Korean Sword?

[arnisador]

I know that the samurai sword is very symbolic for, and of, Japan.

What is the sword that is most closely associated with Korea or Korean martial arts? Is its relation to Korea as strong as the katana's relationship to Japan?

 

[jkn75]

For background on Korean swordsmanship go here. :asian:

 

[arnisador]

I had noticed that holding the two hands next to one another was a Korean style and not seen in Japanese arts (typically), but hadn't seen it explained before!

By the way, waht does the title Kwan Jang Nym mean?

 

[Venos-KSW]

Originally posted by arnisador
By the way, waht does the title Kwan Jang Nym mean?

Just means "Master" as far as I know. Not sure on a more direct translation.

 

[Zepp]

I think Kwan Jang means head of a school or gym. I don't know what Nym means.

 

[Venos-KSW]

Got this off a KSW site. Seems Nim or Nym means teacher/instructor. These are the titles we use.

Kuk Sa Nim - National Martial Arts Teacher (GM)
Kwahn Jahng Nim - Master (5th Degree+)
Sa Bum Nim - Coach or Instructor (4th Degree)
Pu Sa Bum Nim - Vice Coach or Vice Instructor (3rd Degree)
Kyo Sa Nim - Teacher (2nd Degree)
Jo Kyo Nim - Assistant Teacher (1st Degree)

 

[abzack]

Kwan Jang Nim is the honorific title for the head of a martial arts school or gym.

Kwan Jang = a superintendent; a director; management

Nim = honorific suffix (esteemed; honorable; respected)

 

[arnisador]

Ah, I understand. Thanks!

 

[Hwarang]

There is a Korean sword demo here:
http://www.hwarangdo.net/videos/video_pop.php?size=dsl&video=DJN_Sword

 

[jkn75]

Originally posted by Hwarang
There is a Korean sword demo here:
http://www.hwarangdo.net/videos/video_pop.php?size=dsl&video=DJN_Sword

Very Cool!!

Has anyone seen this video from Turtle Press? There are two parts and they are both interesting. This video looked cool also but I haven't seen it.

 

[glad2bhere]

I was thinking as I read some of the posts that maybe there was room for an alternate view of things.

The kwanjang ("director") of our sword school, GM Hyi Koo teaches a style of Korean sword, HwaRang Kumdo which closely approximates Japanese tradition. In fact you will find that a great many practitioners follow such traditions to the point that just about everyone believes that Korean sword is nothing more than a Korean interpretation of Japanese traditions. To a great degree this is true but there are still a significant portion of Korean practiioners who follow traditions which only touch on Japanese work and owe as much or more to Korean and Chinese traditions.

The Koreans do not have a tradition that raised the use of a sword to the level of social icon as did the Japanese. In fact the Koreans had no such comparable warrior class, tending more towards the Chinese traditions which, again, had no distinguished warrior class. For the Koreans, the sword was a tool for accomplishing a task in much the same way as anyone else uses any other tool. That doesn't mean they didn't get good with the weapon, only that they didn't characterize it as "the soul of the warrior" as did many of their Japanese cousins.

In another vein it is also important to rmember that the Koreans did not subscribe to a particular sword architecture or design. In fact the Mu Yei ToBo Tong Ji identifies at least 4 kinds of swords including the Long Sword, Short Sword, Double swords and Cresent Sword and provides instruction in the minimal skills for handling each. And while the Koreans were famous for their metal work well into the Yuan (Mongol) domination, policies regarding mining and paying tribute caused the metal skills of the Koreans to degrade to a point that it became necessary to import skilled workers from Japan and Manchuria in the 15th century. All the same the metal working skills remained in the pits until recent efforts to resurrect those arts. FWIW.

BTW: Your teacher (seang sa) or instructor (sa bu) rate the honorific ( -nym) any time you address them. They for their part, following neo-cofucian protocols, don't owe you much more than polite informality, though anyone with class will always give as good as they get, right?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[arnisador]

I didn't think the Koreans had a tradition of worshipping the sword but I wasn't sure!

 

[glad2bhere]

Nope. The closest mythology and legend will come are those anecdotal traditions which speak to a particular act of valor or filial piety. Many of those stories occur in a martial setting and often include some act or skill performed with a weapon. There are even personalities that crop up from time to time after the traditions of the knights-errant in China and the wandering ronin of Japan. The annyong sosa ("special representatives")have many stories connected with this but it never reaches the level of an actual class as one found in Japan or even in India. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[pknox]

Originally posted by jkn75
Very Cool!!

Has anyone seen this video from Turtle Press? There are two parts and they are both interesting. This video looked cool also but I haven't seen it.

Very cool! Seems pretty well produced as well. I'm not sure if you guys saw this one before, but there is a good general video on HWD on the HWD Korean website. The site is in Korean, but the video is in English. It should automatically load when you access the page. Pretty impressive stuff, in my opinion:

http://www.hwarangdo.or.kr/index1.html