lack of kicking in poomse

[goingd]

For a style with such emphasis on kicking, there is very little of it in the forms - at least in the Taegeuk and Yudanja poomse of under Kukkiwon. There are really only four kicks throughout the Taegeuk poomse alone - front snap kick, roundhouse kick, side kick, and inside crescent kick. Does anyone really know why that is? Shouldn't the self defense and sparring of a martial art correlate with it's forms?

 

[dancingalone]

MT member Miles theorized in this thread back in 2005 that the lack of kicking in the poomse was due to a need to focus on hand techniques since kicking is amply represented in the sparring aspect of TKD. Makes sense to me at least with regard to the Taegueks. If you're talking about the Palgwe or the Chang Hon forms, I'd say there are few kicks within them because they're essentially reshufflings of the Japanese Heian forms which contain little kicking themselves.

http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27847&highlight=kicking+taekwondo+forms

 

[terryl965]

That is exact;y right the hand and elbows have a much more focus than kicking mainly because like Miles said it is done all the time inside TKD

 

[Twin Fist]

TKD comes directly from japanese arts. Japanese arts dont do alot of kicking, so thier forms dont have alot of kicks. Koreans used japanese forms, ergo, "korean" forms dont have a lot of kicking

 

[SJON]

That, and the fact that the patterns are for self-defence, whereas most of the kicking was consciously added to make TKD look cool in order to promote a specific agenda.

Actually, I wrote an article in TKD Times in 2005 about this very subject.

 

[goingd]

Ah, I see. That is about what I figured. I love the Taegeuk forms in just about every way, it just confuses me that so often the aspects of Taekwondo do not coincide with each other. I would like to eventually see every master and instructor teach the theoretical use of the techniques in the forms, at least at black belt level.

 

[StuartA]

Actually, I wrote an article in TKD Times in 2005 about this very subject.

I have broached the subject as well (for Ch'ang hon patterns) in a magazine article I did when i was a 3rd degree. heres a quote from it:

"Although Taekwon-do's roots through other arts obviously has something to do with it, may be General Choi and the other Masters who helped devise and create the patterns simply knew that hand techniques are easier and quicker to master (for want of a better word) than kicking techniques, thereby equipping the newer student with useful skills sooner, rather than latter."
- http://www.raynerslanetkd.com/ARTICLES_Pattern_Apps.html

And heres an article ona similar subject by Colin Wee: http://www.raynerslanetkd.com/ARTICLES_GettingYourKicksfromTaekwonDoPatterns.html
- its quite indepth and a very decent article IMO

Stuart

 

[Earl Weiss]

For a style with such emphasis on kicking, there is very little of it in the forms - at least in the Taegeuk and Yudanja poomse of under Kukkiwon. There are really only four kicks throughout the Taegeuk poomse alone - front snap kick, roundhouse kick, side kick, and inside crescent kick. Does anyone really know why that is? Shouldn't the self defense and sparring of a martial art correlate with it's forms?

Cannot speak from a Kukki pespective. But from a Chang Hon perspective I think the premise is faulty. Perhaps based upon rash generalizations formed from limted observation. Also based upon what is neded to score under WTF rules, so that is what you see in WTF sparring.)

TKD is often thought of as a "Kicking Art" because it seems to contain many more kicks than Japanese / Okinawan styles. It also seems to use a lot of Jumping kicks which goes against the "firmly rooted" theory found in other systems. Due to this, it has often been Characterized (Mischaracterized) as A "Kicking Style" However, as you point out when you look at the patterns you will note the disparity of hand versus foot techniques.

It was a favorite topic of gneral Choi to point out that the system he developed had a ratio of about 65% hand to 35% foot techs. (62.5-37.5 for the finicky out there.)