Calling A System Other Then......

So what is Korean kickboxing? Always though it was TKD by another name

 

격투기 Kyeoktoogi is the name you're looking for, I think. I never got a chance to try it out, but it always seemed like a more open style of sparring, whereas (WTF) sparring allows for full contact to limited areas, Kyeotoogi allowed for low kicks and some clinch work. I have no clue if it allowed for grappling at all.
I also don't think they normally have forms (poomsae) or the like.

But... never having done it, don't take my word for it!

 

On the original topic, I don't have a big issue with the terms used for the general populace but hope things are clarified in the class.

We've always used the term "Taekwondo" on our signs, buildings, paperwork and so on, and the locals still refer to us as a "Karate" school. That doesn't bother me, and in fact the name recognition (for this area) is probably better for advertising. When people come in to check us out, we make sure to inform them that we are a "Taekwondo" school.

I think where it gets muddy is when schools that offer several arts bundle them up and advertise as "mixed martial arts", banking on the word recognition of MMA/UFC to bring them into a program that most certainly is NOT. People coming in looking for Karate who find Taekwondo, I think, are looking at similar systems and expectations. People looking for MMA who get Taekwondo + FMA + Judo aren't really getting what they think in most cases.

 

I'd have to agree with Sifu Ben, if you don't want to confuse people with a long Korean word on your sign, then "Korean Karate" is a good compromise. To me, karate refers to Japanese/Okinawan martial arts but Taekwondo is the Korean implementation of those arts, so Korean karate would be both accurate and easily recognised.

I wouldn't be surprised if, before too long, taekwondo becomes much more recognisable than karate as it seems to be much more popular. Maybe then we'll see karate schools advertised as "Japanese Taekwondo"...?

 

Now I could imagine that being a great sport

 

So it's MT done by Koreans? What's this thread about again?

 

No, it's the only Tae Kwon Do school in the town, there's a Shotokan Karate group down the street but they advertise and teach Shotokan Karate. It's actually a highly reputable school around our area. Historically, in our city Karate and Tae Kwon Do have always been the more dominated systems of Martial Arts. Very rarely do you find any other Martial Art system. Were the only group that offers different systems, but as far as traditional groups, those are the only 2. As far as motivation? I'm not entirely sure?? They teach and promote in Tae Kwon Do, but are licensed through IMAL and advertise it as "Karate". So I'm not entirely sure why they use that term?

 

And I do know what IMAL (International Martial Arts League) is historically a Karate organization. But still, to me it's not being truthful.

 

Lets call karate okinawan Kung fu

 

Wouldn't "Chinese Hand" be more accurate?

 

I think it is definitely the intent that important. A simplification or shorthand that reduces confusion or gets a simple point across is fine. So if the intent is actually to facilitate understanding and communication then all well and good.

But if the intent is to deliberately confuse or to create a falsehood then it is bad.

From personal experience as a teenager I put a my time, energy, commitment into learning WU SHU KWAN which marketed itself at the time as Chinese boxing. I went to them wanting to learn a traditional Chinese martial art, they told me it was a traditional Chinese martial art, but it was not. They deliberately lied. It was a kind of kickboxing most likely based on Taekwondo. As a person new to martial arts I trusted what I was told. When I discovered that I had put five years of my life into a lie I felt betrayed.

Not all of the instructors were deliberately dishonest, some of them learnt the art believing it to be traditional kung fu then went on to teach the art believing it to be traditional kung fu and so spreading the lie to others.

That sucks.

 

Fantastic example (though unfortunate experience). Thanks for sharing.

 

Funny, cause that's sorta what the name already says....唐手

 

As I was growing up, there were very few choices in martial arts. The majority of schools were either Tae Kwon Do, Karate or Judo. The general public always referred to any martial art as Karate and it seems that many still don't recognize that Karate refers to a specific group of Asian martial arts, not all of them. So, I wouldn't fault the public for their ignorance by using the wrong name.

Early on, I noticed that Tae Kwon Do schools often used the name Karate themselves. From what I've been told, it was deemed necessary as nobody would have recognized what Tae Kwon Do meant, where they did get the idea if Karate was posted over the door. So the instructors considered it necessary to use the word Karate to bring in students, which I don't think was that bad.

What does bother me is when schools use the name Karate to bring in students then bad mouth the various schools of it. That happens a lot with the local Shaolin-do and Tae Kwon Do schools. They don't mind using the name to get business, yet talk like Karate is garbage. Anyway, I'm guessing the Tae Kwon Do schools in your area probably used the word Karate back when most people didn't recognize anything else was a martial art.

 

Actually, Tae Kwon Do in our area is well known. So is Karate. We've had both Shotokan and Shorin Ryu karate in our area as well as WTF Tae Kwon Do.