taekwondo tales, page 6401

the cat at the dojang who had been coming off a little odd seems to be relaxing a bit. which is good. no need for any friction in-house. that’s a drag.

after the last class he says to me in the locker room “you look wiped out” to which i replied “just warming up!” with a smile. i’d say i was well past “warmed up,” but i wasn’t about to let him take shots at me during this whole weird dance we’d been doing since first meeting. i haven’t told you about all our moments, but men do funny things sometimes, like peacocks or something, with weird little testing moments. but he seemed to relax after that statement in the locker room and before long, he moved into some talk about where i can get my dobok pants taken in an inch or so if i need to, noticing mine are a little long. i took this transition in communication to mean that we have moved past our initial phase of…whatever that was.

maybe he had been being stereotypically male, needing to poke at me to see what he’d get back. seeing if i was going to be an antagonist for some reason. or maybe it was a case of him having a different way of greeting people than i do in those situations and he never intended anything as confrontational as it seemed. no need to overanalyze it all, really. but i’m glad things seem  less tense for whatever reason. i’d rather focus my energies on training while i’m there, not on strange rivalry testosterony type things.

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did some more reading to refresh my memory on the history of taekwondo, which in large part means the history of Korea and Japan’s occupation and cultural antagonism and agenda of cultural eradication of Korean arts and history. it’s very fascinating to read how the Korean martial arts arose, were suppressed, resurged…and details how certain moves were developed, such as the jumping side kick which was intended to dislodge Japanese soldiers from horses at least in part.

i said i wanted to refresh my understanding/memory of tkd’s history and the difference between ITF and WTF style. i mentioned this because now i am relearning poomsae and they are all new styles than those that i used to know and compete with.

the broad strokes are this: the poomsae/style/forms i used to study (ITF) were general choi’s version. he is considered the father of Tae Kwon Do. (Jhoon Ree is considered the father of american TKD.) TKD was born out of Korea being freed of Japanese occupation, and a desire to bring the various Kwans (schools) that were springing up, teaching various forms of TKD, together as one. so TKD was a thing of national identity, culture, and pride. largely in response to Japan’s declaring it one of the many distinctly Korean practices and studies that was banned during the occupation.

origin-wise, tkd borrows from arts aside from Korean martial arts, like Chinese and Japanese arts; Kung Fu and Hapkido and Judo and others. its defining characteristics are that it is a meld of these different arts as well as it is largely made of kicks, as it is thought strategic to use the legs with their greater strength and reach. also, at the time these Korean arts were codified, the hands were considered too important to risk damaging. compare to other arts at the time such as southern style shaolin kung fu, which is known especially for its intricate hand moves. i don’t know what precipitated the Koreans’ special concern for hands. i’m sure there is a reason that has to do with their society at the time.

so under Choi, and shortly after Japan were out of Korea, the different Korean martial arts were brought together as first Tae Soo Do, and then shortly after renamed to “Taekwondo.” i think there were six or so, from what i read. i can’t recall off the top of my head when Korea became finally free of Japan’s occupation (mid 1940s?) but i’m pretty sure Choi set up his KTA (korean tkd asssociation) tkd hq in Canada in the early 1960s, maybe 1966, actually. i’ll have to firm up on these dates, obviously. but this was enough time to consolidate all forms of their arts, test and certify and train, if need be, all black belts previously certified in some non-TKD version of Korean martial art. this new unified standard was Choi’s ITF style. the art also began to migrate more and more to other countries as this happened.

after Choi’s term as president of KTA, the next president moved TKD HQ back to Korea (can’t recall his name…Wun-Young Kim?), and WTF style became part of a larger effort to unify the art and create a standard for competition in all nations it was being practiced in by this time.

these new forms i am learning replace tradtional Palgwe (ITF forms) with Taeguk (WTF). as of now, i’m finding the first three similar to each other in ways that challenge my memory, but then again, i’m having to learn all three right away instead of with each belt test, as i did last time i learned my required forms. nothing more practice won’t cure.

so, there’s your dose of Korean history, TKD history. i wrote it from memory, without googling, so it’s rough and may well have errors. i’ll keep reading and reading deeper. if there is anything to correct or add to, i will continue to hit this topic in the future. if you have anything to add, feel free.