because I was at work, but I can't get it at home either.
Any help?

Use Adobe version 9.

 

[Miles]

Very cool! I miss Official Karate Mag-it was a good publication in it's time.