During my recent trip to the orient, I had the opportunity to train in several different martial arts schools in both Japan and Korea. This was an amazing experience, but it is not what this blog is actually about.
This post is actually about the origins of the martial arts we practice. As a Goshin Jutsu stylist, I have some experience with controversial martial arts origin stories. Goshin Jutsu was invented, based on other traditional martial arts, in northwestern Pennsylvania. There are two distinct histories of my style, one true and one entirely made up. This has caused a great deal of internet “debate” as to the authenticity of the style (much of this comes from a single source, some guy with a chip on his shoulder), raising the question, how much do we actually know about the origins of our martial arts?
As I was preparing to go to a Haedon Kumdo school to learn some Korean sword techniques, I decided to give my friend Coons a call. For one, he was dealing with all of the post-comiccon ridiculousness, and secondly, he has been studying kendo for a while now and I thought he might be interested. During our conversation, he informed me that kumdo is just a misspelling of kendo, as the Koreans had taken it along with their empty hands martial arts from the Japanese after the occupation. I would just have chalked this up to more of Coons’ crazy ramblings and paid it little attention had it not been for the fact that several of the Koreans that I talked too told me that exact opposite story. When they [my Korean friends] found out that I practiced a martial art based on Japanese karate, they each told me about how Japanese karate is in fact based on Korean Tae Kwon Do. Further, in visiting a Muay Thai kickboxing school, the instructor there informed me that both karate and tae kwon do where both actually based on Thai kickboxing techniques.
It is no secret that we martial artists are, in general, an arrogant lot. We love telling (and some do make up) stories. So it is really no surprise that we all think our style is the best and in some way the original. I have my own ideas as to how these origin stories really played out, but I am more interested in you, Kung Fu-topians. What stories have you heard about either your own martial art or about martial arts in general? What have you been told or read? Add your own story to Kung Fu Topian lore.
Special thanks to those gracious instructors who let me live my dream and train with you. Thank you for stepping over the language barrier and welcoming me into your school.
September 18th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Dude, your average kumdo guy looks nothing like the stuff the stuff the old-school Hwarang dudes were doing in Yi Duk-moo & Park Je-ga “Muye Dobo Tongji.” Furthermore, General Choi got a nidan from Funikoshi. My crazy ramblings were well-researched.
I suppose if you want to take couple more steps back, the Japanese people are descended from Korean colonists… so we’re both right?
September 18th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Dude, your average kumdo guy looks nothing like the stuff the stuff the old-school Hwarang dudes were doing in Yi Duk-moo & Park Je-ga’s “Muye Dobo Tongji.” Furthermore, General Choi got a nidan from Funikoshi. My crazy ramblings were well-researched.
I suppose if you want to take couple more steps back, the Japanese people are descended from Korean colonists… so we’re both right?
September 19th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkhJJHWMRls
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:30 pm
The “we are both right” answer is what I came to conclude in my discussions. They also told me about the military grade Tae Kwon Do that looks nothing like the stuff you normally see.
September 24th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Depending on the story you hear about the art I study it was either started by a man of questionable morals and background who was a grade A pitchman, shameless self promoter and excellent martial artists (who studied a few styles in the East) or it was started by a man of questionable morals and background who was a shameless self promoter, grade A pitchman and a good martial artists who had even better martial artists train under him. I actually don’t really care either way…actually I think I prefer the more idealized origins. I think a good mythology is important.
I think we can all agree that the martial arts are fun.
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