TKD discovers its roots

Reviews, Videos, and Everything Else Bullshido.ORG Martial Arts Encyclopedia Discussion
1

"Karate Did Affect Taekwondo
-Most early Taekwondo founders were Karate practitioners
Kim Joon Sung (2001/03/19)

According to the report from Dong-A Daily Newspaper on March 6th, The National Public Information Section found out that 369 out of 654 (56.4%) foreign internet sites contained up to 515 kinds of misinformation on Korea. What attracts us is information on Taekwondo.

The National Public Information Section said that “www.bstkd.com”, the site providing contents on martial arts in Montana, US, illustrated Taekwondo was originated from Karate, Japan. According to the report, The National Public Information Section requested to the webmaster of that site to correct this misinformation, providing related documents on it.

However, this reaction of The National Public Information Section cannot be appropriate; it is clear that Taekwondo got influenced by Karate. Who can rebut this when there’s one insisting that Taekwondo had derived from Karate.

It is well-known that Lee, Won Kook, founder of Chung Do Kwan, and many other early Taekwondo authorities had practiced Karate in Japan. It is sure to be a noncontroversial historical fact. In fact, Lee has been registered on a genealogical list in Japanese Song Do Kwon.

Noh Byung Zik, founder of Song Moo Kwan, is known to have practiced Karate in Japanese Song Do Kwan. As a matter of fact, it is said that ‘Song’ in his own foundation ‘Song Moo Kwan’ was named after ‘Song Moo Kwan’. Likewise, ‘Do’ in Chung Do Kwan came from ’ Do’ in ‘Song Do Kwan’. These stories on naming are on the basis of statement of an anonymous person. He evaluated Taewkondo as only an ‘imitation’ of Karate.

The late general, Woo, Jong Lim had once said "It’s the fact that I’ve practiced Kang Su Do. It is the general Choi, Hong Hee who took the initiative in pushing on changing its name afterwards. The late Lee Hang Wung, who had contributed a lot to Taekwondo boom in America as a president of ATA, had made a statement on his martial art as ‘Korean Karate’ and added that Karate is not different from it at all. These facts prove that Taekwondo did not exist until Korean emancipation from Japan, whereafter people having practiced Karate opened institutes teaching ‘Kong Su Do’ that is the Korean way of pronunciation of ‘Karate’, which was changed to Taekwondo later.

It’s been well described in the book ‘Modern History of Taekwondo’ written by Kang Won Sik (president of The Taekwondo News) and Lee Kyung Myung (Professor in Chung Chong College)

Yang Jin Bang (Yong In University), Kim Young Sun (Yonsei University) and Ahn Yong Gyu (Korea National University of Physical Education) suggested that Karate’s influence on Taekwondo should be admitted. Further, their suggestion has been getting on validity. Kang Won Sik stated that he’s been teaching this to graduate students in his class.

A critical evidence of their suggestion is lack of evidence of Taekwondo’s existence before in 1945. Besides, the fact that early Taekwondo authorities are Karate practitioners should never be overlooked. Consequently, the official position insisting on ‘Taekwondo with 2000 years of history’ must be abandoned which is presently taken by Kukkiwon and World Taekwondo Federation. Prof. Yang Jin Bang questioned validity of using the present terminology ‘Taekwondo Expert’, proposing to change it into ‘Traditional Martial Art Expert’.

Based on statements of such early Taekwondo authorities, techniques or terms for Taekwondo is not different from those in Karate. One of them confessed that he just learned Taekwondo without any background of Karate, but finally realized how similar the two were, which was greatly surprising.

Of course, Taekwondo ‘has jumped beyond’ Karate over the past 50 years. It has developed original kicking techniques continuously, and has been accepted as official medal sport in Olympics. Nevertheless, it’s clear that Taekwondo’s come from Karate. Denial of it is no more than ‘distortion of history’. Taekwondo has already taken its formidable position as a martial art, and has been spread around the world as widely as Karate. Who can question originality of Taekwondo? Then, why should we harrass ourselves with ‘tradition complex’?

In addition, when you talk about the relation between Taekwondo and Karate, why don’t stop bringing up ancient histories of the two? What use is it to discuss such things? We like to say that geographically or historically every Japanese culture must have been handed from China via Korean Peninsula, and it’s virtually Korean, or that Okinawa was too small an island to create a horse-riding posture, a basic in Karate, and therefore it must have been originated from other horse-riding countries like ancient Korea. These are totally irrelevant.
"

FINALLY a break through in the BS.

http://www.mooto.com/eng/webzine/news_view.asp?news_no=776

Jeremy M. Talbott
http://www.koreanma.homestead.com/index.html
http://www.martialscience.homestead.com/home.html

[Post edited by Admin to include article for news section and further discussion]

2

I am proud to see TKD join the olympics with the other great and illustrious martial arts like volleyball and ball room dancing. It is a true testament to its efficacy, efficiency and practicality. TKD practitioners everywhere should be proud.

3

You missed out synchronised swimming, shame on you

4

Pat, great post. I will try to update some of my research with some of the information made here. What is Mr. Dohwenrend’s web site or email so that I can ask him for a blessing to use some of the research.

Now this brings up a point that. TKD history, is derived from several different kwan histories. So should we post we should post Subjects such as TKD - Chung Do Kwan so we know what aspect of TKD history we will be covering.

Goju,

Sorry we can’t all be great Bruce Lee followers like yourself, but read the Rules of the Road post. If you don’t have anything constructive to add to the thread, then keep your mouth shut and let the adults talk amongst themselves.

Jeremy M. Talbott
http://www.koreanma.homestead.com/index.html
http://www.martialscience.homestead.com/home.html

5

I thought TKD was ballet, not a martial art. All kidding aside I think this enlightening history lesson will make some TKD stylists very upset. Should be some interesting, and amusing posts in the next few days.

6

Well, it will upset more of the older generation westeners who have blindly followed and subscribed to the 2000 year old history crap. If we are lucky it will cause some of the younger generation to start comparing what they do to what was done before. At that point we can hope to see that they will start to come to grips that TKD tournament sparring is not the best form of self defense out there. There is nothing wrong with it for fun and sport, but it should not be passed off as a viable self defense.

The Korean GM’s will have to get over the fact that the 2000 year old myth just won’t sell lessons anymore. The truth is out there.

Jeremy M. Talbott
http://www.koreanma.homestead.com/index.html
http://www.martialscience.homestead.com/home.html

7

Where should I begin?

Our Eternal Grand Masters name was miss-spelled as Lee Hang Wung. It is actually Haeng Ung Lee.

Also, in the ATA, we are told that Taekwondo is only 48 years old, having been offically created in 1955. We do recognize that their were other martial arts in Korea before the occupation of Japan, but we also understand that Taekwondo, just like Karate and Gung Fu, are martial arts that have been handed down from other arts.

As far as Taekwondo not being viable for self defense, well that is just a plain ridiculous statement, and only a moron would attempt to use tournament sparring as form of self defense. Perhaps some schools do not emphasize the self defense aspects of Taekwondo, but ours does and we focus on more then just kicks and punches. In fact, even though Taekwondo is an Olympic Sport, we do not train for that aspect. Yes, we attend tournaments, but we are not an Olympic Style.

This will probably not destroy the myth that Taekwondo is a useless art. However, it is probably a useless attempt to get people to realize that your opinions about Taekwondo are not fact. That is the real truth.

Sincerely,

Knowing it is not enough, we must apply.
Willing is not enough, we must do.

Edited by - Bolverk on June 13 2003 13:44:02

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“As far as Taekwondo not being viable for self defense, well that is just a plain ridiculous statement, and only a moron would attempt to use tournament sparring as form of self defense.”

OK, perhaps I should have made my statement a bit more clearer. When I said “There is nothting wrong with IT for fun…” I was refering to tournament aspect of TKD not TKD as a whole. I agree that only a moron would use tournament style fighting as a form of self defense (which was my point in the first place)

“This will probably not destroy the myth that Taekwondo is a useless art. However, it is probably a useless attempt to get people to realize that your opinions about Taekwondo are not fact. That is the real truth.”

“The late Lee Hang Wung, who had contributed a lot to Taekwondo boom in America as a president of ATA, had made a statement on his martial art as ‘Korean Karate’ and added that Karate is not different from it at all.”

So this statement is false? EGM Lee never said this? This is just an opinoin of the author that EGM may have thought it that way? Which opinoins are false and what FACTS do you have to show otherwise. If you are going to accuse us of not having our facts straight then please provide evidence to such. Don’t be so defensive. People on this thread are trying to get truth out there. Feel free to add in

Jeremy M. Talbott
http://www.koreanma.homestead.com/index.html
http://www.martialscience.homestead.com/home.html

9

Well, it will upset more of the older generation westeners who have blindly followed and subscribed to the 2000 year old history crap. If we are lucky it will cause some of the younger generation to start comparing what they do to what was done before. At that point we can hope to see that they will start to come to grips that TKD tournament sparring is not the best form of self defense out there. There is nothing wrong with it for fun and sport, but it should not be passed off as a viable self defense.

The Korean GM’s will have to get over the fact that the 2000 year old myth just won’t sell lessons anymore. The truth is out there.

Actually, this is mostly what I was replying to. The simple fact of the mater is this, Taekwondo does have roots that span back about 1800 years, though virtually all of the Grand Masters have studied Karate. Taekwondo became offically recognized in 1955, but, the formation of the art did involve trying to remove the Karate influence and get back to an art kicking which emphasized kicking more, trying to regain some of the T’aekyon flavor.

However, all Eastern Martial Arts can be traced back to India. Does this mean that these arts are not unique? No it does not, because each of them developed their own philosophies, as well as techniques. Taekwondo is no different. In fact, many of the kicking techniques used in Taekwondo have found there way back into the other Martial Arts. It is only natural to use techniques that are effective, that is why when they are discovered they naturally are incorporated into other arts.

Taekwondo used to be called Korean Karate at one point. It was not a terminollogy used just by Eternal Grand Master Haeng Ung Lee, but by a great deal of people in the Martial Arts. However, they wanted Taekwondo to remove its Japanese influence, and hence the new name of Taekwondo.

I will post a little of the information on Taekwondo that we have on our site.

Oh, and as far as being defensive goes, I think most Taekwondo practitioners on this site are probably a little defensive. After all, we take a lot of abuse.

Sincerely,

Knowing it is not enough, we must apply.
Willing is not enough, we must do.

Edited by - Bolverk on June 13 2003 16:18:13

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Taekwondo History:

Although its roots can be somewhat traced back to ancient Korea, it is a historic fact that Taekwondo as an organized art is relatively modern. In fact, the only documented history begins in the mid 1900’s.

The actual beginnings of Taekwondo are obscured by time, yet many historians believe it originated from a Korean martial arts form known as t’aekyon practiced over 1,300 years ago.

In the early 1900’s the art evolved with the introduction of Chinese and Japanese techniques, a practice which concerned some because these influences did not demonstrate the incredible kicking power of the art nor its traditional values or philosophy.

The actual name (and art) of Taekwondo wasn’t official until 1955. At that time Korean General Hong Hi Choi organized a movement to unify Korea’s various martial arts styles (Called kwans) and presented the name “Taekwondo” to a committee specially formed to select a name for the new art. On April 11, 1955, Taekwondo was recognized as the name for the newly unified, officially recognized Korean martial art.

As an interesting side note, the word Taekwondo itself is made up of three Chinese/Korean words: Tae, meaning to kick or jump; Kwon, meaning fist or hand; and Do, which means “the way”. Loosely (if not literally), it can be thought of as “The Way of the Hand and Foot.”

In the 1960’s Taekwondo began to spread internationally and evolved throughout the late 1900’s (along with most martial arts) into primarily a combat sport, although self-defense, fitness, and the philosophy of the practice (including self-discipline and self-knowledge) are still crucial elements of Songahm Taekwondo, the style of Taekwondo developed and supported by the ATA.

Taekwondo is currently the most popular martial art in Korea, and ranks among America’s and the world’s most popular martial arts.

Sincerely,

Knowing it is not enough, we must apply.
Willing is not enough, we must do.

11

“Martial Art” is a broad term encompassing the many styles of physical discipline (fighting) arts that have been developed over the centuries. To say that the style of Songahm Taekwondo is just another “martial art” would be an oversimplified explanation of the world’s largest centrally administered martial art. This system of teaching and training is unequaled in the martial arts community.

During its early years, the ATA used the Chahng-hun style of forms (also used by the International Taekwondo Federation). But although this style was widely accepted in the Taekwondo community, Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee felt that its forms did not accurately reflect Taekwondo – particularly the strength and beauty of Taekwondo kicking techniques. As a result, he believed the forms contributed little to the Taekwondo curriculum. For example, white belts were expected to know front kicks and side kicks, but no front kick appeared until the third (yellow belt) form, and there was no side kick until the form after that!

From 1983 to 1990, Eternal Grand Master introduced the eighteen Songahm forms. These forms are part of a fully-integrated curriculum, in which everything a student learns reinforces everything else. The forms contain all or nearly all of the techniques that students are expected to know at each rank, the one-step sparring segments complement the forms, and all of these patterns lead logically to the movements required for each succeeding rank.

The Songahm curriculum facilitates a smooth progression from one rank to the next, so that students who begin Taekwondo feeling they’ll never be able to do a simple block (for example) suddenly find themselves a few years later doing 360-degree jumping kicks with ease.

Songahm Taekwondo also focuses on personal development of the mind and body. To say it is just self-defense would be to lose most of the valuable ideas and philosophy behind this ancient art.

The heightened capacity for self-defense resulting from our Taekwondo is really a fringe benefit that is gained by dedicating one’s self to the values, philosophy and training of Songahm Taekwondo. When learning, a student is in a true, traditional Taekwondo class, focusing not just on the physical but also on discipline, honor, self-control, respect, courtesy, perseverance and loyalty.

A beginner does not focus on being a skilled martial artist within a month or two, as a strong foundation in Taekwondo must be built first. Trying to advance beyond your level without proper guidance is like building a house on concrete that has not dried. Though the house may still stand, the foundation would not be as strong and the appearance of the house may not be as presentable.

The ATA and its affiliated organizations help build a strong foundation of Songahm Taekwondo in each of its members, a foundation from which advancement in both the martial art (mind and body) and in self defense can be built and added on to in perpetuity.

“In victory, be humble. In defeat, be strong. In all things be fair.”
–Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee

Sincerely,

Knowing it is not enough, we must apply.
Willing is not enough, we must do.

12

“Although its roots can be somewhat traced back to ancient Korea, it is a historic fact that Taekwondo as an organized art is relatively modern. In fact, the only documented history begins in the mid 1900’s.”

Wrong sir, TKD can not be traced back to ancient Korea at all. TKD is, was and always will be an off shoot of Okinwin Karate. Now you can trace TKD to ancient Okinawin arts, but that is it. There were arts indengenious to Korea, but, again, they were lost in time to due to two main factors: 1) Korea adopted Confucianism as the countries religion. This brought about the big down fall of Korean martial arts. People who practiced any type of fighting art were thought of as low life gangsters. Even the folk of taekkyon (which so many TKD poeple swear is the grandfather of TKD) was pretty much stopped. 2) Japanese occupation squashed most if not all documentation of any other Korean fighting systems that were still being practiced. Any art that was allowed to be practiced was Japanese. This is not theory, this is fact. Check out Korean history books.

“The actual name (and art) of Taekwondo wasn’t official until 1955. At that time Korean General Hong Hi Choi organized a movement to unify Korea’s various martial arts styles (Called kwans) and presented the name “Taekwondo” to a committee specially formed to select a name for the new art. On April 11, 1955, Taekwondo was recognized as the name for the newly unified, officially recognized Korean martial art.”

Ok…now we are spewing out ITF propaganda. This was handed down by your EGM because his original school was Oh Do Kwan, Gen. Choi’s kwan. First of all Gen. Choi was not the organizer, though he held a lot of clout with President Rhee at the time, the formation of TKD was a joing effort of all the kwans not just one man. "General Choi was favored by ROK President Rhee Syng Man, so General Choi was able to summon and create a Naming Committee composed of various men of society. After he and his adjutant Nam Tae Hi conducted research, they finally used “Taekkyon” and “Do” to create the name “Taekwondo” (Won Sik Kang and Kyoung Myoung Lee - Modern History of Taekwondo) This is where that myth that Gen. Choi “organized” the kwans to form TKD. Secondly, this naming committe took place in 1959 not 1955. In 1955, Choi used his influence to so that he could teach the Oh Do system through out the military.

Taesoodo (the previous name of TKD)was not recognized as a national martial art but a national sport in February of 1962 by the Korean Amatuer Sports Association.

“Taekwondo is currently the most popular martial art in Korea, and ranks among America’s and the world’s most popular martial arts.”

TKD is popular in because it is the equivalent of baseball to us. Your statement should read it is popular martial sport. But get ready, Yudo and Kumdo are starting to take its place in popularity amongst Koreans.

“For example, white belts were expected to know front kicks and side kicks, but no front kick appeared until the third (yellow belt) form, and there was no side kick until the form after that!”

Yes, but WTF and ITF students were still required to learn them regardless of the forms. What difference does it make when they are introduced in a form as long as they are introduced as a regular technique?

Anyway…it looks like you are reading straight out of the ATA text book. You need to go beyond what your GM or EGM or SGM or SEGM or USEGM or whatever title you instructor has given himself. The ATA, WTF, and ITF will only tell you the history that they want you to believe, you have to get the real history for yourself.

Jeremy M. Talbott
http://www.koreanma.homestead.com/index.html
http://www.martialscience.homestead.com/home.html

13

I searched and I think he (Dohrenwend)is a prof at mich. tech. and that’s from the http://www.sos.mtu.edu/husky/tkdhist.htm address that has “mtu.” Searching mtu brought me to the above, but that’s as far as I got.

This is from Kim’s TKD (Kim’s Tae Kwon Do Center, Inc.)and is the typical bullshit. As far as I can tell, Lee=truth, Choi=bullshit.

The Hwa-Rang Do defended themselves by using postures resembling Taek Kyon and Jujitsu techniques. They had a strong desire for patriotism and became an elite fighting warrior corp as they gained respect from their enemies. The Hwa-Rang Do unified the three kingdoms of Korea and the martial arts flourished.

Soon after Korea was united, the dynasty acquired an anti-military posture. This began a period of civil enlightenment, and anything dealing with the military was debased.

The final blow came with the Japanese occupation (1909 - 1945) when it was forbidden to practice any martial arts. Taek Kyon was secretly practiced and passed on to a handful of students.

In 1945 Korea was liberated and a young second lieutenant, Choi Hong Hi, recently released from a Japanese prison camp taught his martial arts to some students.

In 1955 this art was given the name Tae Kwon Do by a board of instructors, historians, and prominent leaders, including General Choi Hong Hi. Tae means foot, Kwon means hand and Do means art. It is now practiced in over 60 countries with millions of students.

Tae Kwon Do has reached its potential as it has no equal in power, technique, and mental conditioning. (ha ha ha)

This crap implies that Choi was one of the guys who “secretly practiced” and that it had been “passed on to a handful of students,” among the handful was Choi, I guess. What bs.

I don’t think we are going to get more than a few to defend the bullshit history of TKD, it is too obviously shit, and this forum has weeded out most of the bullhshitters.

Bolverk, I don’t mean that you are a bullshitter, at all. But I’m getting confused, first the spelling of Asian names is very problematic, and second, the different Lee’s and the different spelling have me dizzy. I need a chart to keep it straight. I have read the article I posted twice and found out that the local TKD (I’ve worked out with them)is a Chung Do Kwan Lee lineage school and the other TKD I worked out with (from Orem, UT) is a Choi lineage school and I now know more about their history than either of those school’s teachers! In my experience the Chung Do Kwan was better, and less sport oriented.

Edited by - patfromlogan on June 16 2003 10:29:40

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Taekwondo Tutor is a great location for the history of Taekwondo. Some of which agrees with what you say, some of which contradicts what you say, and some of which goes into more depth and explains more of the history behind Korean Martial Arts.

As far as when our Eternal Grand Master met General Choi:
“In 1968, Korean General Hong Chi Choi (the man responsible for originally standardizing Taekwondo in 1955) met with then Master Haeng Ung Lee (now Eternal Grand Master), who at the time was teaching Taekwondo-Japanese mixed martial arts to his organization of followers. General Choi quickly taught Eternal Grand Master Lee the first 16 Cheon-jee forms of Taekwondo in only 4 days and three nights (this system of forms was the first set of forms developed under the new Taekwondo of Korea).”

Knowing it is not enough, we must apply.
Willing is not enough, we must do.

15

This excerpt was taken from the TKD Tutor: "Originally, two Chinese characters were used to depict the martial art of “kara hand” or “the hand of the Kara Kingdom.” The Japanese pronounced these two characters as “Karate” which means “empty hand.”

The kara of “kara hand” refers to the Kara Province, one of the old provinces of China that unified all of China and became known as the Kara Kingdom."

Now I am not Chinese history major so I decided to ask 6 mainland Chinese people who work in my company. None of them have heard of the Kara Kingdom, Province. Kara in terms of the character was to represent ‘China’, if any dynasty was to be represented, it would have been the T’ang. This charater was changed by GM Funakoshi to represent ‘Empty’. Once again the TKD tutor starts emulating the 2000 year old BS. “Dr. Danjee states further, that the art of Subak was eventually introduced to China as Kwon Bup and as a form of Jujitsu to Japan.”

This is utter nonsense. It was the T’ang army that HELPED the Shilla kingdom in defeating the Pakchae armies. T’ang TAUGHT the Shilla army different tactical fighting methods. Overall the TKD Tutor has lost a lot of credibility as far as their teaching of history is concerned.

“In 1968, Korean General Hong Chi Choi (the man responsible for originally standardizing Taekwondo in 1955) met with then Master Haeng Ung Lee (now Eternal Grand Master), who at the time was teaching Taekwondo-Japanese mixed martial arts to his organization of followers”

On that same page where you got that information it lists a timeline of EGM’s training. He began martial art traing in 1953. This would have made him 17 years old and most likely in the Korean Army (since it is mandatory that all males serve). In 1953 the only “official” martial art training being done was Gen. Choi’s Oh Do Kwan (School of My Way). So I will go out on a limb and say that EGM learned ITF style of TKD. Again…quit taken right from your ATA homesite and start doing some in-depth study. This is not to say that ATA is a bad martial art. I am only saying that the history that you are repeating is not entirely correct.

Jeremy M. Talbott
http://www.koreanma.homestead.com/index.html
http://www.martialscience.homestead.com/home.html

16

Well, when you consider that our Eternal Grand Master, our current Grand Master, and our Chief Master are all part of that history, and did not have to learn it from a book, how can you say they are wrong.

Our Grand Master began his training in 1953, that is true. However, he did not enter the military untill 1956. He was not originally trained under General Choi. I will go and get the article of when he was trained, and at what school and post the information for you.

Lastly, the true history behind Taekwondo will remain shrouded in mystery. I have seen your listing of sources, and the listing of others. Since the family that started Songahm Style of Taekwondo is still in control of our system, and is being run by people who lived all of the history from 1955 until the present, I have a tendancy to believe what they say has alot of truth to it. More truth then can be gleaned from books that others have written on the subject.

Sincerely,

Knowing it is not enough, we must apply.
Willing is not enough, we must do.

17

Bolverk,
I’m a little shocked that you would employ such irrationalisms as trying to disqualify someone on the basis of a romanization of a Korean name. Obejectively, there is no “wrong” way to romanize a Korean word, though the owner may have a preference. For example, it could not possibly be “Lee”, but what does it really matter.

I’m also more than a little surprised that no one has considered that fact that after the end of the Japanese Imperial period, Koreans who had studied under Japanese teachers had an IMPERATIVE to recast their experiences as nationalist in order to avoid being cast as collaborators. It was also unlikely that anyone who had any connection to the Japanese was going to get any business in teaching a Japanese-influenced art.

As far as Taekkyon goes, for god’s sake people…when are you going to pay attention to what Taekkyon people say about this? Sung Duk Ki was the last verifiable Taekkyon practitioner. He was basically “discovered” in the 1960’s, when he took his first students. The lack of poomse/hyung, the fact that Taekkyon was a rural game played between villages, and the absence of belt rankings makes it really unlikely that TKD hearkens in any sense to Taekkyon.

This abstruse pedigree that people try to build is aggravating, and ultimately pointless.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever.”

18

Wastrel, buddy…you never cease to amaze me!

Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated. - Geroge Bernard Shaw

19

Japanese pronounce chinese character in different way. “Kara” is kana pronounciation of chiniese character “Tou” which in Chiese is pronounced as “Tang” and there was a dyanasty named Tang.

However, Tou/Kara did become a word which represent China in Japanese.

20

The two Chinese characters in the modern Japanese usage “Kara-te” are pronounced K’ung (1st tone) Shou (3rd tone) in Mandarin Chinese. I will place the Mandarin tone number right after the Chinese word from now on.

K’ung1 means “air” or “empty.” The Mandarin (Beijing dialect) phrase used to describe the air we breathe is K’ung1 Ch’i4. The word Ch’i4 in this case is coincidentally the same Ch’i4 that has become associated with martial arts in general and Ch’i4 Kung1 in particular. The Kung1 in Ch’i4 Kung1 is a different word (meaning “work” as in Kung1 Fu) and a completely different character than the K’ung1 (meaning “empty”) in K’ung1 Shou3.

I have heard the story that the Okinawan instructors did originally call what they taught “China Hand,” but changed the first character to K’ung1 meaning “empty” in the first part of the 20th century as a result of the Japanese government’s distancing themselves from all things Chinese (except China, of course).

Grim, hard, cold words, heartless and miserable. The night was railing against the morning of which it was bereaved, and the cold was cursing the warmth for which it hungered.

Edited by - Mr. Nice Guy on June 16 2003 22:38:44