Ippon Ken said:
Let's clarify this once and for all.
Sure, til next time.
Ippon Ken said:
TKD, TSD, MDK or whatever other Korean karate system you want to name was founded by an Okinawan- Gichin Funakoshi. His brand of Japanized Okinawan karate was taught to a bunch of Koreans who were a part of the Japanese army during WWII. They hated the Japs' and many were put into prison for conspiring against them. Now you can see the reason for the intense nationalism expressed by Choi and others.
Tang Soo Do was the name of the art GM LEE, Won Kuk called what he was teaching. It is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters for Karate-do. GM Lee was never a member of the Japanese army, he was a student (in fact a law student) of Funakoshi, Gichen from 1933 until 1944 when he returned to Korea (that would be just before the end of WWII). Other Korean students in Japan studied under other Okinawan masters, notably Toyama, Kanken (that's Shudokan, not Shotokan BTW).
Koreans "hated" the Japanese not only because they were placed in prison but because the Japanese instituted a nearly total cultural genocide during a particularly brutal occupation. I think you need to do a little more research-start with the term "comfort woman" and you will get a glimpse of how oppressive the Japanese treated Koreans. Actually, the equal-opportunity Japanese did the same thing to the Chinese, start with the search "rape of Nanking."
Ippon Ken said:
Presently it is a different beast, an extremely pale representation (for the most part) of an already diluted form of Shorin + some Goju Ryu karate called Shotokan. Hence, the names of the poomse or kata. Once those were changed and the art became kicking intensive (conversely Shorin and its derivatives are at least 75% hands, arms and elbows-- this includes grappling), it became an ineffective SD system and one patterned for money-making, flash and competition. The kata are the ryu. Remember that.
There is no Poomsae (this is how the Kukkiwon says to spell it BTW) which is exactly as as seen in Shorin-ryu or Shorei-ryu or Goju-ryu. There is no Goju-ryu in Shotokan (which does have its basis in Shorin-ryu).
Presently Taekwondo is the most widely practiced martial art in the world. That's incredible given that after WWII, Korea had its own little civil war.
Taekwondo is used by militaries, including those of the US and Korea (that would be ROK, i.e. South Korea), the latter still being technically at war with its Northern neighbor (that would be the DPRK). I don't understand why a country (no matter how nationalistic), under threat of a possible invasion, would have its military train in a "pale representation of an already diluted form...of Shotokan."
Ippon Ken said:
Of course I put all this together decades ago, but it is fun to imagine you've put 2 and 2 together and got Fo'!
I'm still studying. I'm getting a handle on some things, but I have lots of material to work on.
Take Care,
Miles
