Interview with Dr George Vitale by Korea-and-the-World

My friend, Dr George Vitale, is one of the world's foremost Taekwon-Do historians. His knowledge of Taekwon-Do and its history is only surpassed by his passion for the topic. In the podcast below you can here a podcast in which he discusses the early history of Taekwon-Do and its connection with the "controversial" General Choi Hong-Hi.

The interview was conducted by "Korea and the World", a really good podcast that is worth following for people interested in Korea. You can read more about the interview with Dr Vitale on their website and also download an extended version of the interview.

I'm pleased to say that I played a part in making this interview happen (by connecting Korea and the World with Dr Vitale). I think it was a great discussion that may be helpful for people to get a little better understanding of the history and politics surrounding Taekwon-Do and its principle founder, General Choi Hong-Hi.

My PhD Studies & the 5th International Symposium on Taekwondo Studies

Over the weekend of 9-10 May I had the privilege to attend the 5th International Symposium on Taekwondo Studies, sponsored by the WTF as a precursor to the 2015 WTF World Taekwondo Championships in Chelyabinsk, Russia, and organized by the International Associationfor Taekwondo Research, It was particularly heart-warming that at least three of the speakers at the event were ITF Taekwon-Do practitioners and scholars: myself, Dr George Vitale (who was a keynote speaker), and Dr John Johnson (who was one of the main organizers and master of ceremonies). The WTF Championships' opening ceremony also included an ITF Taekwon-Do demonstration. Later ITF and WTF practitioners demonstrated basic movements together -- a very symbolic act.

The reason for my attendance was to present a paper and a poster at the symposium that preceded the WTF World Champs. I represented the university where I work, and also Kyunghee University where I am currently enrolled into a PhD program.

My poster was concerned with the influences in martial art forms. I argued that understanding East Asian martial art forms as simply combat drills result in several problems. To solve these problems one have to consider other influences that contributed to the development of the forms, which include Daoyist exercises, folk dances and ritual practices, and East Asian conceptions of mind training through physical activity.

The paper I presented concerned another topic, namely pacifism and war ethics. The title is "The Paradoxical Pacifist Teachings of East Asian Martial Arts." Basically, East Asian martial arts admonish their members not to engage in fighting, or that the highest goal of martial art practise is not fighting. This is paradoxical since the core focus of martial art practise is combative techniques. I argued that the reason East Asian martial arts (as apposed to Western combat systems) teach combat avoidance is because they are based on the pacifist teachings of East Asian philosophies such as Taoism, Confucianism, Mohism and Buddhism. I furthermore continued to show ways in which this paradox can be overcome by means of normative ethics.

This paper is part of my research for my PhD dissertation, which I need to submit--God-willing--by October this year. I have finally completed all my coursework and a few weeks ago I wrote my comprehensive exam and obligatory foreign language exam. I'm thankful that I passed both, since nearly half of the attendees did not pass the comprehensive exam.

Unfortunately, because I'm so busy with work and studies, I'm not getting to write here as often here as I would like. For what it is worth, I have several writing topic ideas just waiting for an opportunity to be written.

Sine Wave Motion & Korean Kinesthetics

For a long time I have felt myself to be a singular voice proclaiming the obvious connection between ITF Taekwon-Do's sine wave motion and the movement of Taekkyeon, Korea's folk martial art. As someone that has trained in Taekkyeon, the link is glaringly obvious. Even though General Choi Hong-Hi downplayed Taekkyeon's influence, the link is undeniable as almost anyone that has trained in both ITF and Taekkyeon will tell you. It is therefore with much satisfaction that I read Paul Mitchell's interview with Grandmaster (Dr.) Kimm He-Young in last month's issue of Totally Tae Kwon Do (Issue #44).

Children playing Taekkyeon

Grandmaster Kimm, a Korean martial arts historian, affirmed what I have found as well, that ITF Taekwon-Do's kinaesthetics is very much a Korean way of moving which is very clearly also seen in Taekkyeon. Grandmaster Kimm explains that although “General Choi says he is not using Taekkyeon in creating Taekwon-Do system [sic], he is using Korean body movement, which is different from Japanese body movement,” (p. 20). The core of Taekkyeon is its three-rhythm movement; the most fundamental training in Taekkyeon is the poombalbgi 품밟기, Taekkyeon's three-rhythm stepping. Grandmaster Kimm continues to explains that “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. This is the reason that in free sparring Koreans are always moving, the Japanese are steady. General Choi said his Taekkyeon didn't influence his Taekwon-Do, but the Korean people's body culture [kinaesthetics], which you can see in Taekwon-Do, you see in Taekkyon as well, iki yakki iki, one two three” (p. 21).

[Read more about the Korean rhythm here.]

Grandmaster Kimm explains that although Taekwon-Do techniques are “Shotokan based” they are “adapted to Korean body culture” (p. 21), i.e. Korean kinaesthetics. In a previous post I said basically the same: “ITF Taekwon-Do has incorporated the soft style wave principle from Taekkyeon into the Karate way of moving.”

In trying to understand ITF Taekwon-Do's kinaesthetics (including its employment of the sine wave motion) one cannot approach it exclusively from a Japanese, Karatesque paradigm. One has to include the Taekkyeon connection, and you must take into account the greater context of Korean kinaesthetics. The Korean “Body Culture”, as Grandmaster Kimm refers to it, is visible also in traditional Korean dance. In closing, look at this video that I took earlier this year of Korean Buddhist monks and nuns (yes, Korea has Buddhist nuns) performing a dance ceremony during Buddha's Birthday celebrations. An ITF practitioner will immediately recognise the “sine wave motion,” and people familiar with the Korean “Body Culture” will recognise it very easily as well.

Totally Tae Kwon Do

This month's issue of Totally Tae Kwon Do magazine contains my contribution "5 Types of Blocking", which evolved from an earlier post here on the Soo Shim Kwan blog.

Issue #32 also contains reports from the recent ITF World Championships that was hosted in Pyeongyang, North Korea, including the news of Master George Vitale who defended his doctorate thesis in North Korea, focussing on the history of Taekwon-Do and its benefits. 

Master Vitale

Some students and instructors of the Seoul ITF Dojang with Master George Vitale.

A renowned scholar of Taekwon-Do history, Master George Vitale (8th Dan), visited Seoul last week to conduct a series of interviews. Master George is involved with a documentary in the making by director Luan Van Le, so both he and Mr. Van Le spent time in Seoul last week. On Thursday evening they booked a shoot with the chief ITF dojang where I practice Taekwon-Do in Seoul. Since they did not know where it is, or how to navigate the Seoul transportation system – especially at peak hours – I went to meet them at their hotel and escorted them to the dojang. Footage was taken of the students training, of some of us doing patterns, and so on. Throwing techniques are a neglected element in Taekwon-Do, even though it is part of the system. Seeing that it is so uncommon to find someone adapt in throwing skills they actually requested me to demonstrate some throws. So far they have over 200 hours of footage that need to be reduced into a two hour film, so we will have to see if my throwing techniques will feature at all.

After the training Master Vitale interviewed our instructor Mr. Kim Hoon, as well as myself and assistant instructor Anna. Many questions revolved around the prejudice experienced by ITF Taekwon-Do practitioners in a WTF-dominated country. There is an erroneous stigma that ITF is somehow North Korean. This is, of course, a false assumption. ITF Taekwon-Do started in South Korea and grew into an international system – it is as little North Korean as rugby is British.

Master George Vitale and Sabeom Sanko Lewis

On Saturday evening I met up with Master Vitale, Mr. Van Le, and another friend. We had a nice evening discussing Taekwon-Do and its very intriguing history. Towards the end of the evening Master Vitale presented me with two International Instructor's shoulder insignia to encourage me to get the certification. The insignia are worn by 4th Dan and higher whom have successfully completed an Internatiional Instructor's seminar -- something I wish to accomplish as soon as an opportunity arise.