"Sine Wave" in Korean

Sine Wave Motion in Korean

By Sanko Lewis, PhD

From relatively early in Taekwon-Do’s evolution, there has been a type of “verticality”—i.e. up-and-down movements. The term “verticality” was coined by Judy Van Zile, an ethnographer studying Korean traditional dance. She uses the term to describe the conspicuous characteristic of bending-and-straightening of the knees (and other parts of the body) in Korean traditional dance. Such bending-and-straightening of the knees also became a feature of Taekwon-Do, which differs from Japanese Karate in which Taekwon-Do has its roots. Karate prefers little or no “verticality” during stepping. Prototypical Taekwon-Do (i.e., the “Taekwon-Do” of the late 1940s and 1950s) did not have “verticality” as it was basically still Karate, and participants moved according to Japanese body culture. However, “verticality,” which is innate to traditional Korean body culture, slowly seeped into Taekwon-Do movements. By the 1960s, “verticality” was already implied in the “knee-spring” notion. (This focus on the bending or 'spring'-action of the knee is an iconic feature of traditional Korean body culture.)

Initially ITF Taekwon-Do stepping was done in an up-down motion. Around 1981-1983, under the guidance of General Choi Hong-Hi, this up-down execution was amended to a down-up-down execution (or relax-rise-fall, as I prefer to describe it), which became known as the “sine wave motion.” In some of his writings, Stuart Anslow identifies a seminar in 1983 as the year the term “sine wave” became used to describe this down-up-down kinetic expression. This concurs with the first edition of the Korean version of the ITF Encyclopedia in which the English term for this motion is provided as “싸인 웨이브,” which is the transliteration of the English term “sine wave.”

The common assumption is that General Choi appropriated the term “sine wave” to infuse a scientific notion to this type of movement. This is an assumption I held too for quite some time, but it has always made me rather uncomfortable because it is not scientifically sound. The contemporary down-up-down manifestation mimics the shape of a cosine wave, not a sine wave that has an up-down-up shape, if we start at 0 (i.e., X = 0).  

I began to wonder what term General Choi used in Korean, so I looked up what term is used in my Korean versions of the ITF Encyclopedia. There are two synonyms in Korean for “sine wave”: jeonghyeon-pa 정현파 and sain-pa 사인파 (the latter is simply an Anglicanism of sine-wave). Unexpectedly, neither of these words are used in the Korean versions of the ITF Encyclopedia. The Korean term has actually no relation to this scientific concept. Instead, the Korean version of the ITF Encyclopedia uses the term hwaldeung-pado 활등파도, which literally translates as “bow-back waveform.”

What does this mean? Literally, bow-back refers to one side of a bow (archery weapon). The English collocation is “back-of-the-bow,” and refers to the outside of the bow, which is the side facing away from the bowstring. Whereas the side that faces the bowstring is called the belly-of-the-bow. When the bow is stringed, and the archer draws the bow, the wooden bow is arched into an obvious curve (the typical bow shape).

In other words, the original Korean term simply refers to the curvature of the wave form, which should resemble a smooth crescent or bow-like shape; this shape is contrasted in the Encyclopaedia with the “saw-tooth wave” (abrupt up-and-down movements rather than naturally curved movements) and the “horizontal wave” (keeping one's head level throughout the movement), which are incorrect ways of moving in ITF Taekwon-Do.

Upon further investigation I was surprised to note that the transliteration of the Korean term in the 1999 version of the English Encyclopedia (and presumably all subsequent editions) is not hwaldeung-pado 활등파도. Instead, it is yulson. Because the English version of the Encyclopedia doesn’t use hangeul (the Korean alphabet), but only transliterations of the Korean words, it required some effort to try and figure out what the word means. “Yulson” can be written in Korean in various ways 율손, 율선, 열손, 열선—each with different possible meanings. Discussions with native Korean speakers seem to all agree on the second variant: 율선, which is Romanized according to South Korea’s current system as “yulseon.” Finding a proper translation for yulson 율선 is not straightforward.

The translation for yulson 율선 律旋 given by the dictionaries I checked is “melody”. This translation was affirmed to me by a Korean Taekwon-Do master (8th Dan) I consulted. This word is hardly used in modern Korean. A more recognizable term for “melody” is garak 가락, which dictionaries provide as a synonym for yulson 율선. If this is indeed the correct translation, my Korean friends suggest that yulson implies the melodious movement of a tune. It is noteworthy that Korean traditional music has a “curved melodic line with typical vibrato known as nonghyeon or nongeum”—I got this explanation from Professor Sheen Dae-Cheol 신대철 of the Academy of Korean Studies, during a lecture on the aesthetic characteristics of Korean traditional music. If this is the correct understanding of yulson 율선, then we may assume that it refers to the “curved melodic line with typical vibrato,” which may be represented by the oscillating shape of a sine wave.

However, with all due respect to my Korean friends, I’m not completely convinced about the “melody”-hypothesis. The reason for my doubt is that suffix “-son” [-선]. The same page in the ITF Encyclopedia that mentions yulson 율선 as translation for sine wave, also lists soopyong-son and topnal-son as translations for “Horizontal Wave” and “Saw Tooth Wave” respectively. (Notice the same “-son” suffix used in these words.) In the Korean versions of the ITF Encyclopedia, the Korean term is not “-son”, but “-pado” 파도. The relevant pages in the Korean version of the encyclopedia (Volume 4, p. 195) and the Korean version of the condensed encyclopedia (p. 322) lists Sine Wave as 활등파도 hwaldeung-pado, Horizontal Wave as 수평파도 soopyong-pado, and Saw Tooth Wave as 톱날파도 topnal-pado. It is clear, therefore, that “-son” -선 has to have the same or similar meaning as “pado” 파도 which literally translates as wave.

Therefore, a more likely translation of -son is based on a different hanja 線 that means “line.” This better matches the accompanying pictures in the Encyclopedia that shows drawings of a sine wave line, a horizontal line, and a saw tooth line.

This brings us back to the meaning of yul 율 in the term yulson 율선. I suggest that it is based on another hanja 率 that means “rate” or “frequency.” For instance, one’s pulse is biyul 비율, literally “blood-rate”. The alternative hanja 律 means “a law, a rule, a statue, a regulation” which doesn’t seem to fit. On the other hand, “rate/frequency” 率 seems sensible, because a sine wave can accurately be described as a line depicting a frequency. This matches with how some (North) Korean masters describe the sinewave motion as “rhythmic motion”.

Consequently, based on the Korean terms hwadeung-pado (back-of-the-bow wave) and yulson (melodic shape or frequency line), the intention was not to invoke scientific notions of “sine” or “cosine” waves in particular. The picture in the Encyclopedia doesn’t provide us with a single truncated sine wave (or cosine wave), but instead shows a continuous wave. The argument whether the movement looks more like a sinewave or a co-sinewave misses the point. General Choi was using a metaphoric descriptor to depict the smooth curvature of the stepping motion. The stepping should be smooth like a (sine)wave or smooth like the back-of-the-bow. The metaphors are clearly intended to suggest smooth “verticality”; which General Choi juxtaposed with a stepping motion that has no vertical movement (“horizontal wave”) on the one hand or a rugged (“saw-tooth”) movement on the other hand.

While the Korean Encyclopaedia uses the term “bow-back waveform” 활등파도, it also includes the English translation as “싸인 웨이브,” which is the transliteration of the English term “sine wave.” It is not clear why General Choi chose the metaphor of a bow in Korean, but the sine wave in English. It might have been that he thought few Western people are familiar enough with the archery weapon; or, maybe he did choose to use the scientific term “sine wave” to add some scientific notion to the technique.

Nevertheless, another question may be asked: why the change from the original up-down to the current down-up-down motion for most standard movements in ITF Taekwon-Do? The common assumption that the term “sine wave” (or “co-sinewave”) explains the three phases (down-up-down) is not supported by the Korean terminology used by General Choi. The Korean terms hwadeung-pado and yulson, whether understood literally or metaphorically, do not suggest any number of phases (ups-and-downs) in the motion.

There are some possibilities: 

Several people believe it was a political move by General Choi to discredit masters that were not loyal to him and had left the ITF. By introducing this change the General could claim that they are not teaching the founder’s “authentic” Taekwon-Do. A proponent of this view includes Mr. Alex Gillis, the author of the historical exposé A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do.

Another possibility proposed by myself (a Korean body culture researcher) and Dr He-Young Kimm (Korean martial arts historian and author of Taekwondo History) is that the General introduced a three-beat rhythm as part of his continuous effort to make Taekwon-Do a truly Korean art. Moving according to a three-beat rhythm can be seen in Taekkyeon (a Korean folk martial art) as well as traditional Korean dance, and is the basic rhythm used in Korean traditional music. The change to a three-beat rhythm is a departure from the Japanese two-beat rhythm found in Karate. The three-beat rhythm in ITF Taekwon-Do is achieved by an initial conscious relaxation, followed by an up-down (or rise-fall) movement when executing many techniques. This initial relaxation was, as far as I am concerned, an ingenious contribution to ITF Taekwon-Do’s makeup. It has completely changed the way Taekwon-Do is performed—moving it away from Taekwon-Do’s Karate roots towards a more naturalistic Korean way of moving (emphasizing relaxation over tension). Of course, my and Dr. Kimm’s cultural hypothesis doesn’t exclude Mr. Gillis’ political hypothesis.

In short, the term used in the Korean versions of the ITF Taekwon-Do Encyclopaedia to describe the stepping motion is not “sine wave”—but rather “back-of-the-bow waveform”; in other words, a wavelike movement like the smooth curved shape of a bow. It should obviously be understood as a visual metaphor, and not as some inclusion of a trigonometrical function to increase power. 

Royal Asiatic Society Lecture: Movement Characteristics of Korean Traditional Dance and Martial Arts

On Tuesday, 10 November 2020, I gave a lecture to the Royal Asiatic Society - Korea Branch, in Seoul. The lecture occurred via Zoom and was recorded.  Below is how the lecture was advertised, and below that is the YouTube link to watch the recording online. 

Movement Characteristics of Korean Traditional Dance and Martial Arts

In this lecture, Dr. Sanko Lewis reveals several key characteristics that give Korean traditional dance and martial arts their particular “Korean flavor.” Through ethnographic research, Dr. Lewis identifies similar kinetic principles employed in the traditional Korean movement disciplines and discuss their cultural origins and technical functions. He also points out how attempts to appeal to a younger audience may cause a martial art to lose its traditional identity; for example, taekwondo’s inclusion of K-pop music and urban dance is eroding those characteristics that taekwondo shared with traditional Korean disciplines such as traditional dance. After this lecture, you will be able to identify the movement characteristics of Korean traditional dance and martial arts, which will enable you to recognize and have a better appreciation for the kinetic aspect of Korea’s intangible heritage.

https://youtu.be/jPCXvRygq_4

Knee-Bending Movement 오금질 in Korean Body Culture

A very important part of Korean body culture is the bending of the knees, known in Korean as "ogeum-jil" 오금질. In the video below, a Korean folk dance instructor discusses this feature of Korean movement. It is only in Korean, so it won't be of much value for most readers of my blog who do not speak Korean; however, even browsing through the video will highlight some of the similarities between the stepping in Korean folk dance and some of the ways we move in ITF Taekwon-Do.

The following video shows some Taekkyeon 택견 training. Taekkyeon is a Korean folk martial art that employs a three-beat triangular stepping known as "pumbalbgi" 품밟기 which also involves the Korean "ogeum-jil" or knee-bending.

It is likely that the term "ogeum-jil" is what became known as "knee-spring" in Taekwon-Do.

This motion of knee-bending is part of a larger aspect of Korean body culture known as "gulshin" 굴신, which refers to the contraction and expansion of the body through different means; for example, the bending and flexing of the knees, the expansion of the torso through breathing, and the lengthening of the spine, even the mental attitudes of lightness and heaviness. All of this may create a vertical lengthening or shortening of a persons frame, hence it has been translated into English by one dance scholar as "verticality".

In the following video about breathing in Korean traditional dance, one can see the different aspects of "gulshin" in action.

To understand ITF Taekwon-Do's sine wave motion, one has to take into consideration these aspects of Korean body culture. The sine wave motion is not merely a "scientific" attempt to increase the amount of body mass employed in techniques by first raising the body to create potential energy, and then dropping the body to convert the potential energy into kinetic energy. While this is part of how sine wave is understood, it should be understood within this larger, cultural framework. The sine wave movement is part of Korean body culture.

Korean Dance, Sine-Wave Movement, and Breathing

I recently took up Korean traditional dancing again. I'm taking classes offered by the National Theater of Korea, which also offers classes in Korean traditional drumming (that I also learned before), and Korean panseori (traditional singing). The reason for taking traditional dance (and why I previously took Korean drumming) is to continue my understanding of traditional Korean body culture.

Attending the recent dancing classes affirmed again the strong similarities with the way we move in ITF Taekwon-Do. Something that is particularly standing out for me this time is breathing in dancing, and how it correlates with the breathing we do in ITF Taekwon-Do. My friend Dr John Johnson also sent me some academic articles about breathing in Korean dancing which I'm slowly working through (as they are in Korean). The following quotation is from another article that I downloaded from somewhere else long ago, which illustrates the similarities between breathing in ITF Taekwon-Do and traditional Korean dance:

"When inhaling the body expands, rising, moving out or up, with arms and legs being lifted and stretched. When exhaling the body contracts, sinking, moving in or down, with arms and legs being lowered or bent." -- Dr. Young-Ae Park, "The Two Characteristics of Korean Dance".

Korean dance movements start from a lowered position with the limbs relaxed and the knees bent. This is the same for ITF Taekwon-Do techniques that start in a neutral position (sometimes known as the intermediate position), as I explained in a different post long ago.  In Korean dance, the dancer will start a movement by "rising, moving out or up" which corresponds with an inhalation. This is the same with most ITF Taekwon-Do techniques: the legs are extended, the body raised and the technique is "loaded" for execution. Next, the technique is "released" corresponding to a "sinking, moving in or down . . . and the legs being lowered or bent" while exhaling.

In Korean dance, such up and down movements, with associated breathing, includes more layers of detail, including mental states, postural nuances, particular points of relaxation and tension. The same can be said for the different techniques in Taekwon-Do, of course. I hope to write an article about this sometime, and will probably write about my experience in traditional Korean dance here on this blog in the future.

Sine Wave Motion Q&A

About a year ago, someone on a Facebook-group posted a few questions about the sine wave motion. I stumbled on my reply to these questions and thought that they might be interesting to some readers of my blog. 

Does sine wave and knee spring action describe the same motion? 

Many Korean activities refer to the bending and extending of the knees. Different activities use different terms. For instance the term used in traditional dance might be different from the term used in Taekkyeon, but in practice it is basically the same principle. One such a term is ogeum-jil 오금 질. Ogeum literally refers to the back of the knee and jil means an action; in other words, the bending action of the knee joint. Although I haven’t confirmed this, it is likely that the term “knee spring” which was one of the early terms associated with ITF Taekwon-Do’s sine wave motion may have been a rough translation of ogeum-jil. Another term used in more everyday situations to describe the up-and-down motion accomplished by the bending of the knee gumshil 굼실. This term can for instance be used to describe the oscillating, wave-like locomotion of a worm, and is a term I’ve come across in Taekkyeon to describe their bouncy stepping. Finally, to answer the question, it is my opinion that knee-spring and sine-wave motion is the same thing in as far the sine-wave motion is most often accomplished through knee-spring.

When performing a sine wave, is the movement always “down, up/down”? 

My simple answer is no. Although the most common expression of the sine wave motion is “relax-rise-fall”, this is not the only way it manifests. Take for instance the palm upward block in Gae-Baek Teul where the motion is relax-rise. I personally also do my forearm rising blocks as relax-rise. There are also instances where you may already be in a “raised” position and only dropping is necessary, or you are already in a lowered position and you may only want to rise (imagine doing an upward punch, moving from an L-stance to a vertical stance).

It is useful to think of sine wave motion as the vertical displacement of the body mass. In traditional Korean dance, this is referred to as “verticality”. Sometimes you want do drop your body mass, other times you may want to lift your body mass. It all depends on the technique and purpose.

Is a sine wave performed for every technique execution? 

If you think of the sinewave motion as “relax-rise-fall”, then the answer is no. There are however two principles of what the sinewave motion tries to accomplish in practically every technique; (1) starting from relaxation and (2) accelerating the body mass in the direction of the technique.

An interesting related question is if hip twist is performed in every technique. To this I would answer no, as well. There are for example techniques such as a wedging block or twin punch that does not contain a hip-twist as you can’t rotate your hips in opposite directions at the same time.

Many techniques benefit from both a sine wave motion and a hip-twist, while some techniques can only benefit from one or the other.

What movement causes the initial downward motion? 

Relaxation.

Does a sine wave motion include a knee spring action? 

Yes. See, the answer to the first question.

When did Taekwon-Do introduce the “down, up/down” motion? 

When I look at old footage, I recognize the seeds for “verticality” already from the late 1950s. It seems that it only became formalized in the 1980s, when the initial relaxation became emphasized. This conscious relaxation is, in my mind, the most dramatic evolution to Taekwon-Do movement.

Is hip twist used to help power a technique? 

Yes. Acceleration of the body mass in the direction of the technique is accomplished in two ways: hip twist and rising or dropping the body in the direction of the technique.

To initiate a step, does the student push off with the foot in motion, relax the stationary knee or both? 

It depends on the technique, the initial stance and the next stance. (See a related post: "Motion Without Movement."

Does the 2017 North Korean Demo Team in Muju perform sine wave during Chon-Ji? If so, during which movements? 

Yes. All of them.

ITF's Sine Wave Motion and Korean Body Culture

Every so often I stumble upon (or am pulled into) an online conversation about ITF Taekwon-Do’s sine wave motion. This happened again recently. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to discuss all the points addressed on these online discourses. Many of the concerns I have addressed here on my blog, over the years. This blog post is in response to one recent comment on a sine wave motion related discussion:

“[The sine wave motion] was only ‘created’ [by General Choi] to discredit the pioneer instructors who left the ITF, saying they were not teaching real Tae Kwon-Do.”

The writer of this comment may have gotten this view from Alex Gillis’ book A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do, Updated and Revised (2nd ed. p. 149). Unfortunately, that would be a wrong reading of the text, and a wrong understanding of the evolution of ITF Taekwon-Do under General Choi. I concede that Gillis does suggest that the sine wave motion was used politically to discredit other instructors for not doing his version of Taekwon-Do; however, the text doesn’t explicitly state that that was the reason the sine wave motion was “created”. (Footnote 1)

It is my opinion that the “creation” (for lack of a better term) of the sine wave motion was to make Taekwon-Do more authentically Korean. From early on, General Choi was on a mission to make a Korean art. It is well known that Taekwon-Do was originally, primarily based on Japanese (Shotokan) Karate. It is also a known fact that General Choi purposefully set out to make a “Korean” martial art, and started making significant changes to the karate he studied in Japan. His development of Taekwon-Do away from Japanese Karate towards a more Korean martial art was a continual process. Scholars like myself and Dr. He-Young Kimm agree that the thing that changed Taekwon-Do from being a Japanese style to a Korean style was not the superficial alteration of where the arms cross for blocks or such technicalities, or even the development of new patterns, which are based on very similar templates than Japanese Karate. Instead, the thing that changed the art from being Japanese is the exchange for Korean “traditional body movement” (Taekwondo History, p. 40). Kimm correctly states that the sine wave motion’s “up-and-down motion ... is in harmony with Korean traditional body culture” and that it has its origin in “traditional Korean body culture” (p. 81). In fact, Kimm goes so far as to say that Taekwon-Do only became a “true Korean martial art through the use of the ‘sine wave’ motion in the early 1980s” (27). It is the sine wave motion which forever changed the DNA, so to speak, of Taekwon-Do, because the sine wave motion is based on the DNA of Korean body culture, as opposed to Japanese body culture. (For what it is worth, martial arts historian Dr. He-Young Kimm is not an ITF Taekwon-Do practitioner, so his comments come with a degree of objectivity that I as an ITF practitioner might be perceived to lack.)

I have lived in Korea now for nearly a decade, and researching Korean body culture has been an ongoing interest of mine. I cannot count how many Korean traditional dance performances I have seen (as I attend dance performance sometimes several times a month); I’ve spoken to quite a few traditional Korean dancers and choreographers (including traditional dance scholars); I’ve studied Taekkyeon (Korea’s “folk” martial art) and discussed the movements with highly acclaimed Taekkyeon masters; I’m currently studying Korean drumming, at the National Theater of Korea, to better understand traditional Korean rhythm; I’ve even looked into Korean shamanism in order to get a better understanding of Korean body culture. While my researched is still ongoing, here are two significant elements that I think essential to Korean body culture:

First, Korean body culture has an intentional “verticality.” I came across the term the first time in the book Korean Dance: Pure Emotion and Energy (Korea Essentials Book 15), which describes it as follows:

The theme of up-and-down movements persists in Korean dance. In slower forms like court dances and those influenced by Buddhism, dancers regularly rotate between bending and extending their knees. In faster dances such as mask dances and certain folk dances, the bent knees are released in a burst of kinetic energy into a jump.” (p. 15.)

Simply put, “verticality” refers to up-and-down movements, usually achieved through the bending and straightening of the knees. However, this “verticality” doesn’t always have to involve the knees; for instance, apart from using the knees, in Korean traditional dance, the “verticality” is often emphasized by the lifting and dropping of the shoulders. “Verticality” is also noticeable with Korean drummers while seated, so as a concept it can be any type of up-and-down movement of the body.

The Korean term used for how this “verticality” is accomplished is gulshin dongjak 굴신 동작, which can roughly be translated into English as “springiness” or “elasticity”, although more often as “bending and stretching” or “extension and contraction”.

The second element of traditional Korean body culture is a three-beat rhythm. Basic Korean traditional dances, as well as traditional Korean music, usually follow a ¾ meter. We see a three-beat rhythm used in the basic stepping (pumbalbki 품밟기) of the Korean folk martial art Taekkyeon 택견, and we notice a three beat rhythm in the sine wave motion in ITF Taekwon-Do. (The origin of the three beat may by the philosophical concept of sam-yoso 삼요소, as the idea of yin-yang and Korea’s three-lobed yin-yang known as sam-taegeuk 삼태극 is part of Korean traditional dance.)

The sine wave motion has brought to ITF Taekwon-Do these two elements: a clear sense of verticality and a three beat rhythm. Thus, I disagree that the sine wave motion was simply “created” to discredit non-ITF practitioners. No, the sine wave was “created” to make Taekwon-Do a truly Korean martial art, rather than just a rebranding of Karate. The sine wave is one of many deliberate changes made by General Choi in his pursuit of creating an authentically Korean martial art.

A part of me want to be so rash as to say that if you practice Taekwon-Do as a Korean martial art, then gulshin dongjak should be part of your system, whether it is the “ITF sine-wave Tul motion” or the “WTF free-sparring stepping/hopping motions”, which according to Dr Kimm both “come from the same type of traditional Korean body culture” (p. 80). If you do not want to do gulshin dongjak, maybe you should rather do Karate, which follows Japanese body culture based on Shintoism.

A final thought on the idea that the sine wave motion was “created” by General Choi: I think the aforementioned discussion on traditional Korean body culture makes it clear that what we refer to as the sine wave motion in ITF Taekwon-Do was not “created” by General Choi at all, but instead is part and partial of traditional Korean body movement, and that General Choi only appropriated this into Taekwon-Do; he didn't invent it.

The big critique people have against vertical motion in Taekwon-Do is a practical one:

So-what if ITF Taekwon-Do's sine wave motion is an embodiment of traditional Korean movement as seen in other Korean activities such as traditional Korean dance—does the sine wave motion have any practical combative value? 

That is the real critique and my answer to that is, yes, it does have combative value. First, the discerning martial artist will note that the same principles are used in many other martial arts (Footnote 2). Furthermore, the sine wave principle is immensely useful for joint locks and throwing techniques. Also, if you understand how to use it as a way for generating vertical (either upwards or downwards) power, then it compliments the other power generation methods such as the hip rotation a lot. It is also useful in instances where hip rotation is not possible; for example, think of a wedging block or twin punch. Just don’t be one of those daft people that say that the sine wave doesn’t contribute power to techniques moving at a horizontal trajectory. Of course, it doesn’t. If I was a teenager I would have facepalmed myself and exclaimed “duh!”

To conclude, the sine wave motion was used to differentiate between General Choi's Taekwon-Do and other Taekwon-Do; however, that was not the reason for its inclusion in ITF Taekwon-Do. The purpose of the sine wave motion, I am convinced, was to make Taekwon-Do authentically Korean by including two elements that are essential to traditional Korean body culture: verticality and a three beat rhythm. Furthermore, when correctly understood and appropriately applied, the sine wave motion does have practical, combative benefits.

...ooOoo...

Footnote 1: While Alex Gillis doesn’t say that the sine wave motion was created specifically for discrediting other Taekwon-Do practitioners, such a reading is easy to come to, because the preceding paragraph states that the pattern Ju-Che was designed as a gift to communist North Korea, and that the sine wave motion which was used to discredit other Taekwon-Do instructors was also a gift to the North. My opinion is that although the sine wave motion may have been used as a political tool to discredit certain people, that was not the reason for its creation.

Footnote 2: The same principles found in the sine wave motion can also be found in other martial arts. For example:

• Aikido [1, 2]

• Hsing-I / Xingi [1, 2]

• Systema (YouTube)

• Taekkyeon (YouTube)

• Tai-Chi (Chen Style)

Sources Cited:

Gilles, A. 2016. A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do. Updated and Revised Edition.
Kimm, H. Y. 2013. Taekwondo History.
Seoul Selection. Korean Dance: Pure Emotion and Energy.

A Sine Wave Motion Description

Following is a description of the sine wave motion:

“Your waist rises as you twist and falls as you overturn. Rise equals go, fall equals strike. Together they mean to strike like a rolling wave. Each part must be clearly differentiated; all must be done like lightning. This is facilitated by keeping the body relaxed until the final instant.”

Actually, this is from a book on the Chinese internal martial art Hsing-I by Robert W. Smith (Hsing-I: Chinese Mind-Body Boxing, 2003).

Had I not revealed its source, practically all ITF practitioners would have agreed that it is a reasonable description of the “sine wave motion”. I have written in several posts in the past that the principles taught by the so-called “sine wave motion” are hardly unique to ITF Taekwon-Do, as this quotation clearly demonstrates. (You can read a previous mention of the similarities between ITF and Hsing-I here.)

A main reason ITF Taekwon-Do's “sine wave motion” is so controversial is because the term is a misnomer -- it is not an actual sine wave. It may have been an attempt by General Choi who proposed the term to make it sound more scientific. We should keep in mind, of course, that English wasn't his first language, not even his second language (that was Japanese), and neither was he a physicist. I have heard accounts that he adopted the term after that is how someone else (an English speaker) described what General Choi was trying to explain as a “sine wave motion”. I don't know if there is truth to this, but I do believe that if another term than “sine wave motion” was used, even if it was just called “wave motion”, it would have been less controversial.

To get back to the quotation above, it very accurately describe how the so-called “sine wave motion” is generally used for something like a middle punch: The body should be “relaxed until the final instant,” the rising portion is when the waist is pulled back, and it is during the falling that the strike happens.

In another post from long ago, I looked at another Chinese internal style, Chen style Tai Chi Quan, and noted some similarities with the way we understand movement in ITF Taekwon-Do.

Sine Wave Motion Contributes to Vertical Forces

I apologise for not writing more regular posts, but I am quite busy with work and studies. Once I graduate, which will hopefully be towards the end of February next year, I will probably write more frequently again. There have been many ideas running through my head that are aching to be expressed.

However, recently I've seen a number of people talking about “sine wave motion” again. One person, for instance, wrote on Facebook that one sees all these Taekwon-Do power breaking videos online, but they never use sine wave motion. Another thing I read recently was a small scientific experiment where people punched a bag that was equipped with measuring tools and the subjects punched the bag with sine wave motion and without sine wave motion. The results showed that “sine wave motion” added little to no force to the hits—that the punch without sine wave motion was actually better.

To me the statement about breaking and also this experiment is obviously flawed because the vector in these techniques travel horizontally, parallel with the ground. The “sine wave motion” is not intended to add force to techniques that move horizontally.

It is pretty simple and I don't know why people don't get it. I think it is because of the wrong appropriation of the term “sine wave.” It is not meant to be understood as an actual sine wave. What General Choi tried to explain was the displacement of the body's centre of mass along the vertical axis—up and / or down. If you also move forward and so displace the body's centre of gravity along the horizontal axis it mimics the motion of a wave, which he referred to as a “sine wave”. It was maybe not the best semantic choice, but don't get stuck on the term. See the principle.

What principle? Simply: accelerate as much of your body mass through your technique at the target. That's it.

Sometimes this means bending your knees and dropping your weight for a technique that includes a downward vector. Sometimes it means pushing with your legs up for a high technique. Sometimes it means not going up or down but keeping level, as with techniques that travel horizontally towards the target.

For me the “sine wave motion” (yes it is a bad term, but get over it) simply means I'm pushing my centre of mass upward or letting it drop downward, depending on the direction the technique is travelling towards the target.

Now some might say, that's not sine wave! Their reasoning is that ITF Taekwon-Do's “sine wave motion” always have three parts: down-up-down. Once you understand the principle of relaxation, activation, and execution that is taught through the “sine wave motion” one need not exaggerate them as is often done as a training mnemonic with the “sine wave motion.” The “sine wave motion” is a training tool used to teach principles of motion; it is not a cookie cutter that should be stamped onto every technique. Every sensible ITF practitioner knows this.

But enough about that—I've written about the phases of the sine wave motion enough elsewhere; let me quickly explain why I say the above experiment and breaking observations are based on wrong assumptions.

The “sine wave motion” contributes to vertical force—the rotation of the hip contributes to horizontal force. If the target is to be reached at a horizontal plane, adding vertical force (through dropping of the body weight) will not contribute to the force of the technique. However, if the target is at a downward angle so that the vector includes a vertical (i.e. downward angled) trajectory, then dropping the body weight will obviously contribute to the technique's power.

What people don't seem to get is that a large percentage of Taekwon-Do techniques reach their target not directly perpendicularly horizontal, but often at a slight downward angle. In other words, many Taekwon-Do techniques incorporate both horizontal (i.e. hip rotation) and vertical (i.e. body-dropping) forces.

Here are a few examples of techniques to which “sine wave motion” contributes.

Obviously, low techniques where the dropping of your body weight into the technique clearly contributes towards the force of the technique, for instance a low punch, low block, or low kick.

Most middle techniques too. For instance when doing a punch, the arm is not held up at the top level of the shoulders, but a little below the shoulders, so that the punching arm is not exactly parallel with the floor, but actually angled downwards a bit. Imagine standing in front of somebody your own height and punching them in the solar plexus, the fly ribs, or the kidneys. How should your arm be angled to achieve this?

The brachial nerve is reached at a
diagonal angle, not horizontally.

Many people think that the knife-hand side strike where the arm generally ends parallel with the floor reaches the target completely horizontally. This is just one application of the technique and not how I was taught to do it when I started with Taekwon-Do 20+ years ago, nor the main way I teach it. I was taught that it is a strike to the brachial nerve plexus on the nook of the neck just above the clavicle. It is reached with a diagonally angled strike. Examples of similar targets reached with knife-hand side strikes are the solar plexus, ribs and kidneys.

Many blocks in Taekwon-Do divert the attack not merely sideways, but rather sideways and downwards.

Also, when I started Taekwon-Do over two decades ago my instructor insisted that most kicks should reach the opponent at a downward angle. The sidekick was taught as a “stomp”, the front kick as a “trample”, the turning kick as a “clobber” like with a sledgehammer for which you use gravitation to aid you in the technique. High kicks were never prioritized and even when kicks were performed high, the admonition was that you should hit with gravity as the kick was on its way down.

Let me point out that all these examples of "Taekwon-Do work[ing] with gravity" (as my first instructor used to say) are from my basics. These are techniques I learned over twenty years ago in a Taekwon-Do gym where nobody every mentioned “sine wave motion.” I only learned of the term after I had my first black belt.

Setting up breaking boards (or measuring equipment) to be hit with fully horizontally moving techniques are flawed, I think. If you want to test if “sine wave motion” (i.e. the dropping of the body weight into a technique) adds to the force exerted by a technique, then you should set-up the experiment for techniques where this makes sense, where dropping the body weight into the technique is actually measured. That's why, when I teach breaking techniques to my students we hold the breaking boards at various different angles and heights.

The Value of Patterns (Part 2): Kinaesthetics (Part 1: Relaxation, Body Awareness, and Spacial Awareness)

Me practicing Fundamental Movements

In previous posts I shared my opinion about the value of the ITF patterns. First I said that the patterns are not foremost fighting templates, nor are they primarily dallyeon (i.e. strength & fitness training). Then what is the primary reason for training in the patterns?

The main purpose, I believe, is Kinaesthetics. The patterns teach us a way of moving and understanding movement that is difficult to isolate and acquire through other drills.

The following comment by Master Manuel Adrogué's provides a good abstract to much of what this discussion will be about: “In ITF patterns there are no physical conditioning exercises, no applicable combat strategies, there is no hurry to conform to fast combat rhythm, just perfectly balanced, powerful techniques using all [the] time they may need.  Additionally, the emphasis on relaxation in ITF Taekwon-Do, to the point of completely shunning muscular force, educates students in correct habits of motion.”¹

I will discuss what I consider the kinaesthetic values of the ITF patterns over three posts. In this one I will look at conditioning relaxation; creating an awareness of one's equilibrium and body movement; including ingraining balanced and appropriate stances and basics; as well as creating spacial awareness. In the second post I will look at the value of learning how to accelerate one's body mass sequentially. In the final post post I will discuss training rhythm and breathing.

Relaxation

First, the ITF patterns, with their relatively slow tempo and emphasis on the sine wave motion, teaches the practitioner to relax. The full sine wave motion starts with deliberate relaxation. To perform a pattern correctly you must move from a state of relaxation, or as Grandmaster Rhee Ki Ha puts it: "relaxed, light, and fluid"². Any unnecessary tension, except at the moment of impact, makes the movement lose its "relaxed, light, and fluid" quality. Unlike some Karate kata where muscular tension is encouraged for the purpose of strength conditioning, in the ITF patterns muscular friction is particularly avoided. The only time muscles are tensed are at the final moment of the technique just before impact with it's target.

A primary function, then, of the ITF patterns is to condition one to move in a "relaxed, light, and fluid" manner. Using the pre-arranged sparring drills, the practitioner is guided to transfer such relaxation into combative activities. In the basic pre-arranged sparring exercises, such as three step-sparring, the practitioner will apply the same relaxed tempo to this drill. The practitioner therefore learns to stay relaxed even when facing an opponent (training partner).

As the practitioner progresses in level and skill, the complexity, difficulty and tempo of the drills are increased, moving along a continuum of very predictable drills with a low amount of variables, towards much less predictable (chaotic) drills with an increased amounts of variables that more closely reflect a real combat situation. (Read more on how this is supposed to work in my post on The Value and Purpose of Prearranged Sparring.)

If properly practised, the sense of relaxed movement that are continuously instilled through pattern practise is transferred into the other aspect of the system. This means that skilled practitioners are able to move with a similar relaxedness, lightness and fluidity that were instilled from the patterns, but at much quicker tempos as are required in more realistic combative training.

To me, this point—moving from a state or relaxation—is probably the most important reason the ITF patterns are performed the way they are.

Equilibrium and Body Awareness

The second kinaesthetic value of the ITF patterns is that their relatively slow tempo allows the ITF practitioner to become aware of both their static and dynamic balance. Because the ITF patterns are not considered combat-ready templates that mimic actual real combat, there is no need to rush them as if one were actually fighting. In fact, the tempo of the patterns are deliberately slowed down to allow the practitioner to become aware of the body mechanics and physics of each technique individually.

In other words, by doing the patterns so slowly, compared with the urgency with which the forms are performed in some other martial arts, the ITF practitioner has the time to really "feel" how their centre-of-gravity changes, how their weight shifts from one foot to another, how their mass moves through space, how the different parts of the body is sequentially activated to create a whip-like motion.

A Tai Chi Chuan practitioners usually perform their forms
in a consciously slow fashion.
Image Source

Both the previous point of conscious relaxation, and this point regarding a deliberate awareness of one's equilibrium and weight-shifting are goals the ITF patterns share with the Tai Chi Chuan forms. It would be ridiculous to suggest that a Tai Chi practitioner would engage in a fight applying the same slow motion tempo one sees them doing while performing a Tai Chi Chuan form. Obviously the Tai Chi practitioner would have to adapt his or her form to make it “combat applicable”—for one, the practitioner would definitely have to speed-up his or her movements. Why then does Tai Chi Chuan spend so much time practising their forms in slow-motion? The reason, I believe, is in part that the slow motions forces one to relax more, but also it really increases one's awareness of how your body moves through space, how your centre of gravity changes, how your weight shifts from one foot to the other. The moment you start rushing your movements it becomes exceptionally difficult to really become aware of the dynamics of such changes in one's balance and body structure. Rushed movements shift the focus from the “journey” to the “destination”. While there is much value in speed training (i.e. getting to the destination as quickly as possible), there is just as much value in understanding the variables along the path, and the latter is only truly achievable at a slower, contemplative tempo.

Ingrained Stances, Basics & Coordination 

Not only is the practitioner learning about balance and weight-shifting, but very importantly, the practitioner learns how different stances provide different types of structure and balance for different types of attacks and defences. The walking stance is strong from the front and back, but weak from the side; the sitting stance is strong from the side or when posting ("falling") against something but one can easily be pushed off balance from the front or back; the rear-foot stance (aka “cat-stance”) is good for withdrawing from an attack and counter-attacking with the leading foot, but it is not very stable as your balance is centred mostly over one foot only; and so on.

When moving through patterns, one shifts from one stance to the next stance, doing different steps and pivots; in so doing, the practitioner starts to acquaint him- or herself at a subconscious level with these stances within a dynamic context. Over time the practitioner finds that he or she almost automatically chooses the most appropriate stances for different tasks and situations. Such "automatic" responses are not accidental, but have been ingrained during years of pattern training.

(Read more about this in Dan Djurdjevic's post on “Kata, kinaesthesia, proprioception and motor learning”.)

Furthermore, certain types of movements which often uses gross motor skills become ingrained to form “basics”, which can be adjusted depending on what a situation calls for. Basics are different from Fundamental Techniques. It is rumoured that ITF Taekwon-Do has about 3200 Fundamental Techniques. Each one of these Fundamental Techniques is a specific identifiable technique using a specific stance and specific tool (e.g. attacking or blocking tool) aimed at a specific target on the opponent and which can usually be found described or is alluded to in the ITF Encyclopaedia.

A snap shot of an Intermediate Position

There are much fewer basics and one is exposed to all the important basics very early on, probably within the first few colour belt patterns. Basics are often embedded in the Fundamental Techniques and function as building blocks from which different Fundamental Techniques are constructed. An example of such basics is learning to move through the Intermediate Positions. Acquiring a sense of the intermediate positions is probably one of the most important kinaesthetic values of pattern practise. The problem with the intermediate positions is that they are dynamic, rather than static positions. In other words, unlike Fundamental Techniques that have an “end-position” in which we can pose statically, the intermediate positions are moments inside of movements and attempting to pose in them detract from their value. The only way to really get a sense for them is by practising them dynamically; i.e. while moving from one Fundamental Technique to another, and for this pattern practise is ideal.

Dan Djurdjevic compares what I call the basics, i.e. these “building blocks”, with stem cells that can change into whichever “cells” are required. Since he already explained this concept in detail, I will not repeat it here. Please read his post on “Kata Techniques as Stem Cell Movements”.

I need to also momentarily comment on coordination, which might be taken for granted, yet this is a point which is close to my heart. As a kid I had terrible coordination. Taekwon-Do, which I started as a teenager, has done much to improve my hand-eye (and foot-eye) coordination. Obviously all physical activity contributed to my improved coordination, but I believe that the patterns have a special value in this regard because of their systematic nature. I still vividly remember how difficult it was for me to master those very first forms, Saju-Jjireukgi and Saju-Makgi. It is surprising how many things occur during just one Fundamental Movement and for a beginner even something as elementary as the Saju-forms, that each consist of only two movements combined in a sequence, can prove to be quite daunting. The brain is wonderfully challenged and improved coordination is a great benefit. As a child I often missed catching something thrown at me; now, I sometimes catch things even without thinking. For instance, I'm often surprised how I would catch something that might fall from a table, without me even consciously trying to—it just happens reflexively. Whenever that happens I cannot help smiling, thinking of how far that clumsy teenager has come, and I'm certain the patterns played a part in that. The patterns are arranged according to certain levels of complexity and physical difficulty, causing a systematic development of ones coordination and other related skills.

Spacial Awareness

Another kinaesthetic value of the patterns is that it enhances one's spacial awareness.

Generally Asian cultures and cultures of the Far East in particular are group-orientated. An interesting feature of group-oriented cultures is that the personal space between people are often much smaller than is the case in individual-oriented cultures. This has some serious self-defence implications.

Let me make a quick detour through Thailand and then turn back to Korea again. A friend of mine, the actor and stuntman Damian Mavis who is also an ITF Taekwon-Do practitioner, resides in Thailand. On one visit with him we got to talk about personal space in Asia. He told me how easy he found it to sneak up on his Thai friends even from the side because of their sense of personal space which is so small. Similarly in Korea, standing or sitting on the subway with people's shoulders literally pressed against one another is not perceived as uncomfortable by Koreans. Likewise, when standing in a line, people often stand very close to each other. Personal space in the Far East is quite small and personal space to the rear and side is exceptionally small from Western standards. Furthermore, large, sudden movements are considered rude and improper in the conservative, group-oriented cultures of the Far East, influenced by Confucian standards of conduct.

I find it not surprising that the patterns which are based on the Japanese kata make such large movements, uses exaggerated long steps, and focus on turning at right angles and 180° pivots, forcing the practitioner to become aware of his or her sides and back just as much as his or her frontal space.

I hypothesize that the kata was, at least in part, developed to help the practitioner to break through his or her culturally induced small personal space, and actually to enlarge it. Obviously a larger and wider personal space will increase ones spacial awareness, which is a valuable skill for self-defence. If your personal space is larger, you become aware of people entering your personal space much earlier, which is very important for detecting threats earlier.

People are often narrowly focussed on what is in front of them; however, many attacks on one's person are surprise attacks launched from the side or behind. Widening one's spacial awareness to things on your sides and rear is a crucial skill for self-defence, and even more so for people from the Far East whose personal space is culturally smaller and narrower.

Although I have emphasised how the ITF patterns are used as a vehicle for bestowing Korean traditional culture, paradoxically, in this way the patterns (including the Japanese kata) seem to break with common Oriental culture by actually enlarging and widening their personal space.

Conclusion

The kinaesthetic value of the ITF patterns is concerned with teaching the practitioner to move from a state of relaxation. Furthermore, the patterns focus on body awareness (getting acquainted with one's static and dynamic balance), and spacial awareness, while also ingraining certain stances, basics, and increasing coordination.


1.  Manuel Adrogué , “ITF Taekwon-Do and Sine-Wave as 'Sequential Motion'”
2. Rhee Ki Ha, “This is Taekwon-Do”

Traditional Korean Music and Korean Kinesthetics

One of my closest friends is genetically Korean but while he was still a toddler he was adopted by a Dutch family and so he grew up in the Netherlands. Although my friend looks Korean, when he walks or moves in a crowd of Koreans I can easily recognize him because his motions, his “rhythm,” is different from the other Koreans around him. Similarly, when I walk the streets in Korea it is surprisingly easy to spot non-Koreans, even from behind, merely by the way they carry themselves.

People from different cultures move differently. Allow me momentary stereotyping as I expand on this idea. An African American from the Bronx has a completely different stride than a Texan cowboy. I'm confident that if one were to look at the music from these two cultures (hip-hop in the case of the African-American from the Bronx, and country music in the case of the Texan cowboy) one would notice similarities between the way they move, and the qualities of the music that represent their respective sub-cultures.

In this post I will give a short overview of traditional Korean music and highlight points of overlap with some Korean martial arts, particularly the folk art Taekkyeon and ITF Taekwon-Do.

I recently attended a lecture hosted by the Royal Asiatic Society (Korean Branch), presented by Professor Sheen Dae-Cheol 신대철 of the Academy of Korean Studies, on the topic “Calm and Dynamic: Two Differing Aesthetic Aspects of Korean Traditional Music.”

Traditional Korean music can be divided into two groups: upperclass music known as Jeongak 전각 (music for royalty and noblemen) and Minsogak 민소각 (folk music). Jeongak can further be grouped into Court Ritual Music, such as Royal Shrine Music and Confucian Shrine Music; Court party music for royal birthdays, weddings, etc.; Royal Procession Music; and Literati Music, which is music listened to by the upperclass, but which is not court music. Although different types of traditional music exist, they all share certain recognizable characteristics.

Professor Sheen lists the following characteristics for traditional Korean music:

1. Monophony (instead of polyphony)
2. Pentatonic and tri-tonic scales
3. Breath tempo (Heterophony)
4. Triple rhythm
5. Downbeat start and upbeat cadence
6. Short consonants and extra long vowels in vocal music
7. Rhythmic pattern
8. Curved melodic line with typical vibrato known as nonghyeon or nongeum

Not everything in this list is directly relevant, but there are certain points that definitely stands out for me. First, points #4 and #5 I think are significant. Traditional Korean music follows a "triple rhythm", or a three beat rhythm. The three beat rhythm is also quite popular in Western music in the form of the Waltz: ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three. The Korean triple rhythm works the opposite way however, starting with a downbeat. Instead of ONE-two-three, the Korean three beat is more likely to be a one-two-THREE, one-two-THREE. The Korean triple rhythm is noticeable in different forms of traditional dance. It is also very easily recognized in the Korean folk martial art Taekkyeon where it is the foundation for the basic stepping known as pumbalbki 품밟기. Similarly ITF Taekwon-Do practitioners will also recognize this, as they are often coached by their instructors to do their patterns "one-and-TWO, one-and-TWO" or "one-two-THREE, one-two-THREE"; in other words, three beats, starting with a downbeat—or starting relaxed. The full sine wave motion manifested as down-up-DOWN or relax-rise-FALL adheres to this three beat rhythm.

Another point from Professor Sheen's list I wish to highlight is #8. In traditional Korean music, when a melody moves from one note to another that is some distance away, it would often not abruptly jump to the next note. Instead there would often be a smooth transition through all the notes in between until it reaches the desired note; i.e. it moves in a "curved melodic line". Furthermore, upon reaching a note, it is not merely kept at that pitch, but rather the voice or instrument would oscillate around that note as a very noticeable vibrato. (In court music the vibrato is narrow, but in folk music the amplitude is greater.) Such vibrato, or moving in a wave up and down the music scale, translates as up and down movements in traditional Korean dance, as a form of bounciness in the movements of Taekkyeon, as a type of bobbing in the sparring stance in WTF Taekwondo, and possibly as the sine wave motion in ITF Taekwon-Do.

Different cultures move differently, which is often a reflection of the music and the innate rhythm of the culture. It is quite possible that such cultural rhythms may also influence the rhythms of the martial arts practiced in those cultures. The triple rhythm of the Korean folk martial art Taekkyeon resembles that of traditional Korean dances, which in turn is based on the triple rhythm of traditional Korean music. ITF Taekwon-Do has a root in Taekkyeon, and therefore is influenced by similar cultural movements. Although the sine wave motion has clear technical considerations, it is also in harmony with traditional Korean kinesthetics.

Following are some samples of traditional Korean music. The first is known as Sujecheon 수제천 and is a court piece wishing the king longevity dating back 1300 years. (The title translates roughly to 'a life as long as the heavens'.) During the Joseon period one beat lasted about three seconds, so it is difficult to discern the beats in this piece of music. One can however appreciated the curved melodic line and vibrato.




The following song is probably Korea's most famous folk song, Arirang 아리랑. The leading vocalist in the video is pansori maestro Jang Sa Ik. Try to listen for the Korean three-beat rhythm and also notice his body movements; in other words, notice how he interprets the rhythm kinetically.




Related Posts:

• Sine Wave Motion & Korean Kinaesthetics
• Philosophical Congruence of the Sine Wave Motion
• Sine Wave Motion = Linear Karate Movement + Bobbing Taekkyeon Movement

Philosophical Congruence of the Sine Wave Motion

I have taken great pains to put ITF Taekwon-Do's sine wave motion within it's proper context, showing that it is not the be-all-and-end-all of ITF Taekwon-Do—the sine wave motion is definitely not an ever present feature in the sense that we are expected to make every technique conform to an artificial down-up-down template. And while it is a conspicuous part of ITF Taekwon-Do, it the not the most important feature of ITF Taekwon-Do. The technical principles of ITF Taekwon-Do, the Theory of Power and Training Secrets, refer to the sine wave motion peripherally. The sine wave motion is not itself a separate principle listed in the Theory of Power or Training Secrets.

Rather, the sine wave motion is merely one manifestation of a greater principle found in many martial arts—the Wave / Circle Principle, which is extrapolated from the Taoist concept of yin and yang as depicted in the Taijitu 太極圖 (yin-yang symbol, known in Korean as the Taegeukdo 태극도). In this post I want to show how the sine wave motion is in fact consistent with the Taoist philosophy that underscores the Oriental martial arts, and is furthermore in line with the Korean expression thereof. The sine wave motion firstly manifests the Taoist idea of the Taegeukdo, commonly understood as the forces of Yin and Yang (In Korean: Eum 음and Yang 양); and secondly, it corresponds with the Korean concept of Sam-Taegeuk 삼태극.

What ever may be said about the actual practicality of the sine wave motion for combat purposes aside, I believe that the application and inclusion of the sine wave motion in this Korean martial art is philosophically congruent with Korean traditional philosophy.

"Approach it [Tao] and there is no beginning; follow it and there is no end." -- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Tao / 도

There are many martial arts that are based on ideas from the Tao 道. Many modern martial arts (martial arts that developed in the early 1900s) have the concept of Tao (aka "Do" 도) embedded in their names, consider for instance Taekwondo, Hapkido, Aikido, Judo, Tang Soo Do, and so on. Even older martial arts, particularly the Wudang styles (Chinese internal martial arts) are known for their Taoist connection. Unlike the Shaolin styles that have clearer Buddhist links (Shoalin kung fu was historically practised by Shaolin Buddhist monks in Buddhist monastaries), Wudang monks trained in Taoist monasteries. It is not surprising that strong elements of Taoism are to be found in the three primary Wudang styles: Taichi Chuan, Baqua Zang, and Xing-yi Chuan. For instance Taichi Chuan bases much of its movements on the oscillating hard and soft flow, the turns and inverted turns, of the Taijitu, similarly Xing-Yi Chuan's techniques are based on an oscillation of hard (Yang) and soft (Yin), albeit in a more linear fashion, while Baqua Zang's circular stepping mimics the Taoist concept of the I-Ching 易經. For the Wudang styles Taoist ideals form the basis of both their philosophy and their techniques.

The more modern martial arts (those with the "Do"-suffix in their names), may not always clearly illustrate Taoism at a technical level, but they do embrace Taoist principles such as the interplay of Ying (Eum) and Yang at a philosophical level.

ITF Taekwon-Do has, however, evolved towards a more technical embodiment of Taoist ideas in a way that makes the contemporary manifestation of ITF Taekwon-Do much more akin to Wudang styles than to its earlier way of moving that resembled linear Shotokan Karate. The way Taoist movement manifests in ITF Taekwon-Do is in its oscillation between emphasized moments of extreme relaxation, followed by momentary tension. ITF Taekwon-Do seems to be riding a wave of tranquility and explosive movement, of soft and hard, of base and vertex, of continual change. I've written elsewhere similarities I observe between ITF Taekwon-Do and such Chinese styles as Taichi Chuan and Xing-Yi Chuan.

Taijitu / 太極圖

As one would expect, such a Taiji / Taegeuk concept of soft and hard, of yielding and pushing, is hardly unique to Taekwondo. Many martial arts accept this as a foundational premise and some styles such as Judo is completely based on this notion of the interplay between soft (yielding) and hard (pushing or pulling). However, while we do see these concepts of soft and hard at work in Korean styles like ITF Taekwon-Do as well, we also see something else in the Korean art.

In a manner of speaking, the originally Chinese Taijitu 太極圖, which was also adopted into Japan, present a dualistic (two-dimensional) cosmology of two equal, but opposite forces working in harmony. The same is not exactly true for ancient Korean philosophy where the Taijitu was conformed to the Korean cosmology. First the Taiji(tu) became the Taegeuk(do) 태극(도) in the Korean paradigm.

Taegeukdo / 태극도

Superficially the Taijitu and the Taegeukdo may seem the same, but in fact the Taegeukdo is deliberately coloured. One of the forces is presented in red, and the other in blue. These colours have symbolic meanings, referring to "heaven" and "earth" respectively. Furthermore, the Korean Taegeuk generally do not have two dots as present in the Chinese Taiji. In Chinese cosmology the dots show how that the two opposite forces are connected with each other, the one already impregnated with the essence of the other. In Korean cosmology, however, the thing that connects the two forces is a third, different element, not an aspect of the opposite force. Korean philosophy proposes an amended Taegeuk that doesn't merely consist of two forces, but actually of three interacting forces, known as the Sam-Taegeuk 三太極. ("Sam" means three.)

Sam-Taegeuk / 三太極

The Sam-Taegeuk is a uniquely Korean expression of the Taegeuk. Where the normal Taijitu / Taegeuk consists of only two opposite forces / phases that are in continual change, the Sam-Taegeuk embraces three harmonious forces. The third, yellow force symbolizes man ("humanity"). This idea is traditionally known as Sam-Jae 삼재, but is now more commonly referred to as Sam-Yoso 삼요소, which directly translated means “three elements” or “triple essence”. The Sam-Taegeuk symbolizes the harmonious interplay between the forces of heaven (한을 / 천국), earth (토 / 지구), and man (사람 / 인간). In physical terms we might interpret these as a rising force, a lowering force, and a connecting or normalizing force.

What we find in ITF Taekwon-Do is not a pure adherence to the Taiji in the Chinese tradition that functions on a binary paradigm of two opposing forces working in harmony. Instead, ITF Taekwon-Do functions within a traditional Korean philosophical paradigm of the Sam-Taegeuk or Sam-Yoso. In Korean culture we most noticeably recognize the idea of “three” in the typical three-beat rhythm used for much of Korean traditional music. The same rhythm can be recognized in Korean martial arts. ITF Taekwon-Do, like Taekkyeon—Korea's folk martial art—follows Korea's traditional three beat rhythm, explained by Grandmaster Kimm He-Young: “Japanese [martial arts] have a two beat movement, 'block, punch', 'block, punch'. But the Korean body rhythm has 3 beats . . . one two three, one two three.” (I quoted Grandmaster Kimm before in a previous post dealing with a similar topic.) The three phased sine wave motion matches the “Korean body rhythm” and is in congruence with the Korean concept of Sam-Taegeuk. Or to phrase it differently, there is a harmony between ITF Taekwon-Do's sine wave motion and traditional Korean cosmology. Deeper inquiry into the Sam-Taegeuk and how this influence the Korean psyche and Korean kinaesthetics may be an interesting and possibly insightful endeavor.

Note that with this essay I did not attempt to argue in favour of the sine wave motion on technical grounds. I have done that elsewhere on this blog. My aim was merely to show that it is consistent with traditional Korean cosmology symbolized by the Sam-Taegeuk and reflected in the three beat Korean “body rhythm” as is also evident in Taekkyeon, Korea's folk martial art. In other words, it is reasonable to say that ITF Taekown-Do, like Taekkyeon, moves in a certain way because they are Korean martial arts that reflect Korean kinesthetics based on Korean philosophy and cosmology.

Related Posts:

• A Philosophical Look at Chon-Ji 
• The Wave / Circle Principle
• Balgyeong in ITF Taekwon-Do and the Taekkyeon Connection
• From Hard Style Karate to Soft Style Tai Chi