King of the Gypsies

More about Bartley Gorman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartley_Gorman

More about the film maker, Shane Meadows

http://www.shanemeadows.co.uk/

Chinese heritage of Tang Soo Do

This is to finish off the series of articles on the subject of the history and influences of Tang Soo Do. In the last article I focused much on the Japanese influences owing to the occupation of Korea by Japan (1905-1945) and the influence it had on Tang Soo Do: kata and framework of the style seem to have been drawn largely from karate. Contemporary Tang Soo Do differs in many ways from karate, notably with its acrobatic and powerful kicks and this is what I'll examine here.

Some official Tang Soo Do training manuals are swift to point out that this Korean art can trace its lineage back 2000 years and has particularly been developed by the Hwarang warriors. It's easy to see why this claim is made as the Hwarang were an elite fighting corps which unified a once fractured Korea. What I don't understand is how this claim can be substantiated given that the forms are of Japanese origin and many of the drills and combinations are also shared by Japanese and Okinawan styles. What is certain about Tang Soo Do is that the kicks used in this style are different from the Japanese styles. There are much more acrobatic kicks used and this, I feel, is where the indigenous Taekyyeon and Subak may have passed on some of their martial arts 'DNA'. 

Northern Chinese style Kung Fu must have influenced Korean martial arts such as Subak and indeed King Sunjo (1567-1608) took an interest in Chinese arts after having read a Ming dynasty martial arts manual by Chuk Kye-Kwang. He was so interested that he invited the Ming military officers to demonstrate their warring arts and the notes which were taken eventually became the Muye Jebo (Martial Arts Illustrations) which is seen as the benchmark of martial arts documentation in Korea. As well as technical aspects of martial arts the Chinese may well have passed on some of the Northern style of Kung fu with its high kicks, flowing movements and jumping techniques. This is said to come from a people who lived in the plains of China where horse communication was made easy by the lack of great mountain ranges or rivers to bar progress. Jumping techniques may have been developed to dislodge mounted warriors and the Korean arts were certainly influenced by the Chinese martial systems of the time.

Check out this impressive performance of Chang Quan - a Northern style of Kung Fu. It isn't Tang Soo Do but the kicking techniques seem closer than to karate. Even to the extent of the way this practitioner turns and flows into jumping and spinning techniques.

Groundhog day

One of my ideas for a theme of the month was "Groundhog month", a month where we focus almost exclusively on groundwork.  I have decided against it since I think that it is too much -- more on that below -- but tonight instead I tried out "Groundhog day", an occasional session (maybe once a month) with a groundwork focus.

After the warm-ups we skipped throws and did a few restraint-and-control techniques, most including a throwing component.  From there we went into a solid hour of groundwork:

• Offence: The first four immobilizations
• More offence: Immobilizations six through eight
• Theory: How control of the opponent's hips (and to a certain extent the shoulders) establishes dominance in groundwork
• Basic defence: A mount escape; two guard passes and a counter to a guard pass
• More defence: One-and-a-half counters to the first immobilization: kesa gatame (the scarf hold)

All of this was interspersed with short sessions of groundwork randori.

It went well.  Everyone had fun, no-one was hurt, much was learned, and the randori at the end of the class was much smoother and more dynamic than at the start.  The more experienced students appreciated the opportunity for concentrated work on one part of jiu-jitsu, and the new students made impressive progress.

So why "Groundhog day" rather than "Groundhog month"?  Long, circuitous answer ...

I think of Jiu-jitsu as having roughly the following breakdown:

• 30% throws
• 30% restraint and control
• 30% groundwork
• 10% special sauce: reflexive self-defence, striking techniques, weapons, etc.

Because my class is dominated by lower grades, I probably teach closer to 40-50% on throws.  Why?  Because throwing (and falling) teach most of the body movements characteristic of Jiu-jitsu, make for good self-defence, and develop positive physical attributes, all leading to a strong physical and technical foundation.

Now, here's the nub of the issue:  I reckon that it is easier to make faster apparent progress by focussing purely on groundwork than -- say -- purely focussing on throws or on restraint and control, let alone pursuing all three at once.  [Hello Brazilian Jiu-jitsu!]  With groundwork everything can be taught (and learned!) a little more statically than with throws, and there isn't as much fine detail as in the restraint and control.

But just because something is easier, doesn't mean we should let it dominate our approach.  In fact the opposite pertains.  In order to get evenness of development we need to spend coresspondingly more time on the more challenging -- but still valuable -- parts of the art.  Incidentally, that is exactly what judo founder Jigoro Kano recommended: He warned against the practitioner who, encouraged by relatively rapid progress in groundwork, neglects his or her standing techniques.  Instead he encouraged biasing deliberately towards standing techniques at the early stages of learning, and play catch up on groundwork technique later.

So there it is.  While I am intentionally devoting more time to throws in most classes, the occasional short, sharp burst of groundwork will allow us to catch up in that area from time to time.

Also: If you haven't seen the movie Groundhog Day, you should. I thoroughly recommend it.  Not that it has any particular relevance to this post, other than lending its catchy title.

Korean kicks (all through the night)

This is a post in reply to Dan Prager's comment here and follows on from my previous post about which kicks are used within hyung (forms) and drills and what proportion of drills are kicking based.

This is a very good point as traditionally Korean martial arts are heavily oriented to kicking techniques, notably high kicks and jumping and spinning techniques and this can sometimes be seen in competition Tae Kwon Do. Indeed whenever I have trained with the University Tae Kwon Do club all we seem to do is incredibly tiring kicking drills with jumps a-plenty. This influence on Korean martial arts is said to come from the Northern Chinese Kung Fu tradition of high, acrobatic kicking and high stances as opposed to the Southern styles which were more 'grounded'. (Following is cut from Wikipedia: "The main perceived difference about northern and southern styles [of Kung Fu] is that the northern styles tend to emphasize fast and powerful kicks, high jumps and generally fluid and rapid movement, while the southern styles focus more on strong arm and hand techniques, and stable, immovable stances and fast footwork.").

It has to be said though that Tang Soo Do is Korean 'karate' and effectively a traditional martial art with it's main heritage in Japanese karate. Karate's name was originally taken from the logograms for Kara and Te (唐手): China and hand. It was later (~1930s "a few years after I came to Tokyo...I was then able to suggest that the art be renamed" ref1) that Funakoshi changed the meaning to 'empty hand' (空手) for political and ideological purposes. Tang Soo also means China hand. 

So we see the semantics of the names but are the arts themselves similar? It's true that the core forms are very similar which I have outlined previously and I have trained with Japanese clubs and compared forms. One of the sensei actually noted that the version of the form I was doing seemed like an 'older' version which had since further developed in his style. It's certainly interesting to see how seeds are planted and grow into the same plant but with slightly different variants.

Tang Soo Do is a kicking-based karate but as it has it's roots firmly in the Japanese/Okinawan heritage there is a lot of traditional hand techniques to be practiced and this brings me directly to Dan's question: what is the proportion of hand/kicking combinations in drills outside of kata? The short answer is 70/30 kicks/hands. The longer answer is that it's a bit more complex. Often the combinations are mixed and after hand techniques there may be a period of combined hand and feet. 30% techniques in the class may be done from front stance (chungul ja sae) which lends itself to the hand combinations with a few kicks interspersed much like in the hyung. We then develop into kicking from back stance (hugul ja sae). Finally we'll practice jumping kicks and jump spinning kicks.

Tang Soo Do is a Korean martial art with strong traditions within Japanese karate, as the similarities of the original names imply. It does, however, hold on to some of the indigenous high, powerful and acrobatic kicking typified by Northern Chinese influences. This is reflected in the training: traditional forms, altered only slightly with higher kicks but more leg-based drills than traditional 'te' derived Japanese arts.

(ref1 p. 34. Karate-Do, My Way of Life, Gichin Funakoshi. Published by Kodansha, first paperback edition 1981)

Forms and their kicks

I read recently an interesting point put forward by Vince Morris in a book 'Karate Kata Applications' (Vince Morris and Aidan Trimble, Ebury Press) how the traditional kata don't incorporate many kicks which are widely practiced in modern karate such as roundhouse kick, reverse roundhouse, axe kick or back kick.

I thought, for fun, I'd run through the Korean forms to document which kicks are included. As I've discussed previously these are based on Japanese and in turn Okinawan forms.

Kicks used in Tang Soo do Hyungs

Pyung Ahn Cho Dan: No kick.

Pyung Ahn Ee Dan: Yup chagi, ahp chagi. (Side kick, front kick)

Pyung Ahn Sam Dan: Pahkeso ahnero chagi (Outside to inside kick.)

Pyung Ahn Sa Dan: Yup chagi, ahp chagi. (Side kick, front kick, knee strike.)

Pyung Ahn O Dan: Pahkeso ahnero chagi. (Outside to inside kick.)

Bassai: Yup chagi. (Side kick.)

Naihanchi Cho Dan: No kick.

Naihanchi Ee Dan: No kick.

Naihanchi Sam Dan: No kick.

Sip Soo: Pahkeso ahnero chagi (depending on the style of Tang Soo Do)

Morris further states that developing new forms with other variant kicks may be beneficial. 

Beautiful breakfalls from beautiful throws

I have discussed breakfalling and related drills and motivations in previous posts this month. This time I turn to breakfalling from actual throws. These tips assume that you have basic competence in breakfalling. As usual, don't try this stuff without expert supervision.

For example, in the image below we see uke being thrown in a hip throw. He is about to land on his side on the ground, and his whole body is curving in preparation, with his left hand and arm shaping to slap the mat to help dissipate the impact. His right hand is holding onto Tina's lapel to pull upwards against gravity, which will help take the edge off the throw; Tina holds his right sleeve with her left hand, which also helps.

The 1st hip throw: Uke goshi

Notes

• These tips are best learned through cooperative throwing practice. The principles behind them apply in other situations, but I think that it is far better to internalize first, analyze later.
• For visualization purposes the Judo fundamental grip is assumed: Right hand grips at the collar, left hand at the sleeve for both partners.

The Tips

1. Allow yourself to be thrown: If you prevent your partner from throwing you, you won't get to practice your breakfall. If your partner gets the throw despite resistance it is likely to be less smooth and more sudden, so you won't have as much time to breakfall, and your execution will be compromised.
2. If you fail to breakfall, or do a weak one, breakfall again before you get up: This reminds your body what it should have done in the first place. It is also more productive than negative self-talk.
3. Hold on with your non-breakfalling hand: This is possible on most throws where you are not projected away. It lessens the impact of the fall, provides you with a means to help control your descent, and later opens the door to counter-throws. Note: Against a much taller partner you will need to hold on lower down the lapel.
4. In hip throws, press your breakfalling palm to the back of your partner's left shoulder-blade as (s)he prepares to throw you: This pre-positions your breakfalling arm and stores a bit of energy by spring-loading it, setting you up for a good break-fall.
5. Watch how the higher grades do their breakfalls: Also feel how a more experienced partner breakfalls when you throw them. Emulate these models.
6. Look-out for areas that need improvement: Figure out which of the breakfalling drills can help fix the problem, and visualize fixing the problem when you next practice the relevant drill(s).

Finally, when you are throwing your partner, throw beautifully, so that your partner has every opportunity to execute a beautiful breakfall. The resulting totality will be a joy to watch.

Don't try this at home

I was pacing again. I'd missed two training sessions this week due to ill health. Well, it was a mild cold but you know how blokes are. So by about 7.30pm, once I'd put the kids to bed, I felt like stretching out a bit but felt too lazy for a run so I opted for a stroll around the block. Unusually for me I decided to pull out my ipod and pop it on for my jaunt which turned out to be a cool and dark evening.

On the way round I started texting a friend and we got into a text conversation which was fun. Trouble was I soon realised I was absorbed in a world of my own: deaf due to the music and blind due to the texting (looking into a shining bright light doesn't help your night vision).

Now I'm all for bringing martial training to everyday life but I didn't feel threatened: it's my neighbourhood which is fairly safe apart from the odd 'youff'. I remember reading on some MA forum how one guy only ever wore special elasticated jeans and trousers with sewn in gussets in his daily life just in case he was attacked so that his kicks wouldn't be hampered by tight trousers! I think this may be being a bit over zealous and I wasn't concerned that I could've been jumped at any moment!

So why the post? Well, here's the punchline of the story: as I was walking along in time to the music and happily texting my friend and thinking about that glass of Glenmorangie that was waiting for me at home I nearly walked into a hedge! And I don't mean a glancing blow, I mean I looked up from the mobile phone and my nose was a 30 cms away from a 6 foot hedge!

Der.

There're plenty of conclusions you can draw from that, my friends....