Tae Kyon's kicking influence

[YoungMan]

When Lee founded his style, he tried to pass it off as a direct descendant of the Hwa Rang. That is until he was questioned on it and had to admit that his style had no relationship to the Hwa Rang or what they practiced. Many people still consider Lee's Hwa Rang Do simply a variation of Hapkido.

However, it can be argued that whatever the root origin of a Korean style, the Tae Kyon influence, and the desire to make an art Korean, will always influence whatever Korean style you are talking about. If Tae Kwon Do can be thought to be Japanese-influenced striking and blocking with Korean kicking, the others can be thought of as jujitsu-aikijitsu with Korean kicking.

Having said that, the Tae Kyon influence and desire to Koreanize an art has meant that Tae Kwon Do bears no resemblance to Japanese karate. Even in early photos, it is strkingly different in all aspects.

[DWx]

Found this & thought it would be relevant to this topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EqGeaD2z3A

Looking at it, it does seem to be similar to capoeira and TKD, TSD etc.

[wingedMonkey]

Found this & thought it would be relevant to this topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EqGeaD2z3A

Looking at it, it does seem to be similar to capoeira and TKD, TSD etc.

Yea, those are definitly awesome videos and I would suggest for everyone to see all of them, well, up to #14.

[DWx]

Found this & thought it would be relevant to this topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EqGeaD2z3A

Looking at it, it does seem to be similar to capoeira and TKD, TSD etc.

I think I posted the wrong video earlier, the one above is the demo fight, this is the one that reminded me of capoeira:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8qDz05tE1Y

There's the music element, cartwheels, an the general footwork seems to be very similar to capoeria. A lot of the kicks also reminded me of TKD, (particularly WTF).

[bushido_man96]

I agree with your assessments. It looks like fun, though.

[YoungMan]

If you think about it, Tae Kwon Do today looks more like Tae Kyon than it did 40-50 years ago, as Koreans consciously discarded the Japanese-influenced techniques and re-emphasized classical Korean kicking. Even if some TKD Founder had Tae Kyon instruction, the majority did not. After Japanese rule ended, and Koreans rediscovered their heritage (and this took some time-an entire generation of Koreans grew up Japanese), they rediscovered and incorporated the techniques of Tae Kyon. Tae Kyon may be considered an anachronism in Korea, but it's techniques and spirit live on in Tae Kwon Do.

[wingedMonkey]

I love Taekkyun sooo much that I incorporated lots of its techniques in my sparring for Tae Kwon Do. It drastically improved my game, its also funny to see people kinda freak out when they see you going slow, so they attack, but then you do the explosive quick attacks of Taekkyun.

[YoungMan]

I fully understand, although I am curious how you came about these techniques. Some Tae Kyon kicking strongly resembles the kicking we already do (jumpinh, jump spinning, circular). Many of the people I know do not know or cannot do these techniques. So when I use them, they feel almost helpless because they don't know how to respond.

[bushido_man96]

I had seen many of the kicks that were done in the vids. I can't do some of them, especially the more spinning there is. However, when you see them enough, you can figure out defenses for them. The biggest thing is getting over the initial shock factor of "what the heck was that?"

[wingedMonkey]

I had seen many of the kicks that were done in the vids. I can't do some of them, especially the more spinning there is. However, when you see them enough, you can figure out defenses for them. The biggest thing is getting over the initial shock factor of "what the heck was that?"

Exactly, all it is, is that you don't recognize the attack, but as a martial artist you should train yourself to be prepared for any style. A lot of the kicks from Taekkyun are obviously in Tae Kwon Do and I have also noticed more advanced students have even more kicks from Taekkyon. For instance the normal kicking they do in Taekkyun is called a Twist Kick i believe, and is usually used by 3rd degrees and up because its so hard to twist your knee outward. I mainly use the rythmic stepping also.