King of the Gypsies

More about Bartley Gorman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartley_Gorman

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http://www.shanemeadows.co.uk/

Chinese heritage of Tang Soo Do

This is to finish off the series of articles on the subject of the history and influences of Tang Soo Do. In the last article I focused much on the Japanese influences owing to the occupation of Korea by Japan (1905-1945) and the influence it had on Tang Soo Do: kata and framework of the style seem to have been drawn largely from karate. Contemporary Tang Soo Do differs in many ways from karate, notably with its acrobatic and powerful kicks and this is what I'll examine here.

Some official Tang Soo Do training manuals are swift to point out that this Korean art can trace its lineage back 2000 years and has particularly been developed by the Hwarang warriors. It's easy to see why this claim is made as the Hwarang were an elite fighting corps which unified a once fractured Korea. What I don't understand is how this claim can be substantiated given that the forms are of Japanese origin and many of the drills and combinations are also shared by Japanese and Okinawan styles. What is certain about Tang Soo Do is that the kicks used in this style are different from the Japanese styles. There are much more acrobatic kicks used and this, I feel, is where the indigenous Taekyyeon and Subak may have passed on some of their martial arts 'DNA'. 

Northern Chinese style Kung Fu must have influenced Korean martial arts such as Subak and indeed King Sunjo (1567-1608) took an interest in Chinese arts after having read a Ming dynasty martial arts manual by Chuk Kye-Kwang. He was so interested that he invited the Ming military officers to demonstrate their warring arts and the notes which were taken eventually became the Muye Jebo (Martial Arts Illustrations) which is seen as the benchmark of martial arts documentation in Korea. As well as technical aspects of martial arts the Chinese may well have passed on some of the Northern style of Kung fu with its high kicks, flowing movements and jumping techniques. This is said to come from a people who lived in the plains of China where horse communication was made easy by the lack of great mountain ranges or rivers to bar progress. Jumping techniques may have been developed to dislodge mounted warriors and the Korean arts were certainly influenced by the Chinese martial systems of the time.

Check out this impressive performance of Chang Quan - a Northern style of Kung Fu. It isn't Tang Soo Do but the kicking techniques seem closer than to karate. Even to the extent of the way this practitioner turns and flows into jumping and spinning techniques.

Korean kicks (all through the night)

This is a post in reply to Dan Prager's comment here and follows on from my previous post about which kicks are used within hyung (forms) and drills and what proportion of drills are kicking based.

This is a very good point as traditionally Korean martial arts are heavily oriented to kicking techniques, notably high kicks and jumping and spinning techniques and this can sometimes be seen in competition Tae Kwon Do. Indeed whenever I have trained with the University Tae Kwon Do club all we seem to do is incredibly tiring kicking drills with jumps a-plenty. This influence on Korean martial arts is said to come from the Northern Chinese Kung Fu tradition of high, acrobatic kicking and high stances as opposed to the Southern styles which were more 'grounded'. (Following is cut from Wikipedia: "The main perceived difference about northern and southern styles [of Kung Fu] is that the northern styles tend to emphasize fast and powerful kicks, high jumps and generally fluid and rapid movement, while the southern styles focus more on strong arm and hand techniques, and stable, immovable stances and fast footwork.").

It has to be said though that Tang Soo Do is Korean 'karate' and effectively a traditional martial art with it's main heritage in Japanese karate. Karate's name was originally taken from the logograms for Kara and Te (唐手): China and hand. It was later (~1930s "a few years after I came to Tokyo...I was then able to suggest that the art be renamed" ref1) that Funakoshi changed the meaning to 'empty hand' (空手) for political and ideological purposes. Tang Soo also means China hand. 

So we see the semantics of the names but are the arts themselves similar? It's true that the core forms are very similar which I have outlined previously and I have trained with Japanese clubs and compared forms. One of the sensei actually noted that the version of the form I was doing seemed like an 'older' version which had since further developed in his style. It's certainly interesting to see how seeds are planted and grow into the same plant but with slightly different variants.

Tang Soo Do is a kicking-based karate but as it has it's roots firmly in the Japanese/Okinawan heritage there is a lot of traditional hand techniques to be practiced and this brings me directly to Dan's question: what is the proportion of hand/kicking combinations in drills outside of kata? The short answer is 70/30 kicks/hands. The longer answer is that it's a bit more complex. Often the combinations are mixed and after hand techniques there may be a period of combined hand and feet. 30% techniques in the class may be done from front stance (chungul ja sae) which lends itself to the hand combinations with a few kicks interspersed much like in the hyung. We then develop into kicking from back stance (hugul ja sae). Finally we'll practice jumping kicks and jump spinning kicks.

Tang Soo Do is a Korean martial art with strong traditions within Japanese karate, as the similarities of the original names imply. It does, however, hold on to some of the indigenous high, powerful and acrobatic kicking typified by Northern Chinese influences. This is reflected in the training: traditional forms, altered only slightly with higher kicks but more leg-based drills than traditional 'te' derived Japanese arts.

(ref1 p. 34. Karate-Do, My Way of Life, Gichin Funakoshi. Published by Kodansha, first paperback edition 1981)

Forms and their kicks

I read recently an interesting point put forward by Vince Morris in a book 'Karate Kata Applications' (Vince Morris and Aidan Trimble, Ebury Press) how the traditional kata don't incorporate many kicks which are widely practiced in modern karate such as roundhouse kick, reverse roundhouse, axe kick or back kick.

I thought, for fun, I'd run through the Korean forms to document which kicks are included. As I've discussed previously these are based on Japanese and in turn Okinawan forms.

Kicks used in Tang Soo do Hyungs

Pyung Ahn Cho Dan: No kick.

Pyung Ahn Ee Dan: Yup chagi, ahp chagi. (Side kick, front kick)

Pyung Ahn Sam Dan: Pahkeso ahnero chagi (Outside to inside kick.)

Pyung Ahn Sa Dan: Yup chagi, ahp chagi. (Side kick, front kick, knee strike.)

Pyung Ahn O Dan: Pahkeso ahnero chagi. (Outside to inside kick.)

Bassai: Yup chagi. (Side kick.)

Naihanchi Cho Dan: No kick.

Naihanchi Ee Dan: No kick.

Naihanchi Sam Dan: No kick.

Sip Soo: Pahkeso ahnero chagi (depending on the style of Tang Soo Do)

Morris further states that developing new forms with other variant kicks may be beneficial. 

Don't try this at home

I was pacing again. I'd missed two training sessions this week due to ill health. Well, it was a mild cold but you know how blokes are. So by about 7.30pm, once I'd put the kids to bed, I felt like stretching out a bit but felt too lazy for a run so I opted for a stroll around the block. Unusually for me I decided to pull out my ipod and pop it on for my jaunt which turned out to be a cool and dark evening.

On the way round I started texting a friend and we got into a text conversation which was fun. Trouble was I soon realised I was absorbed in a world of my own: deaf due to the music and blind due to the texting (looking into a shining bright light doesn't help your night vision).

Now I'm all for bringing martial training to everyday life but I didn't feel threatened: it's my neighbourhood which is fairly safe apart from the odd 'youff'. I remember reading on some MA forum how one guy only ever wore special elasticated jeans and trousers with sewn in gussets in his daily life just in case he was attacked so that his kicks wouldn't be hampered by tight trousers! I think this may be being a bit over zealous and I wasn't concerned that I could've been jumped at any moment!

So why the post? Well, here's the punchline of the story: as I was walking along in time to the music and happily texting my friend and thinking about that glass of Glenmorangie that was waiting for me at home I nearly walked into a hedge! And I don't mean a glancing blow, I mean I looked up from the mobile phone and my nose was a 30 cms away from a 6 foot hedge!

Der.

There're plenty of conclusions you can draw from that, my friends....

Practice, practice, practice...

I love the following quote from Musashi. This idea of constantly appraising technique and striving gives me great focus. When I feel myself drifting off during lessons I like to focus using this idea of always checking form and movement, getting feedback from my body and knowing that I'm staying on the path.

It's also interesting to see Musashi talk about the 'chosen' art-in a general way. Although he famously was a (two sworded) swordsman he encouraged training in other arts. I like to think that you can be a warrior in any artform where technical accuracy and physical discipline is present: art, flower arranging, karate ...

"Practice is the only way you will ever come to understand the Way of the Warrior is about. Constant striving for perfection of the self through the chosen art is the only path to enlightenment. Words can only bring you to the foot of the path, and to attain mastery and perfection you must constantly strive to better yourself through an understanding of your chosen Way."

Musashi's Book of Five Rings By Stephen F. Kaufman, Musashi Miyamoto.

Check out an interview of Kaufman here.

Front kick, ahp chagi, mae geri

I was enjoying another impromptu garden session the other day and I found myself practicing and studying front kick. My kempo teacher introduced me to an interesting (but probably not new) concept of following through front kick with shoulders 'cocked' in their original starting position so that upon landing you are ready to deliver a powerful punch. Below the mannequin kicks off the rear left leg keeping left shoulder back, lands forward onto left leg and can then rotate body round to deliver effectively a reverse punch (although it is off the front leg technically)

I measured the distance from my front toe to the effective target which for me was 80cm.



The second option I was playing with was the good old reverse front kick, powerfully delivered. Follow-up punches weren't as powerful as above but can be very rapid. Effective distance from front toe to target was 110cm.





Lastly I practiced a lunge kick with a hopping step: this involves a regular front kick from the back leg, as above with much power and forward momentum which 'hops' you forward into the target. As can be expected this thrusts you forward more than the previous two techniques and my measurement was 140cm.




See also Sparring Strategy.