Introduction
When you analyze what you are doing in your forms, you will no doubt encounter a bias pigeonholing you into thinking about what your technique is.
Have you ever wondered what you are blocking with a rising/high block? What kind of bad guy is going to attack you with a technique requiring you to use a high block? Either, the person is empty handed and wants to pound the hell out of you, or, they are armed – knife, bottle, stick, bat, etc.
Analysis Context
Before we get to answering that question, lets put things into context. Thinking of the early-belt forms, what stance are you typically in when you are performing a high block?
Yes, you are always in a front/forward stance. And what does that tell you?
Yes, you are squarely facing your opponent. And what are we supposedly blocking with the high block?
Yes, our wrist is facing our opponent. That is, the part where all of the arteries and nerves are otherwise protected by the ulna by being tucked into the body.
What’s Wrong With Common Analysis
Now, let’s look at what’s wrong with this picture.
When the attacker is attacking us empty handed, that seems very unrealistic. After all, shouldn’t we assume worst case we’re being attacked with a weapon of sorts? And in that case, how would our form change?
It seems unnatural to me to have someone coming at me with an empty-handed strike; at a minimum, a haymaker seems more natural for the untrained fighter. To the trained fighter, I’d say the chances of a downward empty-handed pounding is about zero.
Weapons
So an attacker with a downward strike is more likely to have a weapon. For the urban legend that we’re blocking a downward strike to be true, I would think that a bottle, club, 2×4, a baseball bat, or some such weapon were being used. I’d even suggest a knife might be used, although likely not by a skilled user.
Self-Injury
Recall that our wrist is facing the opponent The upper ulna, right at the styloid process, is being used for the purpose of the block. What do you think will happen when said ulna meets weapon?
Yeah – you gonna get a fracture.
And what if the weapon is a knife?
Yeah – you gonna get cut. You will bleed out in about 10-15 minutes. Long before that happens, it’s going to hurt to the point you won’t be able to focus on the attacker.
Stances
And now I have to bring about the stance. Up until now, the attacks have assumed to have been with the same side hand, and a single-handed strike. That does NOT preclude the attacker from being able to use his other hand. He can still punch, grab, or stab. We need to be mindful of that other hand. Prudence dictates we need to get out of the way. And that front stance does nothing to further that objective.
The Other Hand
And what are you doing with your other hand?
Ah, the infamous “chamber”. Lemme guess: you were told it was a way to make the high block stronger, right? Because of something about the “opposing muscles” in the chest? That’s where one action is running in the opposite direction of the other, somehow increasing your power.
LOL
You have my permission to LOL in front of any Sabumnim who preaches this crap.
So I said all that to say this: I said all that because we made the presumption we’re blocking something. Why?
Because we called it a “high block”.
That name gave us a bias. We were biased into thinking we were trying to block something. Just because of the name. As a result, we invented a scenario whereby we blocked something.
Thinking Outside Of The Box
Imagine this defense scenario. You are in a forward stance, and are quickly rising a closed fist with one hand and quickly pulling back with the other.
Now our options open widely. We can now imagine our technique as striking someone in the face whilst the chamber hand pulls him forward (or us closer), or maybe the chamber is preventing the attacker from using a weapon. Or maybe we’re jerking the opponent in such a way to make the attack/strike to the head more effective – the jolt momentarily stuns or off-balances the opponent while the rising fist strikes the opponent.
This is but one scenario that could be imagined; but you might ask, “well what if the opponent really is using a baseball bat?”. My answer to you, then, would be to use a different technique: your high block is going to be ineffective against a bat. I’d be going out on a limb here, but that would be my thinking.
The Rules
We’ll cover the specifics of each technique later, but for now let’s set up some rules:
#1 Don’t name your techniques
Instead, use them in terms of a description. Our analysis gets wordy after a while. But when we use the word block “block”, it suggests a singular use of the technique.
#2 Blocks are, well, not really blocks
This stems from rule #1, of course. But this rule emphasizes that blocks are more likely to be a grappling technique or a strike, rather than a block. Consider that the shape of the movement has some grappling application. If you can’t find a grappling application, then if it makes sense, it’s a strike. But don’t give up on the grappling. A “mountain block”, “hinge block”, or “inside block” are definitely not strikes.
#3 Don’t be afraid to look to Japanese bunkai for your Korean bunhae
Bunkai and bunhae are spelled the same way in Chinese characters, so it stands to reason that when Japanese and Korean readers see the phrase spelled that way, they’re thinking of the same concept: analysis.
We also know that Taekwondo poomsae has had heavy influence from Karate kata. In fact, you’ll see a huge similarity between techniques seen in Palgwe forms and Shotokan Karate kata. Don’t let your sabumnim lead you astray: many refuse to acknowledge Karate’s influence to Taekwondo. But if you follow the history, you find the understandable denial is related to the Japanese occupation of Korea. As a result of the Korean liberation, they’ve cleansed themselves from Japanese culture. In Taekwondo, that was no different. The history there is for another post, but suffice to say that Japanese influence is often denied or is only briefly acknowledged.
There is a ton of bunkai in Japanese karate, so, if you’re having trouble with a specific technique, it’s okay to step outside the style.
#4 Taekwondo is a newly and wholly invented system
Compared to other styles, it is relatively new, having been born in the early 1950’s. Yes, I know all about the Koguryo, Paekje, and Silla dynasties… they are always the go-to talking points whenever a traditionalist Sabumnim is asked about Taekwondo history.
Poomsae Evolution
The truth is, Taekwondo is only 70 years old, and it has undergone three evolutions of its poomsae in the Kukkiwon style.
The original Kukkiwon series of Poomsae was called Palgwe, and some say these poomsae are near copies from Shotokan karate.
The next evolution was the Taeguek series of poomsae, although, they kept the yudanja (black belt) forms.
The third iteration is born from World Taekwondo, is a confusing mess to describe. The organization created 10 new competition poomsae, with a single pilot poomsae called “Bikkak”, later the name and content changed to “Bikak”, then “Bee-gak Il jang”, “Bee-gak Ee Jang”, and “Bee-gak Sam Jang”. But these are only a few of the names of the forms in the series. The official names of the forms are Himchari, Yamang, Saebyeol, Nareusya, Bigak, Eoullim, Saeara, Hansol, Narae, and Onnuri.
Where’s The Bunhae?
The Taeguek forms are arguably invented to be basic with elements derived from Palgwe, but likely not with the idea of bunhae in mind. In other words, they are just a string of basic movements stitched together without any thought of application. The official Kukkiwon textbook does not cover in any detail about the applications within the poomsae, and so, it stands to reason that they do not place any real value into forms. Whether that is due to ignorance, bias, a new concept, or altogether something else, I have no idea.
Nevertheless, don’t expect any breadth of applications to come out of the Taeguek or Yudanja (or even Palgwe) forms. As a result, you will occasionally have to take liberties (read: get creative) about where the form ends and where applications begin.
The same is true for the Chang Hon set of forms seen in ITF. Gen Choi had no love of the Japanese, either, and his theory on forms was not at all in alignment with Shotokan Karate bunkai, and indeed, there are very few discussions of applications described in his Encyclopedia. In fact, some are quite comical even if the presentation is dead-pan serious.
#5 The form is not a complete sequence to be used in a self-defense scenario
This is reminiscent of the Saturday afternoon Hong Kong Kung Fu movies from the Shaw Brothers. There, one learns a style by completely learning a taolu (Chinese poomsae / hyung / kata, a word from which the Korean “tul” derives and is commonly used in ITF).
But here in Taekwondo (and Karate, and true Kung Fu), only one or two movements are used in a specific attack, there just happens to be many attacks presumed.
#6 You are not fighting two attackers at the same time
Let’s be clear here. In an altercation, there is the high probability you’ll be confronted with more than one person. But when you defend, you defend against one person at a time. So this business of punching a person at your front, and kicking a person at your rear is incorrect. The reason is because it makes a huge assumption which changes with the slightest of variables, not the least of which may include a 3rd (or more) persons, a weapon, or a specific technique. The quantum mechanics of handling such a scenario make for dealing with such things in poomsae impractical.
It doesn’t mean we don’t deal with multiple opponents; rather, it means dealing with each one, one by one. When we are learning the technique, we practice them and improve on execution, timing, and other elements of defense. We begin at later stages of our training to start including additional opponents, each of whom may have different attacks planned. What we have to do is consider each attack – whether by the same attacker or the others – and react appropriately and individually. But at no time will a single technique involve dealing with two or more opponents. So the classic argument that a mountain block is blocking simultaneous stick attacks from an opponent in front of us and another behind us is farcical.
#7 There are no wasted movements
In Taekwondo poomsae (Kukkiwon and ITF), most of the movements have a purpose that should be obvious that even with the more arcane ones it’s understandable to have martial relevance. The same can’t be said of Karate kata, some of which have strange movements that many have written off as a useless technique. In Taekwondo, we don’t have that issue – except one area.
That is the ready position – junbi. We have four of them. One is both fists down and in front (most forms); two knifehands forward (Koryo); covered fist (Ilyeo, Won Hyo); and covered palm (Pyong Won, Hwa Rang). ITF additionally has an open stance rightward covered punch (Yoo Shin), open stance crossed knifehands (UlJi), and covered fist variant (Choong Jang).
Each of these – the covered fist is famous – are discussed in terms of greetings, covering the groin, or some strange thing. No: we do not greet, and we don’t protect the groin by placing hands there. The shape of the hands and their manner of posture (fist, open, etc) tells us something about a moment in time we are being attacked.