Taeguk forms

[YoungMan]

Yes. Every time I get a chance to be around him, I consider myself extremely fortunate that I found his organization. I could have just as easily joined Isshin Ryu or Shorin Ryu. By the luck of the draw, I found him.

I have had opportunities to practice with Hae Man Park, and GM Park was a judge at several of my testings. His knowlege of forms is incredible. He can explain what even the smallest actions mean and why it is important to do them correctly.

[isshinryu5toforever]

I do both Isshin-Ryu and Taekwondo, and i have to say I love the Isshin-ryu forms. The Taekwondo forms just don't do it for me. I would very much like to meet Grandmaster Tae Zee Park. I have been able to meet Park Dong Geun kwonjunim, and I must say that he is a very unique man as well. Extremely powerful and fast. He is my master's instructor.

[YoungMan]

When he is not meeting with his senior students (6th and 7th Dan), GM Park, my Instructor, is usually meeting other senior members of the WTF and the Kukkiwon, either in Korea or various places around the country. I cannot speak for him or where he would be. However, if by chance you ever do meet him, his breadth of knowlege of Tae Kwon Do is incredible.

Unlike many TKD people who claim high rank but stay within a narrow sphere of people they know, GM Park really is international as far as his knowlege and connections.

Several years ago, some of our senior students were given the opportunity to judge competitions at the World Hanmadang Festival in Korea.

As far as Taegeuk forms, I think GM Park dislikes them for the same reasons I stated: they do not really teach the fundamentals of TKD as well as the Palgue forms.

[rmclain]

Actually I'm not surprised, as the Kukkiwon is well known for tinkering with its forms, adding techniques, changing existing movements, or removing them. All in an attempt to make them better and deeper.

Additionally, as Korea and its martial arts "rediscovered" themselves, there was a concerted effort to make them more Korean and less Japanese.

There are also two examples of walking stances in the color belt forms: Palgue Sa Chang and Palgue Pal Chang. Both are used to increase mobility to set up for an immediate counterattack.

So again, the walking stances in the Taegeuk forms do have precedent in earlier Korean forms. It's also something that separates them from other styles.

I suppose there is one stance in Palgue #4 that could be considered "Walking stance." It is more of a "standing stance." That form starts out like Pyung Ahn #2, but shifts back into a neck strike with the "Standing stance."

Palgue #8 starts out like Pyung Ahn #1, but shifts back into a tall standing back stance - could be a "walking stance" I suppose.

In all of the Palgue forms you can see the karate form foundation they worked from when they created the Palgue forms in 1972.

If you want to see as close to the original Palgue 1-8 creations as possible, without the modifications since then, check out the following books:

Palgue 1-2-3 of Taekwondo Hyung by Kim Pyung-soo (1973)

Palgue 4-5-6 of Taekwondo Hyung by Kim Pyung-soo (1976)

Palgue 7-8 of Taekwondo Hyung by Kim Pyung-soo (1981)

R. McLain

[mongo]

I was not aware that there were two versions of Koryo. Where did the first version come from?

The first one was just that, it was the first unified form of TaeKwonDo when the Korean fighting arts were unified. Later it was replaced with a more flashy kata, the modern version of koryo.

Really the forms look nothing alike.

Brad

[SageGhost]

I was not aware that there were two versions of Koryo. Where did the first version come from?

The first one was just that, it was the first unified form of TaeKwonDo when the Korean fighting arts were unified. Later it was replaced with a more flashy kata, the modern version of koryo.

Really the forms look nothing alike.

Brad

I find that to be very interesting - two Koryo's. Isn't Heian Shodan a remixed or updated version of Pinan Nidan? It is pretty interesting to see the changes made to the forms over time.