joesteph

I loved the vintage photos of each class/school. In the first, I noticed that each student is wearing a suit, not a do bok, but has his shoes off, of course. (I learned of a town in the past that had a number of Asian immigrants living in houses of their own. They were robbed more often than other homes. The police realized that burglars, who stake out before they break in, would know if someone were home or not if there were shoes--or no shoes--on the porch, outside the front door.) In the second photo, they're shoeless again, but I see a boy on Dad's lap and, unless I'm mistaken, there's a woman (likely the wife/mother) behind Dad. When I studied Tae Kwon Do, Josh, it was the art of GM Duk Sung Son, who I had the privilege of meeting. He signed my copy of his book, Korean Karate, and the copyright is 1968, although my studying was in the '80s. When he visited my hometown, he spoke in heavily-accented English, but we followed a story he told that, shortly after moving to the US, he was working out in a park and was approached by a number of young toughs. I can't remember it well, but it seems he took out the loudest one, and announced to them (I can still see and hear him exclaim it) "Korean karate!" In my art, Soo Bahk Do, the first of the Eight Principles is Yon Gi--meaning "brave energy," and translated into English as courage. It's also been explained to my young sons that when they say Yon Gi, they are saying "I can do it!" Also in Soo Bahk Do, as Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan, there are the Ten Articles of Faith on Mental Training, the first of which is "Be loyal to one's country." The official explanation reads, "Sacrifice to fulfill your duty to your country and your people. This is based on the spirit of Hwa Rang." I think, DWx, that all nations seek to find their roots, even if these be in the distant past, and realists know that there have been tremendous influences from Korea's "heavyweight" neighbors, China and Japan. The reaching back to subak and the hwa rang is like linking to an Adam and Eve in the Korean nation's martial art heritage. Romantic? Perhaps. Nationalistic? Likely. Lacking? Not necessarily; everything has a point of origin.

It's a great story. It's something you couldn't put in a movie, because no one would believe it. And yet it happened.

I'm glad Doug asked what trapping was; I was reading the thread and the way it ran, it seemed as everyday a martial arts term as punching or kicking to those who posted. I remember being taught to "smother" your opponent's arm against his chest with an open hand, so you can get in, say, a punch or palmheel to the face. Trapping seems to be much more sophisticated.

Not having anything said to him, Shoto, may be misinterpreted as permission, even agreement. Sometimes, saying nothing may be misinterpreted as approval. Continued silence on your part is working against you. Objectively, the student should feel free to speak with the other student, and an understanding is reached. I take it this has gone on for awhile; sometimes, when something has been going on for a bit without something being said, it can actually become awkward to bring it up. You have the freedom to speak with him first, or to your instructor first. You might speak with your instructor first, that your partnering-up with this individual be "observed" by your instructor, and, when the individual "chops wood," an admonishment to him individually or to both of you--in the form of a reminder about excessive force--may be delivered by the instructor, right there on the spot. Please let us all know how it turns out, Shoto.

Excellent! Congratulations.

I love the pawheel strikes.

When I did weight-training, Tiger, and that was for a twenty year period, I had a knee problem, tendonitis, that was handled by wrapping the knees and still exercising the legs. I made sure that I didn't wrap too tightly, so numbness wasn't a problem as I had proper blood flow. If I didn't, the first stage would be pain after the legs exercise; the next stage from continuing not to wrap them would be pain during the exercise; I made sure I wrapped them to head off going to the third stage, pain whether I exercised the legs or not.

Ow! When I saw it, I could feel it, myself. Was he distracted by the audience, or was it just a shot gone awry?

Yes, Doug, and despite the widespread popularity of Korean karate, I think more Americans are familiar with the Japanese term, kata. I've noticed that when someone refers to a Chinese form, say a Taiji one, it's just "form"--no special Chinese word is used.

This is a problem not just limited to martial arts but to any sport, that someone feels "I know that already" and cuts back on training (or practice sessions), or moves on to other techniques and gets as rusty as can be with the old. In my upcoming test, there are two new hyungs required, but my instructor will have us present ourselves to the examiner with four, so we keep on training old and new. I respect her for it. I'm interested, Doug, and I'm sure others are, too.

I'm fortunate that I can have two pieces of equipment, a WaveMaster and BOB, in my home. The base is even the same for both, so there's some economy of space there. I use the WaveMaster to practice kicks. I don't try for full-blast as much as I try for technique and a strong hit. I've found that I kick much better against the WaveMaster than against "air." I use BOB to practice punches and different kinds of hand strikes, even doing the solo self-defense motions of a "block" and then the strikes against BOB. I've practiced a lot of boxing-type punches against him, meaning that I've got my guard up and fire away combinations again and again. I've even been able to practice defenses against wrist grabs by having BOB in front of me, pretending (if you know BOB, you know what I mean) that he's grabbed my wrist, then going through the motions of what the different (I have to know eight of them at my belt level) defenses are. He's so humanlike that it does give me a perspective, a kind of point of reference, one that I can't get doing these movements against a completely "pretend" opponent. I also use a cardio-kickboxing DVD, one with ten-minute workouts targeting different areas of the body: upper, the "core," and lower. I do believe that it's helpful for the cardio, and I'd say that, in terms of martial arts, the upper body segment has been the most helpful, even though cardio and so against air, with its emphasis on keepng my guard up as well as performing punches.

You might be interpreted as referring to a kind of immaturity, Ikigai. I think of how so many children take a martial art, say karate in particular. They can't really think in the same terms as adults, so rewards such as stripes on their white belts (if really young, like my six-year-olds), or many differently colored belts (I learned from one of my freshman students [i teach high school] that she takes karate, and I she went through a long list of belt colors that her school uses for those who are, say, ages 10-14), are their motivators. That's not a bad thing; it fits the mindset of such a young person. I noticed that you said "must turn," like a psychological need that the level of maturity, in this case a maturity measured not simply by age but by dan progression as well, demands. Do you suggest, Ikigai, arriving at self-fulfillment or self-actualization through the art? Sounds like a philosophical observation as much as a psychological one. It's very perceptive.

To start off with a blob of molten glass, then spin it, work it with tools that might seem awkward or sharp, and create a cat glass scupture in under two minutes, well, that's as brilliant as it is beautiful.

2X at home: Ki Cho Hyung Il Bu Ki Cho Hyung E Bu Ki Cho Hyung Sam Bu Pyung Ahn Cho Dan Then class tonight with my boys.

Interesting that you mention Tai Chi, Josh. I've looked ahead at upcoming forms, and one by GM Hwang Kee is called Chil Sung E Ro Hyung (Seven Star Form #2). Just past the middle point in the hyung is a series of moves that reminds me of a section of a long Taiji form I'd worked on with a friend when I studied it in the past, but with the movements given greater emphasis in this hyung. Others too? Possibly; I'll know at some point. I recognize that he was proud of his Korean heritage and, in finding the subak reference, thought it the best reference to make. Some call him a martial arts protege; some call him a philosopher (Moo Duk Kwan); I'd call him both.

Not only will I agree about the women, but there are many men who want to learn self-defense, yet would find it difficult to do something that would harm their training partner. Where I study, I've found that I myself feel better if I check with my fellow-student opponent that I'm not, say, destroying his wrist in a joint lock. That's why there's a signal system of tapping your own leg, or even tapping your training partner. When I did choke holds, I asked my "opponent" to tap me on the arm (that's choking him) so I would be certain that I knew to stop/ease up. The people who attend these classes are not into full-contact, which I believe is being suggested in the trappings of seeing how much you, in the role of attacker, can take. It takes enough courage for these women to walk into that dojang, knowing that the reason they're there isn't because they have a "don't mess with me or I'll turn you into road kill" attitude, but that they are afraid of rape, possibly rape and death. Once they realize that they can really let 'er rip, they'll do it and learn what they need to know. And more power to them. I have no objection to someone who wants to do full-contact, for whatever reason he--or she--may desire, so long as s/he's a legal adult. But that's not what this is about.

I do believe Kuk Sool is the closest thing to that though. In my art, Soo Bahk Do, there is seeking to go back to the oldest Korean martial art that Grandmaster Hwang Kee could find, su bak or subak. He translated the Muye Dobo Tongji, a book about three hundred years old, and found su bak under “Kwon Bup: Fist Fighting Method.” In the book I have, Muye Dobo Tongji: The Comprehensive Illustrated Manual of Martial Arts, it says (p. 311): “t is recorded, ‘The king watched the fist fighting (su bak) and archery contests.’ In the note it is recorded that su bak is a martial art contest of wrestling.” (parenthetic reference to su bak in text) But in Wikipedia, it says: "Subak, Soobak or Soo Bak-Gi is an ancient Korean martial art. Historically this term may be an older name for the Korean martial art of taekkyeon. "The Subak style was created in the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo. "It was a style heavy in the use of kicking as opposed to punching, and relied more on upright fighting styles as opposed to grappling and wrestling." Subak is apparently very old, and its roots may be truly Korean, but what it originally entailed is likely simple and can be debated; time advancing gave it the opportunity to evolve.

What I did perform in my short Bagua introduction was the circle-walking, with the palms to the center of the circle where my opponent would be. I attended a presentation about Bagua that was mostly an American speaking about when he lived with a Bagua master "in China" (it was in the '90s, so it may or may not have been Taiwan). His single demonstration of a Bagua technique is something you could spend months on, circling around his opponent, palming down ("massaging" as he called it) the opponent's protective arm while smacking him on top of his head, and the opponent just couldn't get an arm up to protect himself without it being palmed down, so his head kept getting smacked; even trying to turn away was no escape, as the Bagua presenter/attacker would circle around him--this way and that--to deliver more "massages" and head smacks. The friend I attended the presentation with had a Taiji instructor who introduced him to some Bagua, and whose explanation of the "palm" in Bagua was anything from the fingertips to the elbow to whack at your opponent. My friend showed me a move his instructor had showed him; it had a Bagua strike which was like a forearm slam (the outer side of the forearm) against the side of your head.

I didn't realize this about Bagua, having studied just a bit of it when I was doing Taiji, to gather something of what it was about. Perhaps this is why Taiji is often used more "meditatively" and was even utilized as part of my father's therapy (nothing complex; balance/coordination focus) after he had a mild stroke.

With me, Zanshin, it's the living room. I've done hyungs there repeatedly, so I know how far to go forward before I--rather smoothly--back up, or I might need to step to the side (practicing my footwork?) to continue. No coffee table is a plus; the couch is no fun to march into.

I wondered, Yos, would you know if someone who studies Judo is introduced to both, but one is practiced? Or does it depend on the individual instructor? I've found that when the chief instructor is teaching at my dojang, she teaches what the art (Soo Bahk Do) officially approves, but when the assistant instructor is teaching, he'll let you know the "street" version. "Stomping through the joint"? It sounds wicked.

I agree with you about taking a martial art and increasing your ability to defend yourself in a reasonable amount of time, Tallgeese; six months is not unreasonable. But I wondered about those who study aikido. Is it an art that's approached by those who have already studied--and may be proficient in--another martial art, or even martial arts, but are now looking for something that is the "different aspect" you suggest?

This sounds safest when you're not sure. Did you read this on the care label? Hot's pretty much a guarantee that something will shrink. You're at a university; the dryer I use at home goes by the material (cotton, permanent press . . .). If you're unsure, Tiny, and you think the university dryers are too hot (likely because they get stuffed with a ton of clothing all at once, so they'll be extra-hot to get the job done), go with letting the gi dry by air instead of by a machine that might ruin it.

Rather psychological . . . It's said that in the game of poker, the winner at the game is one who plays the other player, not the hand.

The warm-up exercises I do for Soo Bahk Do aren't done as long/involved as in the video, but what we do I found throughout. Is there a "collective unconscious" of stretching exercises throughout the world?