Martial Arts History & Influences

[chrispillertkd]

With that out of the way... I've got a TKD specific question. A friend of mine from high school spent some time in Korea, as his father was in the military and stationed there. He learned a form of taekwondo with some very significant differences from most of what we see here in the US. I'm kind of hoping I can get him to chime in and share some details -- but I've always been rather curious about how what he learned fits in with "other" TKD.

I'd be interested in hearing a bit about his experience and how what he learned differs from "run of the mill" Taekwon-Do (of course, that has to be qualified quite a bit, I think; Kukkiwon TKD, ITF TKD, etc.).

Pax,

Chris

 

[puunui]

With that out of the way... I've got a TKD specific question. A friend of mine from high school spent some time in Korea, as his father was in the military and stationed there. He learned a form of taekwondo with some very significant differences from most of what we see here in the US. I'm kind of hoping I can get him to chime in and share some details -- but I've always been rather curious about how what he learned fits in with "other" TKD.

More information is needed. Or better yet, video.

I suspect that Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Indian, and other arts influenced native Korean fighting.

What time frame are you talking about? Recently? A long long time ago?

(Unless, of course, you accept Chiun's premise that everything else was copied and stolen from a certain North Korean village...)

Who is Chuin?

But I'm certain there were native Korean fighting traditions, which in turn influenced others including, I suspect, Japanese and Okinawan styles. I'm just not so certain any of the Korean traditions survived, at least in recognizable form.

Why do you say that? Just a feeling you have?

I will say this though. No matter what the origins or history of the korean martial arts, it is making an impact worldwide now, even to the point where commercial school owners from other styles have to take steps to stay in business because taekwondo schools close to them are taking a lion's share of the potential students in the surrounding area. Taekwondo is here to stay.

 

[puunui]

My knowledge and experience isn't limited to my TKD background just because we're discussing KMA in general. Believe it or not, you don't need to train in every system in the world to have some understanding of each one's structure. It's doubtful that I'll understand the deeper subtleties, but things like it's development, purpose, goals, etc aren't invisible to those outside of them, you know.

That would be fine, but what some are trying to do is impose a "structure" from some place else and then make judgments based on that.

I have no doubt that they will, nothing I've said here is anything negative towards the arts whatsoever. Just because I wouldn't consider it a native KMA doesn't mean it's any less of an art. Just that it's background is different.

Not considering taekkyon "a native KMA" is saying something negative, even if you don't think so.

I will separate them, because that's the reality of it. Just because you have ancestry in a particular part of the world doesn't mean you're immediately going take on their cultural traits if you're raised in a completely different environment. They're simply not same.

You can only hope right? But who is talking about that? We are talking about the wholesale influence that occurred when the people of baekjae moved to the japanese islands before and after the three kingdom period on the korean pennisula. It goes to the culture, habits, everything really of the Japanese people, especially when compared to the people from baekjae, which is now known as the chollado provinces in south korea. If you have been to both japan and to chollado, like I have, then you can instantly see similarities, in much the same way that you can see instant similarities between england and the commonwealth countries.

But on your point above, I had a student, who has korean ancestry but was adopted by a US military family as a baby and spent her life at US bases all over the place. She had no time in Korea or asia for that matter, but when she started learning korean martial arts from me, her movements were she was a korean from korea. Is it in her genes? I don't know if I am explaining this correctly but there it is. I've had other korean born students and have gotten the same result. My best student in fact was born here but took to the korean martial arts so naturally that he ended up setting records for shortest time to medaling at our nationals (18 months) in the senior black belt division (as a red belt), won gold and became a national champion the next year, and then made team the year after that, going on to being a multi time team member and medalist at WTF International Events. In fact, he holds the distinction of being the only US competitor who beat steven lopez and kept him from making team.

Not a very convincing argument, considering your original claim was 'he was probably Korean'. Not exactly showing you've done your homework either, just you putting your beliefs in there, and assuming the evidence exists. I intend to keep studying, but that's just because I'm a history buff. If I ever come across any evidence to the contrary, I'll come back here and post about it. But frankly, I doubt I will find any.

it's all there on the internet. But keep an open mind.