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.”
In this essay, I’d like to appropriate an idea from the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan to understand martial arts practice. One of Lacan’s pivotal ideas, which crystallized over many years, is that of the Imaginary-Symbolic-Real. I believe that this idea could function as a good framework to think about the martial arts, similar to previous frameworks I’ve used, such as the Musul-Muye-Mudo paradigm and the low variables to high variables (or abstract to concrete, or low-resolution to high-resolution) sparring drill paradigm. An assumption in this essay is that the ultimate goal of a martial art is preparation for surviving real violence; i.e. self-defence. There are of course many other goals that martial art systems may have, which were not taken into account in this essay. Also keep in mind that my discussion of Lacan’s ideas is cursory and is adapted to my discussion of the martial arts; for a more in-depth explanation of Lacan’s Imaginary-Symbolic-Real I recommend further reading. (This YouTube-video gives a good introduction.)
(Please note that this essay is in the process of being expanded into an academic article, and may therefore not be copied.)
Imaginary
Imaginary refers to how we imagine ourselves and others to be.
Lacan’s idea of the Imaginary is equated with the mirror stage in child development, when an infant (between about 6 months and 18 months of age) starts to recognize that it is the object it sees in the mirror. This, the psychoanalysts argued, is when the Ego is formed, and resonates with Freud’s concept of Identification. The child looks up at its parents and siblings and identify in them an ideal Ego, a kind of future Ego it hopes to become. The “mirror” can therefore be understood symbolically, so that there need not be an actual mirror; the child may see themselves “reflected” in other children or elders. In his later thought, Lacan did not restrict the mirror-stage only to the infant but extended it into adulthood.
I propose that in the martial arts, the Imaginary is the image we have about what a martial artist is—what someone who is practicing martial arts is like. Note that I’m emphasizing both the act of martial arts (object) and the person engaging in martial arts (subject).
In modern times, this image is highly influenced by popular media. The “image” of a martial artist may be based on the myths of the Zen-like samurai, the Shaolin monk-warriors, and characters in film: Daniel Larusso and Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid, Jean-Claude Van Damme’s depictions of Frank Dux and Kurt Sloane, the many characters played by Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, and more recent action stars the likes of Tom Hardy and Jason Statham. Of course, the imagined martial artist need not stay within the realm of Hollywood and Chinese cinema but can also be based on combat sport athletes from WWE to UFC. Finally, for most martial arts initiates, their most immediate image of what a martial artist is, is often their personal martial art instructors (and seniors). It is not for naught that the Korean term for instructor (sabeomnim) literally translates as a teacher to be imitated (literally: “teacher-model”).
A screen-grab from the action-fantasy kungfun film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny
In all these cases, we have a type of idealization of the “martial artist.” In other words, a fantasy. Sometimes martial art instructors (“masters” and “grandmasters”) may unfortunately promote the fantasy of themselves, but often it is simply the students who idealize their instructors. This idealization results from perceiving, and correctly so, the big gap between their own skill level compared to the level of their instructors. The “gap,” which at first may seem quite insurmountable, causes the student to put the instructor on a pedestal. The imaginary ideal functions as a goal to strife for, and while it may be a fantasy, it is not wholly bad. Fantasies are inspirational, hence martial arts philosopher Allan Back, at a Taekwon-Do conference, presented a paper in favour of the myths in martial arts. The fantasy of flying martial artists fighting while airborne in Oriental myths and legends, as well as in cinema, may have been the inspiration behind the development of spectacular aerial kicks seen in Taekwon-Do demonstrations and such as competitions as the Red Bull Kick It extravaganzas.
There is, of course, the danger that the fantasy may be mistaken for reality. Many new martial artists are lured into taking up a martial art by Hollywood depictions of a lone hero single-handedly beating up a gang with hardly a bruise, or other impossible feats. Such a false sense of prowess is naively dangerous.
Real
On the other end of the spectrum is Lacan’s Real. It is a bit tricky to give a simple definition of what Lacan meant by the Real, but for our purposes I propose we understand it simply as that which objectively is, before any interpretation. In other words, reality before it is filtered by our senses and worldviews. This means that the Real is never fully knowable, because our subjective interpretation skews objective reality. Furthermore, the Real is too complex to be fully understood.
For our discussion on martial arts, we will refer here to what happens during a real combative encounter: What is a real fight like? How do trained practitioners really act during a violent encounter? How do untrained people act in these situations? How is the human nervous system affected by stress and adrenaline during a violent conflict? How are muscle control and coordination affected during a life-threatening encounter? How is competition fighting different from street fighting strategically and psychologically? How is a dual (street fight, squabble at the pub, brawl on the playground) different from a predatory criminal attack on an unsuspecting civilian?
A victim of a necklacing -- burnt alive Image Source
Many of these questions can be—to some degree—studied and there are professionals in military, security, and defence occupations who have taken the pains to research such questions. The problem remains, however, that even when we have analyzed the data, the subjective “lived” experience is different from person to person, and from violent encounter to violent encounter. One simply can’t predict all the variables that come into play during a violent encounter. One can’t know when exactly you will be attacked, whether the floor will be hard or slippery, whether it will be dark, whether there will be weapons involved, how many attackers you will face. At best we can hope for an approximation of likely possibilities.
Symbolic
Lacan’s Symbolic refers to all the societal institutions and systems that are in place to fulfil the Imaginary and attempt to bridge the gap towards the Real. For example, in a country that sees itself as a safe democracy, such systems may include the government and judiciary that ensures regular elections. In the Natural Sciences it is the theories and hypotheses used to try and explain natural phenomena.
In the martial arts context, I propose that the Symbolic is the martial arts system. The martial arts system functions as a paradigm for understanding and preparing for the Real. The system ought to help disillusion the martial arts initiate from the Imaginary. As the practitioner is training in the martial arts system, they learn to distinguish between the Imaginary and the possible Real. They learn that the cinematic depictions of martial arts are often simply fantasy. Yet, they also realize that the amazing abilities of their instructors are not supernatural, but the result of hard, persistent, and very long training.
Conclusion
In summary, a good martial art system has several important functions.
First, it dispels the falsehoods of the Imaginary. Whenever a martial art system promotes false ideas of what a real violent encounter is like, or even impractical strategies for fighting, it is failing to dispel falsehoods in the Imaginary.
Second, however, a good martial art system engages the Imaginary in a productive way to inspire the student to grow beyond themselves (their current physical ability) towards an ideal. Mastery in the martial arts may result in a practitioner doing feats that appear fantastical; however, this the result of years of hard work and dedication. When a practitioner sees their instructors do such skills, it can inspire the practitioner to want to achieve the same level as the instructor. Therefore, the Imaginary has an important motivating function.
Third, a good martial art system provides a path for preparing for the Real. There should be a proper pedagogy (syllabus) in place that can guide the practitioner from being completely unprepared for real violence, to be reasonably prepared for the Real. Being absolutely prepared for the Real is impossible, because the Real is impossible to fully predict and comprehend. Even the most experienced combatant does not have a 100% success rate all the time. A real fight is simply too chaotic and unpredictable. Nevertheless, one can prepare to improve your chances as much as humanly possible. A good martial arts system should have a progressive syllabus that aims towards the most likely success. (Consider my essay on a pedagogy that progresses from low variables-high abstraction to high variables-low abstraction.)
Finally, because it is impossible to definitively prepare for the Real, the ultimate training goal is a type of unattainable idealism. This is where the Imaginary plays an important function. The Imaginary provides an idealistic goal—that goal for perfection of technique that is striven for in traditional martial arts. Without this strive towards an ideal, the martial artist could never aim high enough to prepare for the impossibility of the Real. Preparing for the Real is impossible and achieving the perfection projected by the Imaginary is also impossible. Yet it is the strive towards the Imaginary, the strive towards an impossible ideal, that best prepares the martial artist for the Real.
The ultimate goal of pre-arranged sparring is to drill two important skills: attaining superior positioning and simultaneous defence-and-attack (SD&A). Acquiring the ability to always attain superior positioning and apply simultaneous defence-and-attack is no easy task, and requires a systematic learning schema, which will be the topic of this post.
Let’s start by discussing the value of superior positioning and of simultaneous defence-and-attack in turn. Although I think it is obvious why we need to practise these skills, it may be worth it to just review these concepts in case you may not be familiar with them since the ITF Encyclopaedia sadly doesn't discuss them in detail. Nevertheless, they are part and parcel of the ITF Taekwon-Do pedagogy and their importance is touched upon in the ITF Encyclopaedia.
The concept of positioning is often discussed under the concepts of “distance and angle” in ITF Taekwon-Do. Good positioning should do two things: take you off of the opponent's line of attack, and position you so that you can perform an easy and effective counter-attack that doesn't require any further set-up (i.e. no additional steps or positioning adjustment required). We call this advantageous positioning, in which you have both avoided the attack—you are not on the line of attack—and you are in a position for economical and effective counter-attack. Although there is much value in advantageous positioning, the ultimate aim of ITF Taekwon-Do is not merely advantageous positioning, but superior positioning (or a “position of superiority” as it is referred to in one instance in the ITF Encyclopaedia). Superior positioning has you in an advantageous position, but also has your opponent in a disadvantageous position. If your appoint is in a disadvantageous position, it means that he cannot easily attack you from that position and is so positioned that he cannot easily defend against attacks towards openings in his defence. If you have superior positioning you have the advantage of being in a relatively safe position with regards to your opponent and you also have easy access to certain of your opponents vital spots, while your opponent is in a disadvantaged position and will find it relatively difficult to protect his openings and perform immediate counter-attacks without repositioning.
Now let’s look at the concept of simultaneous defence-and-attack. A (self-defence) scenario is usually considered to have two participants: the attacker and the defender. From the very start, the attacker has the advantage because he has the element of surprise and has taken the initiative—he is in control of the action as he is the acting agent. In other words, the defender is re-acting and is therefore innately one-step behind the attacker’s action. Consider the following thought experiment: two people engage in a fight, but each are allowed only one “technique” per move. The attacker’s first move is to attack with a punch. The defender’s first move is in reaction to the attacker’s attack, so he defends the attacker’s punch with a forearm block. The attacker is allowed to perform his second move and now he kicks towards the defender, who in turn blocks the kick with his second move, and so on. In this scenario the defender will always be “defending,” and it is highly likely that the defender will eventually fail at appropriately blocking an attack and will get hit. While this hypothetical situation is very stylized (and is quite similar to the basic forms of pre-arranged step-sparring), it retains the essence of what often happens in a fight between an “attacker” and a “defender.” The solution to this problem is to switch the roles from being the re-active defender to becoming a defending-attacker, who no longer acts re-actively, but takes control of the action. The method for switching those roles is simultaneous defence-and-attack (SD&A).
Unfortunately the ITF Encyclopaedia doesn't provide a single term for both superior positioning and SD&A. Thankfully, in a recent blog post Rory Miller, a renowned self-defence instructor, discussed similar concepts that he combined under the term “Golden Move.” According to Mr. Miller, a Golden Move should (1) injure the threat, (2) protect yourself, (3) improve your position, and (4) worsen the threats position. These are all the things I spoke about above, but succinctly summarised. With a bow to Rory Miller I will henceforth apply his “Golden Move” term to refer to ITF Taekwon-Do's goal of superior positioning and SD&A.
As I mentioned earlier, consistently applying the Golden Move takes great skill; therefore, the ITF Taekwon-Do system—when properly taught—uses pre-arranged sparring drills to guide the practitioner along a path towards that goal. [Read my related post: "Prearranged Sparring: Definition, Purpose, and Value".]
At the lowest level is the first pre-arranged sparring drill: three-step sparring. This basic drill is used to make the defender aware of simple martial art concepts such as the attack line and centre line. The attacker attacks the defender with three—usually linear—attacks towards the defender's centre line, while giving three steps along the straight attack line. The defender is expected to defend against each attack towards his centre line with a basic block. This is the basic level where the practitioner starts to learn about simple attacks and choosing appropriate blocking tools to defend against attacks.
The beginner is also introduced to simple distances of attack-and-defence and at this level much focus is placed on keeping an appropriate safe distance between attacker and defender. Only the most elementary consideration is given to positioning at this stage. The defender is instructed to use the normal retreat reflex, to simply step backwards, away from the attacker’s attacks. However, the defender must maintain a close enough distance in order to apply a simple counter-attack towards the opponent's centre line after the three-step attack is completed. These various initial principles become the building blocks from which the Golden Move will later be taught. After several months of three-step sparring, the practitioner moves on to two step sparring which is introduced at the 7th grade level.
In two step sparring there is usually still no SD&A; however, the attack lines become more diverse as a greater variety of attacks are introduced. For instance, the attacker might attack with a straight punch and then follow up with a turning kick, which has a different attack trajectory. Such changes in the attack lines forces the defender to transition away from positioning based solely on the retreating-reflex. The defender should now also make use of side-steps and other foot-shifting techniques to not only get off of the attack line, rather than merely retreating, but also stay within an appropriate distance from the attacker in order to be able to launch an effective counter-attack. Emphasis is on advantageous positioning. Again, after an adequate time of two-step sparring practice, the practitioner moves on to one-step sparring, while still reviewing two-step sparring.
One-step sparring is introduced at 6th grade level. It is in this drill where the practitioner will eventually transition from mere advantageous positioning practice to superior positioning. Initially the attack is still first blocked and then followed up with a counter-attack towards a vital spot immediately afterwards. However, after some training there also occurs a transition from this segmented defence followed by a counter-attack to actual SD&A; for instance doing a block and a counter-attack at the very same time. A typical example may look as follows: the attacker throws a right punch towards the defender. The defender steps at a 45° angle towards the inside of the attacking arm, and performs a simultaneous fore-arm block with his left arm, and strikes with his right elbow towards the attacker's left temple. While such a defence is good, it is not yet a Golden Move because being on the inside of the attacker means that he can relatively easily defend against your attack and can also easily counter-attack. Another response to the attacker's punch may be to step to the outside of the attacker's right punch, and this time blocking his arm with the right forearm and doing a simultaneous counter-attack with a left elbow strike. In this scenario, since you are on the outside of the attacker and it is much more difficult for him to defend and counter-attack, the defender has achieved a Golden Move.
It is in one-step sparring where the Golden Move in various manifestations is most pertinently practised, and it is therefore the reason why it is the most frequently practised step-sparring drill by higher level Taekwon-Do practitioners. There exists many variations of one-step sparring to increase the difficulty of this exercise. For instance, the initial attack may be completely unscripted, and also the attacker need not stand in front of the defender, but start the attack from any position, such as from the defender's flank or even rear.
A quick side-note with regards to the idea of SD&A. There might be an erroneous assumption that SD&A means that the move should always include an actual simultaneous block with a counter-attack, but this is not necessarily the case. The “defence” in SD&A need not be a block, but can simply be some form of foot-shifting, side-step or dodge that clears your body of the attack. “Protect yourself,” to use Rory Miller's term, can of course mean to literally block the attack, but it can also mean to simply move out of the way of the attack. An example of such a SD&A against someone doing a front kick towards you might be a dodging turning kick—the dodge functions as the defence that gets you off of the attack line, while at the same time allowing for a counter-attack (the turning kick). SD&A involving such dodging techniques, or even flying techniques, are often practised by higher level practitioners.
While one-step sparring is a pinnacle drill because it focuses on the Golden Move, it’s limit on the number of attacks (i.e. just one step, and attack) that the attacker can perform is unrealistic.
To move beyond this limitation there are two additional “dynamic context” drills. The one, which is not so common any more, is known as pre-arranged free sparring. An example is one-step free sparring: there is still an initial attack by the attacker against which the defender has to perform SD&A, but if superior positioning is not attained—in other words, if the opponent is not at a disadvantaged position—then the attacker is at liberty to also defend and counter-attack, to which the defender should then re-establish superior positioning and apply SD&A. The earlier step sparring drills can also be practised as dynamic context drills and instructors often create different dynamic context drills depending on the principle they want their students to practise.
The other more common dynamic context drill in ITF Taekwon-Do is known as semi-free sparring, and is introduced at 5th grade level. Semi-free sparring doesn’t have any pre-arranged number of steps (attacks) that the attacker is confined to. The drill is concluded once the defender has performed a proper counter-attack. Semi-free sparring is most valuable when the defender focuses on the Golden Move. Unfortunately, since many people are not properly taught to progressively work towards striving for the Golden Move, their semi-free sparring becomes simply a form of point sparring, resembling tournament sparring, rather than a self-defence drill. It is the case that semi-free sparring is indeed used as a transition exercise in preparation for tournament sparring. While there is nothing wrong with using semi-free sparring as a stepping-stone for tournament sparring, the original purpose as a self-defence preparation drill must not be neglected.
Finally, of course, is free sparring (aka traditional sparring) that is traditionally introduced at 4th grade level. (Free sparring is not to be confused with tournament sparring.) Free sparring has very little prescriptions, and allows both attacker and defender a full arsenal of techniques for attack and defence. Free sparring is a very important drill, however it is not to be confused as an actual self-defence drill because it assumes that both fighters have “agreed” to the dual. There is therefore no “defender,” defending herself against an assailant. This doesn’t mean that free sparring doesn’t contribute much to the progressive learning curve of the practitioner. Because free sparring has the least amount of restrictions and the most amount of chaos, it does resemble a real combative encounter better than most step sparring drills. It therefore requires the practitioners to constantly improvise over an extended period of time—whereas the step sparring drills hampers such continuous need for improvisation.
Nevertheless, the step sparring drills, and particularly one-step sparring, represent the ideal that the martial arts strive for, namely the Taoist goal of efficacy, often promoted as the idea that a single technique (the Golden Move) should effectively end the conflict; or as the ITF Encyclopaedia puts it: “the ultimate goal of Taekwon-Do in real combat is to win the victory with just a single seasoned blow” (Vol. 5, p. 108). Related Reading:
Recently there was a poll on a Taekwon-Do Facebook group that I belong to that asked whether or not practitioners view the ITF (Chang Hon) patterns to be more involved with “artistic expression” or more to do with “self-defence skills”. When I responded that it has more to do with combat than creative expression, some members were quite surprised. After all, I have argued both here on my blog and in print that I do not believe that the ITF patterns are combative manuals. I have also claimed that the ITF patterns were indeed composed with certain aesthetic principles in mind, and even that parts of it have symbolic value, not solely combative value. Since people found my answer to the poll surprising, I explained my position there, and decided now to post my explanation with some amendments below:
With regards to the patterns being “artistic expressions,” I do not believe the performance of the ITF patterns is like a dance performance. Firstly, during dancing the purpose of dancing is in fact dancing, while for the patterns, their purpose is not “performance.” Some people may indeed practise the patterns only for performing them at competitions, but the patterns were not composed for the purpose of competition. A sport focus is something that only came in much later and is a secondary or peripheral usage of the patterns.
Rather, the patterns function as one of several aspects in the ITF pedagogy that teach particular skills. In other words, the patterns function as a type of drill—as a training tool to teach particular skills, of which the ultimate aim is self-defence. (Note, I’m not saying the patterns are self-defence skills; instead they add to the skill set that can contribute towards self-defence.)
Secondly, in the case of dance, dancers usually have lots of artistic freedom to creatively express themselves. This is not the case for the ITF patterns. They have a very specific number of motions, and require a specific way of movement. The patterns are artistic expressions, but only in a limited way for the performers. Instead, they are the artistic expression of their author(s)—or to use dance terminology, their choreographer(s), which in this case is General Choi and his helpers that composed the Chang-Hon patterns. When we perform the patterns, we are in a manner of speaking merely repeating the motions prescribed to us by a choreographer. Or to use poetry as an example, we are merely reciting poems of a great poet; we are not the poets ourselves. I don’t think the patterns lend themselves that much to personal artistic expression. Of course, someone reciting a poem can in a limited way creatively express him or herself through, for
instance, vocal inflections, dramatic pauses, word stresses, and so on. Similarly, one can have some creative expression in the ITF patterns, but they are limited. Someone reciting a poem is not composing it, but merely repeating it. This is the same for performing the patterns. There are other Taekwondo groups who do what is known as “creative
forms” that may indeed cross over into personal composition; however, ITF
Taekwon-Do does not have this as part of its pedagogy or competitions.
(ITF Taekwon-Do does have a self-defence demonstration category at
championships, which may relate to this idea of creative expression, but
which I will leave for another discussion.)
Other drills, such as one-step sparring, allow for much more personal artistic expression. There is not much room (i.e. freedom) for creativity while performing the Chang-Hon patterns. I’m much more creative while doing sparring.
The following is a paragraph from a related article of mine that was published in Totally Tae Kwon Do: “Dr. Bruce D. Clayton argues in his book Shotokan's Secret that: “Karate kata are combatives manuals, which contain no poetry” and that the kata are without “symbolism” (p. 197). This is definitely not the case for the ITF patterns. While I am convinced that there is much we can learn about ways of moving (kinaesthetics) and even some fighting strategies and self-defence application, the ITF patterns offer another, albeit less tangible, contribution—in that the patterns do indeed contain poetry and symbolism, and are used as a vehicle for the transmittal of Oriental philosophical principles, and Korean history and culture. They are also to be understood as mediums for artistic expression.”
Unlike Karate’s kata which are “combatives manuals” and wholly without “symbolism,” according to Dr Clayton, it is undeniable that the Chang-Hon Taekwon-Do Tul do indeed have symbolism and that certain aesthetic elements were considered in their composition. The floor plan of a number of the patterns are based on Chinese characters, for instance; and some patterns have symbolic starting or ending positions. In this way, the Chang-Hon patterns are like poetic compositions. They were designed with aesthetic concepts, such as symbolic meaning, in mind.
I’m getting the sense that some people feel uncomfortable with that idea, as if the inclusion of aesthetic concepts such as symbolism somehow distract from the patterns. That is a faulty understanding of what a symbol is. For example, a red rose has the symbolic meaning of romantic love. The fact that the rose symbolizes romantic love doesn’t make it any less a rose. “A rose is a rose is a rose.” The fact that a punch with a left fist at the end of a Chang-Hon pattern symbolizes tragedy doesn’t mean that it does not still function as a punch. Yes, the patterns are poetry that include symbolism, but the “vocabulary” of the patterns remain offensive and defensive techniques. “A punch is a punch is a punch,” to reference Bruce Lee. In other words: a punch may be more than a punch—it may be a punch that symbolise something abstract such as tragedy—but in the end it is still a punch.
Furthermore, understanding the patterns as poetry, rather than combative manuals, allow us interpretive freedom. A manual is specific with usually just one result. When you follow the instruction manual for putting a table together, there is no room for interpretation of the instructions. You have to follow the instructions in only one way, otherwise your table will not be stable. On the other hand, a poem is open to interpretation. Different people can come to different possible “answers” when interpreting a poem. Some answers are more plausible than others, but seldom is there only one ultimate answer. When we look at patterns and deduce self-defence applications from them, we are busy with poetic interpretation. In other words, people like Stuart Anslow that explicate particular self-defence applications from certain parts of the Chang-Hon patterns are busy with interpretation—not unlike one would interpret a line from a poem—rather than simply taking the obvious application from the ITF Encyclopaedia, which would be a following-an-instruction-manual approach.
To summarise, when I say that the patterns are not combative manuals and therefore not fully developed self-defence “lessons,” and when I mention that the patterns do have creative and symbolic value, I do not by this mean that the patterns have no eventual combative value, nor that they are akin to dance performances. Taekwon-Do defines itself as the “Korean Art of Self-Defence”—and so ultimately all parts of the Taekwon-Do pedagogy contributes towards the goal of self-defence. The patterns are merely one of several tools in the ITF pedagogy that contributes towards self-defence skill. Understanding that they are a tool that contribute to a self-defence skill set, rather than actual self-defence practise, provide us with three important realizations: Firstly, we can acknowledge that the patterns are not realistic representations of a real combative encounter. Secondly, now that we are not under the dangerous illusion that we are somehow engaged in real fighting, we can safely use the patterns as a training tool to practise certain skills for which the patterns are ideally suited, like kinaesthetics. And finally, acknowledging that the patterns are “poetry in motion,” we have the freedom to interpret them for different purposes. For example, some parts of a pattern might be used to practise certain skills as part of a dynamic context drill, or as the catalyst for a self-defence drill, or for practicing specific footwork. In other words, the patterns provide material for training different skills.
