tommarker

fireka, on base, as in during basic training? i'm pretty sure they would be confiscated.

Ahh..Paulie Zink....the man, the simian impersonator! I'm not sure what you mean... Paulie Zink IS a monkey, somewhat shaven

Er... yes. People really do say this. I didn't say it was right. Hard to say, since no one knows that channan/jaenam looks like. Though I will agree that Crane plays the biggest influence. I'm not sure where the animal analogies i.e. (Pyung Ahn = turtle) came from exactly... just that it is used in many books and schools. That's the problem with Korean to English. For all we know, someone was trying to wax poetic about the pyung ahns being like a turtle, and someone turned that into "pyung ahn forms are turtle forms."

There is plenty of information out there in the sport psychology field about positive visualization. In that sense, I believe you can "think yourself strong" but that's about it.

that's quite a bombshell. i'd imagine if that was true, I'd hear about it on CBS news, not karateforums.com

Dude... that is SO gay! Sorry, I really couldn't resist.

Unless you know how to use a makiwara, I wouldn't bother with one. A heavy bag allows itself to be used in many more ways.

Don't worry, you're not crazy... There are lots of styles that tie in analogies to animals. Now, just because you're studying Shaolin White Crane doesn't mean that you flap your arms about wildly while making whooping noises.... If you do, that wasn't covered in Dr. Yang's book Often the body mechanics are analogous to poetic qualities in animals. A snake form, for example would involve crouching, with fast, direct strikes. Other forms, such as Mantis style, even has hand postures that kinda look like a praying mantis. Heck, I've seen some wushu performers doing a monkey style form where they actually appear to be picking bugs off their body and eating them Some people in TSD (depending on school and association) attribute various forms to different animals. Pyung Ahn forms represent the turtle, Sip Soo is the Bear, Bassai is Snake, etc. I don't necessarily agree with that concept, but I can see how one might make such analogies.

battousai16, yea, the term i was most familiar with was ssang chul bong. I don't mind using the word nunchaku, but I hate hearing "numchucks"

I would like to think it came about through exploration in an attempt to make techniques stronger. Given that the "sine-wave" really isn't all that old, and it wasn't going to go away in General Choi's lifetime, I'll be interested to see if it evolves or goes away. Whether it works or not is a whole other arguement that I'm not qualified to weigh in on.

Doug, Thanks for the info! I was aware of KSW rope techniques, and I imagine it wouldn't be much of a stretch to apply a lot of them to jul bong I'm not sure what considerably longer means either... it was in the particular article without pictures.

Doug (and others), Do you have nunchaku in your KSW curriculum? In my research, I found a lot of references to a special nunchaku called 'jul bong'. It seems that (and I couldn't find a picture yet) that the string connecting the two is considerably longer than the Okinawan counterpart. Sounds great for snares and chokes, but like it might get some getting used to for swinging strikes. Is there a particular focus with how the jul bong is taught in KSW? Is it taught more as a swinging flail type weapon, a close quarter impact and locking weapon, or a mix of the two? Is there a jul bong hyung? Thanks, Tom

A guy named Dan once helped me understand Pinan/Heian IV

Some people maintain that the embusen (pattern drawn on the floor by the form) has a certain significance as well. Jitte (10 hands), for example, could be said to make a + shaped embusen, which happens to be the chinese symbol for 10. Coincidence? I could see how this path could get ugly quickly (were patterns changed after being named, and thus the significance of the embusen lost, etc)

Cane doesn't work for me... I'm young and in pretty good shape. I do carry a crook top umbrella when it calls for rain though.

I thought he was talking about the sort of swaying bouncing movement that people make while moving in sparring. Sine-wave is different.

yup. i watched some great footage of joo bang lee throwing a guy by his jaw once. that looked fun

I was joking... but maybe telling that to your friend will encourage him to keep his sparring appointments in the future

good luck with your first class, and I hope you've found something you want to stick with!

I believe I asked (and if I recall, I did not ask YOU) if TKD couldn't be a budo art. You took this as your chance to jump on a soapbox and make your pedantic rant about the ineffieciency of Korean arts. then ... So which is it? First everyone is mediocre, and now you can think of two (that's awful generous of you) with "good" technique. I can think of several mediocre shotokan schools that I'm fairly certain you wouldn't want the reputation of YOUR art to hang on. Maybe you should refrain from speaking in such large sweeping statements! Maybe you know a lot about Shotokan, but you know about as much about Tang Soo Do (or TKD for that matter) as someone who has walked by a strip mall dojang. You sound like - at best - a 6th kyu who just learned that his art is the best.. I'd expect somewhat better from someone who has trained 22 years and is espousing the ways of budo in a public forum.

i'll check it out... this has been a fun discussion.. thanks!

if i had to make a guess, i would attribute it to a byproduct of TKD's method of competitive sparring. possibly using it to lull the opponent into following their rhythm, then breaking it with an attack? bouncing, in theory, could keep you on your toes, and therefore make you more mobile than a rooted stance. perhaps it has come from imitating boxers? to be honest, i have no idea, but if i was to take a guess, that would be it.

has it ever really been much more than personal opinion? black belts have not been around for what 100 years, if that.

because no one posted in 1.5 hours? If it helps, I'll admit I don't know. But I don't practice TKD, and I don't bounce. I could come up with a theory, if you want

you might become very strong, though that doesn't necessarily mean that one's karate will improve.