What weapons are Taekwondo?

[pdg]

Because fighting is sooooo much easier than walking.

I wouldn't like to do much walking about in my sparring pads...

 

[Dirty Dog]

I wouldn't like to do much walking about in my sparring pads...

Why not? Mine are pretty comfortable.

 

[WaterGal]

And early TKD practitioners (you know, the ones a few hundred years before TKD existed...) used to leap over polearms wielded by horsemen and kick them off the horse?

My favorite version of this - which demonstrates a better grasp on the timeline of the history of TKD if not, ummmm... reality - is that the flying side kick was developed in the Korean War so that Korean soldiers could jump up and kick enemy soldiers off of their motorcycles.

 

[WaterGal]

Did he say how they attached the razor to the shoe?

I personally suspect that a folding straight razor would have been accessible, but it would have been held and wielded in the hand.

If the shoes have a thick sole, tou might be able to cut a slit in the front edge of the sole (right under the toes) and stick the razor blade in there? That seems awkward as anything and like if you stumbled you might cut yourself, but that's the only way I could see this working.

 

[oftheherd1]

My favorite version of this - which demonstrates a better grasp on the timeline of the history of TKD if not, ummmm... reality - is that the flying side kick was developed in the Korean War so that Korean soldiers could jump up and kick enemy soldiers off of their motorcycles.

The more believable version I heard was it was to knock them off the flying tanks.

 

[oftheherd1]

Off topic: Linguistically this is an interesting observation. Why don't we have letters for every sound that our mouths can make?

Some languages do for the sounds they do make. But most languages don't use every sound our mouth can make.

In English we struggle along using only 26 letters but we have way more than 26 sounds.

 

[oftheherd1]

Sod it, I'll just split my posts up



That's entirely believable.

I understand they learned the skill at weekend seminars held by the Chinese masters who could leap between mountain peaks.

Obviously a weekend isn't long enough to develop real mountain hopping, but an armed mounted soldier is easy.

The people who stayed for the Sunday evening session of the seminar could deal with 5 horsemen in a single jump.

No one told you about the Monday Plus course? It cost more and you had to show proof of being belted in another art. Then you could be belted up to that rank in Mountain Peak Jumping. I don't like to brag, but I was able to jump from one mountain, over a peak, and onto the next, and stay on my feet when I landed (one of the requirements). No westerner has ever received that distinction and I only had to pay an extra 5,000 gold weights to be taught and then certified. I have wanted to pass on those skills for years, but nobody has been able to come of with the money.

 

[TrueJim]

The external style is to jump from one mountain peak to the next. The internal style is to channel your chi to move the mountain peak to you.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Then your foot doesn't flex, which makes walking rather difficult. And fighting even more so.



Still pure silliness. "Just a minute, don't kick me in the face while I kneel and stuff this tang into my shoe..."

 

[Flying Crane]

Hmmm... I’m trying to figure out how long a slave in old Brazil would have been able to walk around with those on his feet, before getting some unwanted attention...

In addition, any walking in those shoes would likely result in tripping over the blade, as well as damaging the blade, so it’s pretty impractical. I don’t imagine they have a built-in extension/retraction devise so the blade can pop in and out on a whim?

Some things can be done, but they are so supremely impractical that it’s hard to believe they were ever done.

 

[Buka]

Ah, the old Rosa Klebb shoe from "From Russia with Love."

 

[pdg]

Jessica Biel didn't have much issue walking while wearing switchblade boots...

 

[oftheherd1]

Jessica Biel didn't have much issue walking while wearing switchblade boots...

Really? I don't remember noticing her feet. Did she have feet?

 

[pdg]

Really? I don't remember noticing her feet. Did she have feet?

Yep, and legs.

In fairly tight clothing too.

Obviously I had to look that up, I don't tend to notice that sort of thing - I was concentrating much more on the plasma bow

 

[thanson02]

What would you categorize as a Taekwondo weapon?

Your feet. Taekwondo is a kickboxing sport. Any weapons being taught in a Dojang is something that the instructor has chosen to add in addition to Taekwondo.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. Just know that if you trained in WTF or ITF and you change schools, the weapons you had at the old school may not be taught at the new school.