States of 'Muhyeong' and 'Yuhyeong' in ITF Taekwon-Do

At the end of 2023 I gave a presentation at Youngsan University's 4th International Taekwondo Conference on the muhyeong-principle in ITF Taekwon-Do. It has been my intention to develop it into an academic paper to submit with a journal, but I've been too distracted to work on that, so I'm deciding to share my draft here on my blog to the benefit of the ITF community, while I hopefully finish the paper for publication in the future. 

From Decisiveness to Adaptability: The Muhyeong-Principle in (ITF) Taekwon-Do

Introduction: Karate's Kime and Taekwon-Do's Jipjung

Taekwondo developed from a Japanese karate—mostly Shotokan Karate—foundation and although Taekwondo evolved into a uniquely Korean martial art, it still retains remnants of both technical methodology and philosophy that are rooted in Japanese martial culture. One example is the notion of kime (決め), which refers to the conspicuous full body tension performed by the karateka at the final moment of a technique. From a technical perspective, this full body tension is supposed to make the body into a solid, immovable structure to fully transfer the technique’s force into the target and prevent possible negative effects from any rebound force. The term kime literally translates as “decision,”^[1] and connotes firm decisiveness; in other words, kime suggests an unwavering execution of the technique decided upon. The isometric concentration of the whole-body musculature in kime is a manifestation of the karateka’s decisive technique. This unwavering decisiveness also manifests in the early formation of the attacking or blocking tool. When performing techniques in karate, the practitioner will keep the hand shape the same from start to finish. For instance, if the technique to be performed is a punch the hand will remain in a fist shape from beginning to end; similarly, if the technique is to be an open-handed strike, the hand will be kept in the knife-hand shape throughout the execution of the movement. This consistency in the “form” of the hand reflects kime’s connotation of an unwavering decision: once the decision to perform either a punch or a strike is made, it is resolutely executed. Within the broader context of Japanese martial arts, one may understand kime, then, as a technical expression of another idea in some Japanese martial arts, including Shotokan karate, namely: ichigeki hissatsu (一撃必殺) which translates as “one punch, certain death” or the more euphemistic expression ichigeki hitsutou (一撃必倒), “one punch, certain victory”.^[2] As such, kime which is primarily a biomechanical feature in karate also lends itself to psychological or philosophical interpretation.

Taekwondo inherited a version of kime from karate. But in taekwondo it is known as jipjung (집중), which translates as “concentration” or “focus”; the term is based on the hanja 集中, which literally translates as gathering everything together to a central point. As such, Taekwon-Do’s jipjung is employed “to concentrate every muscle of the body … towards the appropriate tool … at the proper time … onto the opponent’s vital spot”^[3]. 

In Kukki Taekwondo (the style of Taekwondo under the auspices of the Kukkiwon) the shape of the attacking or blocking tool is also predetermined like in karate; in other words, a punch will start from the hip in the shape of a fist, and a knife-hand strike will also be in the knife-hand shape from the very start of the technique. While the physical manifestation of kime is still visible in the performance of taekwondo’s fundamental movements—for instance in poomsae—, the associated Japanese philosophy of a decisive, victorious action is somewhat lost in translation, as the Korean word jipjung doesn’t have the same decisive connotation as is the case with the Japanese word kime. Instead, taekwondo’s jipjung implies the bringing together of all elements, movements, circumstances, and mental focus into a focussed point; in other words, one’s total energy focussed into the metaphoric bullseye by means of a perfect technique. 

ITF Taekwon-Do also retained the kime / jipjung principle of a whole-body isometric contraction at the final moment of the technique; however, the predetermined formation of the attacking or blocking tool has disappeared from ITF Taekwon-Do’s techniques. In ITF Taekwon-Do, techniques must initiate from a state of relaxation, and unnecessary tension of muscles while performing a movement is strongly discouraged as any engagement of antagonist muscles is believed to negatively affect the speed and resultant power with which the technique can be performed. Therefore, in performing a hand technique, the hand is kept relaxed and without any predetermined form; it is only concentrated into its appropriate shape moments before impact. For example, when performing a punch, the hand remains in “no-form” (neither flexed open nor tightly clenched closed) ^[4] and only concentrates into a fist as the hand nears the target; similarly, when performing a knife-hand strike the hand is relaxed into the hand’s natural unengaged shape and not prematurely opened into the knife-hand shape—the hand will only stiffen into this striking tool prior to contact with the target and during the moment of jipjung. 

States of Muhyeong and Yuhyeong

While the full body tension and the moment of contact with the target does have a designation in Taekwon-Do, namely jipjung, thus far this relaxed methodology that encourages a “no-form” shape of the hand does not have an official nomenclature—apart from general descriptions such as “relaxed” or “lightly clenched” and “not tightly clenched”. After research and discussions with various Korean martial art scholars I decided to designate the Sino-Korean word muhyeong (무형, 無形), which literally translates as “no form” or “without form”—implying something that is “intangible” or “amorphous”—for this principle. This is a fitting description for this relaxed “no-form” aspect in ITF Taekwon-Do techniques before they have morphed into a recognizable tool such as a knife-hand or fist shape. Inversely, the word yuhyeong (유형, 有形), meaning “physical form” or “tangible shape” can be applied to describe the attacking or blocking tool when it has “formed” into its appropriate shape moments before and during the final jipjung-climax. 

Of course, it goes without saying that when we describe the hand as being in a state of muhyeong we do not mean it literally, as if the hand is liquid or vaporous. The hand still retains the natural bio-tensegrity or fascintegrity that is innate to the living structure of complex organisms.^[5] Also, the wrist is never allowed to go limp, but is kept in a neutral position, neither bent up or down nor left or right. A hand in a state of muhyeong simply means that it is naturally relaxed and not formed into a blocking, attacking, or grappling tool. Contrariwise, a hand in a state of yuhyeong is formed into a specific tool. Muhyeong has the primary biomechanical function of keeping the limb relaxed (iwan, 이완, 弛緩), free from unnecessary antagonist muscle tensions so as not to hamper the technique’s speed. 

Techno-Philosophical Interpretation

Apart from its primary function as a method for relaxing antagonist muscles, the muhyeong-notion is also ripe for further interpretation. 

Different Approaches: Decisiveness versus Adaptability

In Karate, kime, as a “decisive” action, implies that once the karateka decides on a technique they ought to be fully committed in its execution, hence the shape of the attacking or blocking tool is predetermined and remains the same from start to finish. It would be considered “wrong,” within the Karate-context, to change one’s mind halfway through the execution of the technique. For instance, once the karateka decides to do a fore fist punch, it is improper to second-guess the decision and suddenly change the technique into a fingertip thrust, as techniques should be performed without hesitation. As such, kime in Karate resonates with a similar idea in several Japanese martial arts, namely sutemi (捨身). A literal translation of sutemi is “abandoning the body,” suggesting self-sacrifice. The implication is a total commitment to every technique without thought of any repercussions. Hence, the highest point one can achieve in Judo is called an “ippon” (一本), translating to one full point or decisive victory^[6]. Both kime and ippon emphasize the importance of decisiveness and achieving a clear outcome attained by complete commitment to executing a technique with full intention and power.

On the other hand, the muhyeong-principle in ITF Taekwon-Do frees the practitioner from such predetermination. Since the attacking or blocking tool only fully manifests in a proper shape (yuhyeong) towards the end of the movement, the Taekwon-Do practitioner is theoretically free to adapt the technique as the situation changes. Therefore, it is quite acceptable within the Taekwon-Do context to change a technique strategically: a punch may become a backfist strike; a front kick may suddenly change into a turning kick; a side kick might suddenly morph into an offensive hook kick. Those familiar with Taekwon-Do sparring will immediately recognize this as a common strategic feature of Taekwon-Do. For instance, kicks are often adapted mid-execution to adjust for the opponent’s movements or to exploit new openings in their guard. Furthermore, this helps to prevent a level of telegraphing, because even when the movement has started the exact technique is not fully knowable until near the end of its execution. 

Relation to East Asian Philosophy

I believe that this muhyeong concept is consistent with some East Asian philosophical ideas that have a long historic association with East Asian martial arts theory. 

Eum-Yang

First, the Daoist concept of taegeuk, (태극; Chinese: 太極, taiji) and its associated eumyang-principle (음양; Chinese: 陰陽, yinyang), is a core idea in East Asian cosmology and often used by East Asian martial arts as a theoretical bases for describing techniques. There are already several approaches for understanding the eumyang-principle in taekwondo. For instance, Dr Stephen Capener argues for interpreting the eumyang-principle as “full and empty space” to explain Taekwon-Do sparring strategy.^[7] For him, during a sparring match, the dynamic interchange of the competitors’ limbs in motion and inevitable appearance and disappearance of viable targets for attack represent “full” and “empty” spaces. An understanding of such full and empty spaces allows for both strategic sparring application and philosophical interpretation. Furthermore, some Korean scholars promote the idea of gangyu (강유, 剛柔), meaning “hardness and softness,” as an application of the eumyang-principle in Taekwon-Do but viewed through a Neo-Confucian lens. Gangyu can basically be understood as those particular binary aspects in Taekwon-Do, such as offensive and defensive techniques. My proposal of “form” and “no-form” (in ITF Taekwon-Do) is likewise an exploration of the eumyang-principle. If a Taekwon-Do technique has a moment of deliberate high tension, where the whole body is concentrated into an unmoving, isometric firmness (in other words, jipjung), it only makes sense that it should also have the opposite, namely a phase of deliberate relaxation (iwan) and fluidity. Similarly, since a technique is only recognized as such at the final moment when it expresses into its clearest form (yuhyeong), it goes without saying that it also has a preformed or amorphous state (muhyeong). 

Muwi 

This muhyeong idea, which allows a practitioner a level of liberty to adapt the technique naturally according to changing circumstances resonates with yet another concept from Daoist philosophy, namely muwi (무위; Chinese: wuwei, 無為), which translates as “non-doing” or “no effort”. Within Daoist teaching, this doesn’t literally mean to not do anything, but rather not to force a situation and instead allow things to unfold naturally. Many martial arts have taken up the muwi principle to mean that a good technique is one in which the greatest result is achieved with the least amount of effort. This principle of efficacy directly relates to the biomechanical purpose of muhyeong which is to ensure that only the necessary agonist muscles are engaged in their proper sequence, and the antagonist muscles are appropriately relaxed, subsequently resulting in the most efficacious movement. 

Mugeuk and Mushim

Furthermore, in Daoist thought mu (無) does not mean mere nothingness; instead, it relates to the “Void” (無極; Korean: mugeuk, 무극), the place of incipience, which contains all potentialities. For the trained martial artist this connects to that spontaneous, reflexive, and masterful bringing forth of the right technique at the right time; in other words, the most appropriate technique hitting the best target at just the right moment. This is different from the kime-concept that implies an active decision. From a Daoist paradigm, the most appropriate technique is not “decided” but rather allowed to manifest without conscious thought naturally and spontaneously. Just as the hand can be described as in a state of muhyeong, so the whole person—body and mind—may manifest muhyeong. This is not conceived as a structureless body and unconsciousness mind, but rather as a body filled with potentiality and a mind open to all options. Daoist and Buddhist meditative practices calls this mental state mushim (무심; Chinese: wushin, 無心; Japanese: mushin). Mushim suggests a mental state of no-mindedness; or a “mind empty of all thought or emotion” so that it is able “to respond to any external stimuli, allowing free expression of any response technique.”^[8] In other words, the ability to do defensive and counter-attack techniques reflexively, without thinking. 

This muhyeong state is of course a transitional state, from a state of potentiality to the yuhyeong state of actuality. As the transition happens, the various potentialities or technique possibilities become fewer and fewer, until finally only one possibility remains. In practise this means that the movement starts out relaxed, but slowly more muscles will become engaged until finally all muscles are engaged. Thus, yuhyeong and jipjung converge. When, from the vast sea of potential techniques, the most appropriate technique is actualized, perfection occurs. Or as Capener puts it: “bringing order to chaos through skillful technique.”^[9] Of course, for this to occur the practitioner must have physically mastered various potentialities, which is a great arsenal of efficacious techniques (or fundamental movements). Only then can the most appropriate technique come forth without conscious thought or physical restraint. As such, muwi as a philosophical extension of muhyeong does not mean no effort in training, but rather so much training and mastery of techniques that when a technique is performed it seems effortless, which is—as all martial artists know—the difference between the novice and the expert. This implies that fundamental movements ought to be trained—or rather—drilled to such a level that they can manifest effortlessly. 

Practical Considerations

Returning from the philosophical to the practical, there are important technical aspects regarding the point of impact with the target that is crucial to discuss. We may ask: ‘When, during the execution of the movement, is the moment of contact with target?’ To make the question more tangible, let’s focus on a specific technique, the front fore fist punch: ‘When performing a front fore fist punch, at what point of the arm’s extension (and the hand’s rotation) should the fist reach its target?’ Asked differently, ‘When should the full transformation from muhyeong to yuhyeong occur?’

There are two reasons these questions are crucial. First, if the hand is still in a state of muhyeong at the moment of impact with the target, there is a high possibility of the hand getting injured since it is not formed into a proper, stable attacking tool (yuhyeong) that can withstand the force of the impact. It is therefore imperative that the hand not make impact with the target too early. Second, all techniques accelerate and then suddenly decelerates at the end of the movement. The deceleration can happen either because it reached its target (e.g., the fist hits the opponent), or because the arm has reached its full extension, which means it naturally stops. The implication of this is that since force is the product of mass times acceleration, the highest moment of the technique’s force cannot be at the very end when the limb is fully extended, as by that time it has decelerated to zero. Ergo, the highest moment of potential force is a point along the trajectory, when the limb is at its highest point of acceleration, before any deceleration starts. Therefore, we want to ideally hit the target at this point when the limb’s speed is at its greatest, which is a point before the limb is fully extended. But how can we know when that is?

Taekwon-Do convention advocates that when performing a front fore fist punch, the punch should rotate upon contact with the target. Various reasons for this rotation are proposed, but I’ll leave that aside for now. What I want to focus on here is simply that, according to tradition, the fist should rotate on the target. What this implies, then, is that the moment the fist starts rotating is also conceivably the moment of initial impact—the full rotational corkscrew of the fist is supposed to coincided with the deeper penetration of the technique towards the true target that is beyond the surface skin. For instance, when we aim for the solar plexus, we are not merely aiming for the spot right under the sternum, but rather for a point deeper within the torso.^[10]

Different instructors promote different times in the execution of the punch for the rotation to occur. Some suggest the final third of the movement, others say at the last quarter before full extension. Unfortunately, scientific studies that measure the highest moment of acceleration in all ITF Taekwon-Do techniques are yet to be done.^[11] There are, however, some studies with regards to punches in Karate and Kukki Taekwon-Do worth mentioning. Based on punching experiments mentioned by Master Nakayama, the “maximum speed occurs at just around 70 percent of full extension”^[12]. An academic article focussing on Karate punches states that the “maximum speed was recorded as a point between 70 and 80 [percent]” of full extension.^[13] The Kukkiwon’s Taekwondo Textbook (2022) suggests that this point is at “80% of the arm’s length”.^[14] So the oral tradition in ITF Taekwon-Do that advocates for the rotation to start at around the final quarter of the movement seems to be correct.

What this suggests is that by this point (i.e., the point of highest velocity), yuhyeong (i.e., the formation of the attacking tool) ought to occur. Of course, the point of highest velocity will be slightly different depending on the technique and also purpose. But until scientific research is done to determine the likely points for different techniques, we can—for practical purposes—assume the same rule of thumb that the point of highest velocity occurs at roughly 75% of the full extension of the limb, or around the final quarter of the technique.

Earlier in this discussion it may have seemed that I equated yuhyeong and jipjung. However, based on the preceding it is obvious that this is not the case. Yuhyeong occurs slightly prior to jipjung. Yuhyeong (the formation of the tool) happens at around three-quarters of the movement, while jipjung (isometric concentration of the whole body) is a bit closer to the end of the movement. However, the precise commencement of the two are within fractions of a second of each other. Though they do conclude at the same time. 

Conclusion

A very important departure in ITF Taekwon-Do’s evolution out of Karate is the muhyeong-principle. This kinaesthetic principle has technical, strategic, and philosophical applications and implications. Technically it contributes to more relaxed movement which are theoretically capable of greater acceleration. It is important, however, to keep practical considerations in mind when employing the muhyeong-principle. While muhyeong may have some technical advantages, it may also lead to possible injuries when practitioners fail to apply yuyeong in time. For instance, if it is not formed into an appropriate blocking, attacking, or grappling tool before contact with the opponent, the hand might be injured. Strategically, the muhyeong-principle allows for greater adaptability. Taekwon-Do techniques are allowed to change mid-execution to adapt for changes in the combat dynamics. This level of freedom may have contributed to Taekwon-Do’s creative expression that led to the creation of various innovative techniques. And philosophically the muhyeong-principle resonates with Daoist concepts such as muwi and mushim. For people who find this East Asian philosophical interpretations too esoteric, I recommend another interpretive lens, that of Sport Psychology. The same muwi and mushim ideas can be understood as part of the “flow” state, which is a mental condition where an athlete is fully immersed in their performance; it is often described as being “in the zone,” where athletes experience a merging of action and awareness, making their performance effortless and automatic.

^[1] The equivalent Korean word is gyeoljeong (결정, 決定), meaning decision or resolution. However, this term is not commonly employed to describe Taekwon-Do techniques.

^[2] General Choi famously also made a calligraphy of this phrase (一撃必倒), which is printed in the ITF Taekwon-Do Encyclopaedia. The Korean (일격필승) Romanizes as ilgyeok pilseung.

^[3] Choi, H. H., (1999). Encyclopaedia of Taekwon-Do. Vol. 2, p. 20. 

^[4] Another Korean martial art, Subyeok-Chigi (수벽치기), which has a similar concept of not forming the attacking tool prematurely, calls this hand shape banjum (반줌), literally “half fist”. I use this term when I want to discuss the relaxed hand shape before it concentrates into a tool specifically; when I want to keep the philosophical idea of muhyeong and yuhyeong out of the discussion.

^[5] Bordoni, B., Varacallo, M. A., Morabito, B., and Simonelli, M. (June 03, 2019). “Biotensegrity or Fascintegrity?” Cureus 11(6): e4819. DOI 10.7759/cureus.4819

^[6] The ippon is to Judo what the knockout punch is to Western boxing: clear victory.

^[7] Capener, S. D. (1995.) “Problems in the Identity and Philsophy of T’aegwondo and Their Historical Causes.” Korea Journal. (1995: Winter.)

^[8] Rielly, R. L. (1998). Complete Shotokan Karate: The Samurai Legacy and Modern Practise. (p. 80.)

^[9] Capener, S. D. (1995.) “Problems in the Identity and Philsophy of T’aegwondo and Their Historical Causes.” Korea Journal. (1995: Winter.)

^[10] The solar plexus is a common target in many martial arts. However, few people realize how deep the solar plexus is within the body. What is known as the “solar plexus” is a cluster of nerves roughly 10-12 cm from the front surface of the body, nearer to the front of the spine. It is very unlikely that one would penetrate the body from the front with a punch deep enough to reach the solar plexus. The usual effects we witness from strikes to the solar plexus is probably due to the shock to other organs that are much closer to the surface, such as the diaphragm. 

^[11] Regrettably, I doubt there is an ITF organization with the desire to start such a project even though such studies would be invaluable to the scientific understanding of ITF Taekwon-Do. I can only hope that my work inspire other individual Taekwon-Do scholars with the knowledge and means to undertake such research.

^[12] Nakayama, M. (1967). Dynamic Karate. 

^[13] Walker, J. D. (1975). “Karate Strikes”. American Journal of Physics. Vol 43:10 (pp. 845-849).
^[14] Choi, C. & Lee, S. (2022). Taekwondo Textbook: 2 Basic. Kukkiwon.

1st International Academic Taekwondo Conference Youngsan University

1st International Academic Taekwondo Conference
Youngsan University

On October 4th, 2019, Youngsan University hosted their 1st International Academic Taekwondo Conference at their Yangsan Campus (Ulsan, South Korea). I was invited to present a paper for this conference.

Dr Sanko Lewis presenting at the
1st International Academic Taekwondo Conference,
Youngsan University

I titled my presentation "From Individual Heroes to National Performers: The Shift in Taekwondo's Peace Promotion Duty". Following is the abstract:

The writings of several of the early taekwondo pioneers connect taekwondo practice with peace promotion. These pioneers charged taekwondo practitioners with a duty to contribute to justice, defend the weak, and build a more peaceful world. National and international taekwondo organizations such as the Kukkiwon, World Taekwondo, and the International Taekwon-Do Federation have taken up the charge of peace promotion through taekwondo by means of transnational events, such as goodwill tours and joined taekwondo demonstrations by adversarial states (e.g. North and South Korea). These activities may be described as soft diplomacy initiatives and have seen some level of success. While these soft diplomacy activities are in line with the goal of peace promotion that the early pioneers advocated, they are qualitatively different from what the pioneers advocated. Originally, the responsibility of peace promotion was on the individual taekwondo practitioner, who ought to cultivate moral character, courage, and martial art skill in order to standup for justice and defend the weak. With the current use of taekwondo for soft diplomacy, the responsibility of peace promotion has shifted from the individual practitioner to the corporate, i.e. the governing and national bodies. Instead of focusing on issues surrounding justice and the protection of the weak, these corporate bodies focus on geopolitical cooperation, mediated through cultural exchange activities in the form of taekwondo demonstrations, involving activities such as poomsae performances and board-breaking that require little actual courage or serious personal risk to the individual practitioners. The charge to safeguard justice and physically defend the weak, which are acts of true courage that may have serious personal risk, as was envisioned by the taekwondo pioneers, is mostly ignored.

The article still needs some work before I can submit it with an academic journal for publication.

The conference included two other well established taekwondo researchers, Dr. John Johnson who spoke on "Mudo within North Korean Taekwondo Pedagogy" and Dr. Steven Capener, who addressed "How Korea Created and then Destroyed the Martial Sport of Taekwondo". Dr. John Frankl and Dr Udo Moenig took part in the discussion session. Drs. Johnson, Capener, Moenig, and myself (Lewis), are the four non-Korean academics living in Korea, working at universities here, and doing research in Taekwondo. Dr Frankl's martial art focus is Brazilian Jiujitsu.

The Unfortunate Cost of Evolving from Martial Art to Combat Sport

I've written long ago why I'm not fond of tournament sparring (1, 2). In short, if self-defence training is the goal, a focus on tournament sparring can hamper that goal because tournament sparring tends to narrow the scope of the training to the sporting arena context, which is far too artificial to reflect the reality of a self-defence encounter. Traditional martial arts, and in particular civilian defensive arts, envision quite a different context to prepare for than that of a competition ring.

However, in this post I want to speak about other "costs" that comes at the expense of a sport focus.

Here I want to focus on the WT style of Taekwon-Do as an Olympic sport. There are some attempts to get ITF Taekwon-Do to also join with WT to become one event alongside WT under the "Taekwondo" umbrella. There is a believe that such a move will secure the ITF Taekwon-Do's longevity, enhance its prestige, and strengthen Taekwon-Do's position at the Olympic Games.

Image Source: https://www.olympic.org/taekwondo

I am somewhat skeptical. I believe an evolution from martial art to combat sport comes at an unfortunate cost.

First, when a martial art changes into a sport there is a dilution of the rich historical arsenal of the original system. When Judo was developed as a streamlined version of Jujutsu, many of the original techniques were purged. Similarly, when the focus in Taekwondo becomes sport competition, a big percentage of techniques are inevitably neglected. Taekwondo enthusiasts are all aware how Olympic Taekwondo has reduced the martial art—that is by its very name supposed to be a foot-and-hand system—into primarily a kicking system. Sadly, an emphasis on kicking in sport Taekwondo has not enriched Taekwondo’s kicking arsenal with more kicks, but rather reduced the arsenal to only a handful of techniques that works well in the limited context of the sports ring.

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_wrestling

Second, not only are there technical losses when a martial art becomes a sport, but there is also an intangible loss in the form of a reduced cultural and philosophical heritage. Of the surviving historic European martial arts (HEMA) that became modern sports such as western boxing, Greco-Roman wrestling, and fencing, very little of the original cultural and philosophical heritage are practised and celebrated by the athletes training and competing in these sports. Even Judo, which was intended by its founder to be a pedagogic tool to teach certain philosophical values, is in current times usually practised simply as a sport with hardly any philosophical teachings as part of training. Contrary to such combat sports, in martial arts the cultural and philosophical heritages are usually integral to their practise.

Third, when the philosophical and cultural heritage is removed it is often replaced with “[p]ositive sporting values and objectives”*. In the case of Taekwondo as promoted by the WT, an emphasis is given to the sport values of Olympism. This means that the original East Asian philosophy and values that are inherent to the martial arts are replaced with western values (i.e. Grecian inspired Olympism) for the combat sport. The adoption of Olympism may at first seem commendable. However, the East Asian martial arts are not culturally neutral. Quite the opposite: East Asian martial arts, like folk dances, function as containers of cultural heritage. Therefore, when focussing on the sport aspect of the martial art there is an emphasis of the new sport values, which inevitably results in a de-emphasis of the original cultural heritage. In a discussion on the western-centric Olympic sports, Allen Guttmann laments the resultant cultural imperialism. He argues that even when East Asian martial arts spread to the west, they often “[transformed] in accordance with Western assumptions about the nature of sports”*. Ironically, instead of the intended goal of using Taekwondo for soft power diplomacy the result is a form of “soft colonialism,” where the original martial art loses its Oriental identity—to be replaced with a western inspired identity. At the very least this should be considered culturally insensitive and a regrettable loss.

Is the security and prestige of joining the Olympic Games worth the losses? For some people who see the opportunity of winning a medal at the Olympic Games in their chosen sport, it is worth it. For others, those who see the martial arts something other than a sport, for example as containers of cultural heritage, it is not.

The Teleology of Sparring in ITF Taekwon-Do

The following video recording is of my presentation at Stanford University, at the 2019 International Academic Conference for Taekwondo. The video quality is a bit low as I captured it with my mobile phone from the video stream that was made during the conference. When I find a better quality recording, I will post it later. Below is also the abstract for my presentation.

Abstract: The Teleology of Free Sparring in ITF Style Taekwondo

The Korean term for sparring in ITF style taekwondo is matseogi which denotes opposing or standing up against an adversary. This is different from the term gyeorugi (i.e. from gyeoruda, “to compete”) that is used in WT / Kukki taekwondo or the older term daeryeon (“fighting”) that was used in the early development of taekwondo. Matseogi in ITF style taekwondo ought to be understood teleologically as a “Korean martial art of self-defense.” Towards that goal, the ITF pedagogy guides the practitioner through various types of matseogi (from “pre-arranged” to “unrestricted”), which is supposed to sequentially prepare the practitioner for the telos (i.e. ultimate goal) of real-life self-defense. It is very difficult to prepare for a real-life self-defense situation because reality is often chaotic, with many unpredictable variables. Consequently, the ITF pedagogy offers yaksok matseogi (“pre-arranged sparring”) with much reduces variables, so that the practitioner can focus on and hone appropriate skills for specific variables. Progressively more variables are introduced until the practitioner finally practices jayu matseogi (i.e. “free sparring” or “unrestricted sparring”), which is supposed to allow for the inclusion of as many variables as possible to mimic the chaos of a real-life self-defense encounter. This type of training is often referred to as “reality based” training. However, the term jayu matseogi (“free sparring”) has been appropriated for competition sparring at ITF tournaments. Because competition sparring is bound by numerous sparring rules, this type of sparring still has too many reduced variables to reflect the very high variable situation of a real self-defense encounter. Since for many ITF schools competition sparring is considered jayu matseogi, their pedagogic telos is never achieved, as there is no ultimate “reality based” training that mimics the unpredictability of a real self-defense encounter. It is my proposal that ITF competition sparring should be renamed because the current misapplied use of the term jayu matseogi effectively erases the true definition and purpose of jayu matseogi in the ITF pedagogy. Instead of jayu matseogi the term gyeorugi is an appropriate designation for competition sparring. Furthermore, actual “reality based” jayu matseogi needs to be reintroduced in schools where it is not trained, in order for ITF style taekwondo to achieve its pedagogic telos as a “Korean martial art of self-defense.”

"100th Anniversary of Choi Honghi: Taekwon-Do and Life; How to View Choi Honghi"

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend a symposium about General Choi 최홍희.

The symposium was in honour of the 100th Anniversary of the birth of General Choi, the “principle founder of original Taekwon-Do” (as Taekwon-Do historian Dr George Vitale likes to put it). General Choi’s claim to the title of “founder” of Taekwon-Do is not without controversy and while his great contribution to Taekwon-Do is undeniable (even so far as coining the term “TaeKwon-Do”), in South Korea his legacy has been nearly eradicated because of the conflict he had with the then dictator-president Park Chonghee. Gen. Choi’s later visit to the North further estranged him from South Korea.

The purpose of this symposium, organised by Taekwondo Box Media and hosted at the Korea National Sports University, was to re-asses General Choi’s contribution. The university president gave an opening remark, which was followed by the reading of a handwritten letter by General Choi’s wife.

A handwritten letter of appreciation from Mrs Choi,
the widow of Gen. Choi

There were two speakers. The first speaker was Dr. Heo Keon-sik (허건식), General Director of the Chungju World Martial Arts Masterships Organizing Committee. He discussed “The Martial Artist, Choi Hong-hee”. Dr Heo had an interesting approach. He looked at the founders of Judo (Kano), modern Karate (Funakushi), and Kyukushin Karate (Mas Oyama, aka 최영의) and noted how each of them studied a previous martial art and then changed it into something new. By comparison, he argued, that General Choi did the same within the Oh Do Kwan (which was the name of Gen. Choi’s karate school in the ROK military from which Taekwon-Do evolved). Dr Heo also differentiated between the “core” of ITF Taekwon-Do (i.e. Gen. Choi’s Taekwon-Do) and WT / Olympic Taekwondo. For him, the core of Olympic Taekwondo is sport competition, whereas in ITF it is traditional martial arts (if I understood him correctly). A point Dr Heo frequently brought up was “Red Complex”, which is a term used in Korea to refer to the overreaction of anything remotely related to North Korea or Communism. Because of General Choi and the ITF’s connection with North Korea, General Choi became a taboo topic and anything to do with him enticed “Red Complex”. Unfortunately, my understanding of the presentation was limited, so this is all I could derive from Dr. Heo’s presentation.

The second speaker was Dr. Mikhail Han (한병철), a martial arts movement researcher at the 88 Exercise Science Institute. Dr. Han also looked at the Oh Do Kwan as the root of (ITF) Taekwon-Do, noting that it started with Karate training but evolved. He suggested, if I understood him correctly (i.e. if I interpreted his Powerpoint slides correctly), that ITF Taekwon-Do concepts of power generation were derived from various other martial arts influences that were part of the collective knowledge of the early ITF Taekwon-Do pioneers, which included karate, Western boxing, some Chinese martial arts, Taekkyeon, wrestling (I’m guessing he refers to Judo), fencing, Muay Thai, and weightlifting. I’m not sure what his sources for fencing and Muay Thai are, but the other activities mentioned were definitely part of early (ITF) Taekwon-Do. He then spoke about ITF’s sinewave movement and pointed out that ITF Taekwon-Do’s conception of force shares concepts with the knee-bending principle 오금질 in Taekkyeon, and certain concepts of movement within the Chinese internal styles: Hsing-I Chuan, Taichi Chuan and Baqua. This was a pleasant surprise because this is the first time I heard someone formally make this claim—which is something I’ve written about for years on my Taekwon-Do blog. (The only other person I know who has made similar statements is Manuel Androgue.)

Dr Han stated that Choi Hong-hee should get credit for being the "major shareholder” in the foundation of Taekwon-Do, for his attempt to break away from Japanese-karate, for introducing Taekwon-Do to North Korea, for preserving Taekwon-Do as a “Martial Do” 무도태권도, and for being a Korean patriot.

He concluded his talk by addressing the tasks ahead. He suggested that an objective reappraisal of General Choi’s contribution is required, that it should be “beyond ideology”, that General Choi should receive amnesty (he was declared a traitor by the Park Chong-hee regime), that there should be an independent meritor of Gen Choi’s work, that a Choi Hong-hi memorial should be established, and that Inter-Korean Taekwon-Do exchanges should (continue to) occur.

Symposium Q&A Panel

The second part of the symposium involved a discussion (Q&A) with six specialists, including Sean Yu, who is the Secretary General for one of the ITF groups in South Korea. Because this part of the symposium did not include presentation slides, I wasn’t able to follow along as well. One of the questions from a university student was why General Choi’s contribution to Taekwon-Do were not taught to them in university. The uncomfortable answer was because of “Red Complex”.

Dignitaries, presenters, panelists and PhDs in attendance

I don’t know what the long term implication of this symposium will be because as far as I could tell it was not sanctioned by the World Taekwondo, the Kukkiwon or Taekwondowon. It was a rather low-key event. Nevertheless, it is of great significance. When I came to Korea over a decade ago, General Choi was a taboo topic. I was even warned to avoid talking and writing about him because I might get investigated by the NIS (National Intelligence Service), which could result in having my visa revoked. Since then, the political climate has made a 180-degree turn. The legacy of General Choi is slowly re-emerging and hopefully he will get the credit as the “major shareholder” of Taekwon-Do in the homeland of Taekwon-Do.

South Africa Trip 2018

My annual trip to South Africa in January and February this year was quite a blessed one. Apart from spending some quality time with family and friends, I also had the opportunity to visit several martial art schools and friends.

In Cape Town, I visited the Instructor Jaren Philips' ITF Taekwon-Do school in Green Point, where I shared some thoughts on Korean body culture and the overlap between Taekkyeon and ITF Taekwon-Do.

With black belts at the Green Point Dojang.

In Kwa-Zulu Natal I visited my friends at the Pinetown Stingers Dojang where we practiced some of break-falling and joint-manipulation techniques.

With some members of the Pinetown Stingers Club. 

In Centurion I presented an ITF principles seminar with participants attending from the greater Pretoria region, Potchefstroom, and the Vaal Triangle. The workshop centered on re-thinking how we apply fundamental motions in a practical manner that makes full use of different possibilities presented to us within the context of the Theory of Power.

WIth some participants at the workshop in Centurion.

I was delighted to be able to visit the Potcheftroom Taekwon-Do school this year. I started this dojang exactly 20 years ago and couldn't have imagined that it would continue to exist for such a long time. The school have always been relatively small, but the quality is consistent and under instructor Philip's care, I am happy say that the Potchefstroom Dojang is doing very well.

With some students at the Potchefstroom Taekwon-Do Club.

Apart from my Taekwon-Do adventures, I also gave an introductory Hapkido seminar in Cape Town. There are hopes that from a small Hapkido training group a Hapkido school will open in the Mother City.

With Anthony Lapperts

I also introduced, for the first time in South Africa, hopaesul -- the study of a Korean weapon known as hopae. The introduction was presented to some higher level black belts as an addendum to the Centurion workshop.

With the Korean weapon, hopae. 

Grand Master Park Jung Tae Seminar, Ireland 1987

The Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association (RITA-ITF) recently did the ITF Taekwon-Do world an exquisite favour by uploading onto YouTube a series videos of a technical seminar presented by Grandmaster Park Jung Tae, who was in his time both Secretary General and Technical Director of ITF Taekwon-Do (and later president of GTF).

What I find fascinating about this seminar is that what I'm teaching today in 2012 is not that much different from what he taught in 1987. And I'm specifically referring to the kinaesthetics: e.g. the use of hip twist and sine wave motion (body raising or dropping) in power generation; the employing of a small loop-motion in order to adhere to the “once the movement is in motion it should not stop until it reaches its target”-principle (I like how he said: “No punch comes out from the hip!”); stances and stepping; real focus on “snappiness” in balgyeong techniques, such as knife hand strikes; a clear sense of intermediate positions; and the importance of relaxation. Keep in mind that my personal influences have been quite eclectic: I had trained under instructors from South Africa, England, Australia, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan and Argentina; technically, I consider my personal techniques to be most closely in line with the Chang Ung ITF group.

Grandmaster Park's seminar goes through the colour belt patterns, starting with Dan-Gun Teul and ending with Choong-Moo Teul. While watching the videos, focus on Grandmaster Park's movements and teaching, rather than that of the participants as some of them are still adjusting their techniques and sometimes perform it clearly wrong.

Dan-Gun 

Do-San 

Won-Hyo

Yul-Gok


Joong-Gun


Toi-Gye

Hwa-Rang

Choong-Moo

Little Black Belts?

Most South Koreans train in a martial art as children. This is usually not taken seriously and for the most part the technical standards are quite low. This is because most of the dojang function merely as an after school P.T. centre and the kids often just fool around and learn some rudimentary martial techniques.

Seeing Korean kids run around with black belts is a common sight in South Korea, and does generally not mean that these children are any good. Children's martial arts is a big industry in Korea. Very, very few students fail promotional tests. I've been to the Kukkiwon (the WTF Mecca) and witnessed black belt testing for children. Within the span of a morning around 2000 children are tested for their black belts. There are over twenty such promotional testing centres in Seoul, the capital, alone, although they these centres may have fewer candidates testing at a time. Regardless, it would not be an overstatement to suggest that on any given weekend over 10 000 children test for black belt, just in the Seoul Province alone.

I personally took the video below. In it you can see how children's black belt tests are run at the Kukkiwon. The video shows the poomse (forms) section of the test. A regiment of twenty students perform their poomse at one time. They are required to do three forms, after which they are shooed off the mat so that the next battery of twenty students that have been waiting on the side can be tested. Even though techniques are often done with little power and uncertain form, as long as the candidate does something that resembles the poomse (i.e. as long as they move along), they will be promoted.



The next video shows the sparring section of the test. Candidates spar for about 10-20 seconds, one round. Contact doesn't seem to be necessary as long as there is a general attempt at showing some kicks.



Children are generally not expected to do any breaking techniques. The children's black belt promotional test therefore requires less than five minutes of performance time. Children black belts do not don the full black belt, in South Korea, but instead a "children's black belt", which is a belt divided into black and red. Obviously children are not expected to be at the same standard as adults. However, adult tests for first to third degree black belt in WTF taekwondo doesn't require much more. They have to demonstrate some extra kicks and / or some easy breaking.

My point is not to humiliate the quality of WTF taekwondo in South Korea. We cannot forget that it is still the South Koreans that take most of the medals at the Olympic Games. South Korea taekwondo has for the most part a completely different function than in many other countries. It's original purpose as a combat system or self-defence system is nearly non-existent, in part because South Korea is such a safe place and there really is hardly a need for civilian self-defence training. Here Taekwon-Do is primarily a form of recreational exercise aimed at children. Parents send their children to Taekwon-dojang for the exercise mostly, seeing as children are forced to spend so much of their time sitting and doing academic studies. At the Taekwon-dojang it is not unusual for them to play other exercise-games such as soccer as well. The emphasis is not in learning martial arts per se, but in getting fit and releasing pent up frustrations.

Since the general quality is therefore so elementary and one so often see children with black belts with poor abilities, it is nice to see those children that are truly talented and particularly keen martial artists. One example is the boy below, Seung Ahn Lee, who was a semi-finalist in Korea's Got Talent 2011. What he does is mostly martial acrobatics, but seeing as he is probably only six years old, it is very impressive, nonetheless.



Another example is WTF taekwondo prodigy Frederick Emil Olsen, who at the age of eight was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame last year, receiving the Youth Award. His talent and amazing (international) tournament track record, often competing against children much older than himself, makes him one of the greatest child athletes today. As is obvious from his name, he is not Korean, but Danish.



During the recent Annual General Meeting for the ITF Taekwon-Do group in my home country South Africa, an interesting decision was made. It was decided that children under the age of 12 years cannot receive the normal black belt, because it was argued that a young child cannot truly embody the qualities, both physically and mentally, that a black belt represents. Like WTF taekwondo here in Korea that awards a "children's black belt" for children, the SA-ITF have decided to do something similarly and also only award a local "children's black belt". Children that did get such a black belt, will have to do a re-evaluation when they become 12 years old, in order to be awarded the internationally recognised ITF 1st Dan black belt. I must say that I support this decision. Of course, if there is a child prodigy of the likes of young Mr. Olsen in South Africa we may need to make an exception, but even then keep in mind that a black belt not merely symbolises technical ability, but also a certain maturity and philosophical insight.

But back to the technical ability: ITF Taekwon-Do, with its "Art of Self-Defence"-focus, and in particularly in a country like South Africa where self-defence is indeed a necessity, cannot afford to slack technical standards, not even amongst children. In South Africa Taekwon-Do may have a recreational function, but considering the potentially violent context, martial arts in South Africa has a responsibility to equip their practitioners with actual defensive skills. A 1st degree black belt in South Africa must be equipped with a functional degree of self-defence ability. A black belt cannot merely resemble a fair knowledge of theory, the memorisation of some patterns, and an accepted period of training. South Africa's violent crime context necessitates more.

This is an important point, regarding "Little Black Belts" -- what is applicable in one context is not in another. Such young black belts in South Korea truthfully do not need much self-defence skill or knowledge. Children in South Africa, on the other hand, requires vigilance, a different type of self-defence awareness, knowledge of general self-preservation principles, and even some physical defensive ability appropriate to their age.