Japanese style influences on Kuk Sool Won?

[The BB of C]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrXjM1HZ7Zs&feature=related

Take a look at the above video link before reading on. The Kuk Sool Won practitioners of this forum will recognize it. However, that is definately not a Kuk Sool Won class.

Any Kuk Sool Won practitioner will tell you that In Hyuk Suh developed the style from learning the martial arts of the Royal Palace, Tribal/Family martial arts, and the martial arts of the Korean Buddhist temple.

I sometimes hear some people telling me that there is a lot of Japanese influence on Korean martial arts and I understand why from a historical standpoint and even by watching the ways a lot of them condition themselves. I guess I always expected Kuk Sool Won as what was preserved through time and was one of the last few solely Korean forms.

After stumbling upon this video at the top here, I am wondering if either this Japanese style had an influence on Kuk Sool Won. Or perhaps is it the other way around? Or is it all just one big coincidence? Does anyone here know anything about this?

On an unrelated note:

Observe the breathing exercise the master does at the end of the video. I watched that and the "Street Fighter" fanatic in me said "HADOUKEN!" then I looked in the comments section and according to one of the commentors, the master was who Gouken and Ryu were based off of so that movement was basically the original Hadouken. And because the warm-ups were so similar, I thought it would be cool to go around and tell my friends that I knew the same style as Ryu from "Street Fighter."

[tenshinka]

Hello,

My guess is that you are comparing this set of warm ups to Kuk Sool's Mohm Puhl Ki exercises...Personally I seem some resemblance, but not near enough to make me think the two sets are related...

Kuk Sool does not have many Japanese influences to speak of, its more related to the Chinese arts...Mantis and Long Fist in particular...

[The BB of C]

I knew that as far as related or having similar techniques (I also see Aikido and Hapkido in there as far as style similarities) but I was asking about influence. Do you think it's just a cooincidence then that the warm ups are so similar?

[tenshinka]

I knew that as far as related or having similar techniques (I also see Aikido and Hapkido in there as far as style similarities) but I was asking about influence. Do you think it's just a cooincidence then that the warm ups are so similar?

Yea, I think it is purely coincidence. There are only so many ways to move the body...If you took two people from different parts of the world, and asks them to record a way to stretch the entire body, I bet each person would have pretty similar results

take care,

--josh

[joesteph]

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?

[bushido_man96]

I would agree that Kuk Sool Won probably does have Japanese and probably other influences, like Chinese. Most Korean MAs do. There really just isn't any "original" Korean MAs out there from their "ancient" past.

[tenshinka]

There really just isn't any "original" Korean MAs out there from their "ancient" past.

I do believe Kuk Sool is the closest thing to that though.

[bushido_man96]

There really just isn't any "original" Korean MAs out there from their "ancient" past.

I do believe Kuk Sool is the closest thing to that though.

Is there some literature that explains this? I would be interested in looking into it.

[tenshinka]

There really just isn't any "original" Korean MAs out there from their "ancient" past.

I do believe Kuk Sool is the closest thing to that though.

Is there some literature that explains this? I would be interested in looking into it.

Unfortunately, most of the scholarly papers and reasearch into Kuk Sool are published only in Korean...My assertion comes from my personal research into the techniques, and forms in relation to both Chinese and Japanese sources...

[joesteph]

There really just isn't any "original" Korean MAs out there from their "ancient" past.

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.