Weapons in TKD?

[Myst]

My dojang offers nunchuku (sp?), bo, sai, and tunfa.

[mattyj]

we do defense against weapons... the use of weapons isnt really part of tkd.

[RDsynMBZ]

my school was mostly karate but TKD was definetly mixed in there we learn sword and cane, cane is very useful and its great to learn cuz should u hurt urself then u can carry it with u and not worry bout anythin just they have to let u have it so its great to learn

[coralreefer_1]

Ok, im not expert on either, but I have studied a little of both, Gumdo and Kendo I mean. I studied "Gumdo' under 2 famous korean masters a few years ago. And I studied Kendo for the last 2 semesters at my college. Here are the differences that I have noticed.

Granted, I only studied Gumdo for a few months, but it was practiced with a hardwood sword, straight blade, about 24 inches long. The moves were long, and beautiful, and the forms i learned included low strikes, and wide sweeping cuts., jumps..etc. The style of cutting it was teaching was more like "slicing" as in ..sliding the blade across the target, not so much with power. It reminded me more of chinese style than a japanese style.

The Kendo i studied as I assume like elsewere is a sport form of a more ancient art. The strikes were more like " a quick tap" to the head..just doing what you can to get the first strike. Most of it seemed to come form the wrist, and was using the bamboo sword. The good thing, was we got to put on the equipment and actually hit each other, so for me, i enjoyed it more. The teacher of that class is the secretary of the Korean Kendo Association, so there were no games, and it was a hard class. It was a good class, but i stopped it, because it was done on a hardwood floor, and every class, he would make us to this striking technique where you like jump forward and back..and he made us do it 1000 times every class, so my feet would be sore and blistered, and too sore for playing taekwondo. I came to Korea for taekwondo, but my taekwondo was sufferering because of sore feet, so i didnt take it this semester.

I wont argue with anyone about the history or the lineage of each, but the seemed more different than similar to me. I would point out that Korea is physically attached to China, so though I'm not history expert, it seems to me more things in Korea would be influenced by China, that is..leading up to the Japanese occupation in 1910, than by Japan. Of course, Korea has been tormented with Japanese invasions for years, and so many of the artifacts and cultural treasures I have visited here in Korea all say in the little placard that tells about it that they were sacked and burned by the japanese at least a few time over the course of the past few hundred years, so its hard to say what is "truly" Korean.

Anyway..thats all a little off topic. We can save that for another thread some other time...

Todd

[aefibird]

At my dojang we do a little weapons work, but it's more seminars and occasional training days, rather than a regular programme. Seminars usually cover long and short staff, nunchaku and kama. We do knife defence work too, but that's part of the regular SD element of class.

[Aodhan]

In our school, we train with:

Gum Do - Korean sword

Jangh Bangh - 6' staff

Single and Double Ssangh Jeol Bangh - Nunchaku

Single and Double Bangh Mangh Ee - Escrima (3 foot) sticks)

Jee Pang Ee - Cane

Ssangh Nat - Kama

Sam Dangh Bangh - 3 sectional staff

And, our federation (ATA) is currently developing the Sai and Gum Do curriculums, they are relatively new additions to our weapons training.

Aodhan

[orion82698]

My dojang offers nunchuku (sp?), bo, sai, and tunfa.

As do mine.