Week 5:The Vlog

Today I will be posting a vlog from last Saturday! Before going into the vlog, I want to introduce what happened. 

Yong Kum Kwan has 2 Dojangs(dojo in Korean); North Wales & Elkinspark. On Satruday 3/18/17 , our traditional North Wales vs Elkinspark Kumdo battle was held in North Wales (it was kind of lit). On this day I had to fight for Elkinspark even though I am supposed to be team North Wales... but they didn't have enough people. I will also introduce how the Dojang looks like for the first time on this blog !!!

Now, let's see the vlog.

The Interview

As you can see, this week I was able to interview my master with some questions that I had about Chosun Saebub. Master Kim is a 6 dan Kumdo master at U.S. Philadelphia Yong Kum Kwan. 

Sometimes he looks like this...

...aaaaand sometimes he looks like this

(he fixed his wall!)

Anyways, let's jump right into the interview as I ask him a few questions about Chosun Saebub.

Through this interview he clarified for me how training through Chosun Saebub is going to help me in my practice of Kumdo. I understood that even though the present might feel tedious and boring, later on it will greatly affect my forms and posture when I actually fight. Understanding the basics is the key to mastering anything. 

Once again, thank you Master Kim for the interview!

Week 4: 坦腹,豹頭,左夾

Welcome back! I've got some good news and bad news. The good news is that I've gotten through half of Chosun Saebub. Yay. The bad news is that I've gotten through half of Chosun Saebub. Wait, what.

The thing is that the more and more I learn, the more I'm getting confused and mixed up with different movements. For example, the 1st and 5th movements are very similar, and naturally those two are my least favorite.  Aren't you very excited.Sorry. Anyways, let's stop wasting your precious time and just jump right into the 4th, 5th, and 6th movements. 

P.S. There is always some educational value to everything, and for this project it seems like I will be learning at least 24 Chinese characters by the end of the month! (yay me) 

4.  坦腹 (Tan-bok)

 坦(Tan) means flat, and 腹(bok) is the abdomen. Combing these two characters together, the meaning is "Stabbing the opponent's abdomen at a flat level" Well, the meaning of the title of the movement is simply stabbing, but actually, after you stab your the abdomen you must slay it right after. When stabbing, the sword is slightly rotated to the left 45 degrees. Right after, raising the sword at the same angle it stabbed, you advance forward to slay the same part again. This is how it looks like. 

5. 豹頭 (Pyo-du)

豹(Pyo) means a leopard, and 頭(du) means head. Honestly, I have no clue what a leopard has to do with this movement, but that is what it means according to research. I might guess that this movement must be performed as fast(?) and fierce(?) as a leopard...? I tried. Anyways, this movement is very similar to the 1st movement, 擧鼎(Kuh-Jung), in a sense that it starts off by raising up and striking down the sword in big motion. The difference is that 豹頭 (Pyo-du) starts off with the right foot, and the sword stops at the level of the opponents knees, whereas Kuh-Jung stops at the level of the chest. After striking the sword on the opponent's head and splitting it in half (literally), you raise up the sword to your opponent's eye level, and come back to Jung-dan(holding up the sword at the level of my abdomen, and the end of the sword pointing to the opponents throat). If you did not understand many of that, it's fine. It's better to watch once than to listen a 100 times. 

6.  左夾 (Juah-hyub)

左(Juah) means left, and 夾(hyub) means to put on. Thus 左夾 (Juah-hyub) means to put the sword on the left waist. 

INTERESTING FACT:脇 is a word that means left waist...and it is read as "hyub"... hmm, I wonder what else is read as hyub? That's right, 夾(hyub) of 左夾 (Juah-hyub) sounds the same!!! Cough, tonal language, cough cough. (S/O Nina Zhang). So honestly, 左 脇 can mean the same meaning as 左夾 because both means "to put the sword on the left waist"

Alright, let's get back on track. Basically, this movement starts off by drawing the sword at putting it on the left waist, and stabbing the opponents abdomen. Then, the left foot advances N45W degrees, the sword rotating the same direction simultaneously, and slaying the opponent. Again, it's better to watch me than to listen to me. 

Final Product:  坦腹,豹頭,左夾

That was another productive week! Next week sometime I will be introducing Yong Kum Kwan, and my master! See ya.

Week 3: 擧鼎 , 跨左, 跨右

Back again with Chongwoo's second week learning Chosun Saebub! Please be excited... or at least pretend to be

(cries)

Unless you are Nina or Jasmine (and many other Chinese(?) friends), you must be wondering what in the world you are reading in the title above. Well, they are the names of the first 3 movements of Chosun Saebub. Further explanations of the specific details for Chosun Saebub will be posted on an additional blog post, so make sure to check that out later. Anyways, this week I have managed to learn 擧鼎(Kuh-Jung), 跨左(Kwa-Juah), and 跨右(Kwa-Woo). Let's see how each of them look like.

1. 擧鼎(Kuh-Jung)

擧(Kuh) means 'to lift' and 鼎(Jung) means 'pot lid' Essentially, the basic concept of the motion of 擧鼎 is to lift up the sword and slay the opponent vertically. With the left foot advancing forward, the right hand draws the sword and lifts it up (as if lifting up the pot lid) above the head. Then, the right hand follows to grab the sword, and right foot advances forward as the sword strikes down drawing a big circular trajectory. 

2. 跨左(Kwa-Juah)

跨(Kwa) means 'to go over' and 左(Juah) means 'left' This movement avoids the strike of an opponent from the left and slays his body, and turns back forward and slays in diagonal motion two times. In the beginning, the left foot turns slightly to the left as the sword is drawn, and as that happens the strike from the left is blocked. Immediately after the opponent's sword slides off mine, I twist the sword and slay the opponent from right to left in 45 degrees. Then, the body turns forward to slay the opponent two times 45 degrees. As the movement is finished, the right hand switches its position on the handle to hold it from the above, and performs a reverse withdrawal. 

3.  跨右(Kwa-Woo)

跨(Kwa) means 'to go over' and 右(woo) means 'right' As an opponent is attempting to strike from the right, I cut his wrist and slay his body, and turn back forward to slay the opponents body horizontally. opposite from 跨左, the right foot turns right as the sword is drawn to immediately cut the opponent's wrist from left to right. Then the tip of the sword turns as the right hand finds the sword, and cuts the body of the opponent 45 degrees from left to right. Finally, the sword flips over and the left foot turns forward, to cut the opponent's body horizontally. Again, a reverse withdrawal is performed. 

Final

There are so many errors I must fix for not only during the genius project but also for a long time after. I learned that it will take countless repetition/practice in order for myself to naturally perform these movements. Also, I cannot use a real sword to practice due to my inexperience and for safety. Getting used to using a real sword will also be a huge challenge. 

Next week I'll be back with an interview with my master, a more detailed description of the whole story about Chosun Saebub, and of course, the 4th 5th and 6th movements. That's it for today, but don't be too depressed, I'll come back next week!