If you get the chance, drop by a local school or check out a seminar... seeing (and trying) what "we do" gives a much better perspective than just looking at the name of the system. Everyone is welcome and the seminar training is always good. Seminars: http://www.dsihq.com/seminars.html
Basic Kicks I read earlier in the thread that you guys have 25 kicks. How much emphasis do you place on kicking? 25 kicks sounds like a lot. Which kicks do you guys use the most? Are there any seminars planned in Maryland for 2014?
From white belt to 1st dan, we have front kick, side kick, roundhouse kick, back kick, slap kick, scoop kick, inside crescent, outside crescent, knee strike (upward and horizontal). At 2nd dan we add 3 other ones. That only gives me about 13. Granted, if you count rear leg, lead leg, and low/middle/high as 'different kicks', you'd have a lot more. Some schools add more but those I listed would be the 'official' ones that would be taught and tested. The philosophy on the kicks is to keep them below the waist. We can use them as destructive techniques and/or as distraction techniques. Personally I favor the front, roundhouse, and scoop kicks for distraction/stunning/hurting and love the back kick for power. The slap kick works very well for me in sparring TKDists... it's sneaky and fast. Looks like there is an April 26th (2014) seminar in Arnold, MD (http://www.dsihq.com/seminars.html) - not sure how close/far that is for you.
Sinmoo has 25 Kicks. About 1/3 low 1/3 mid 1/3 high. They are all useful most Hkd schools have about 20 kicks we just have a few that are unique to Sinmoo. They are for attack, defense or blocking
Thomas... what is your opinion on the crescent kicks? I personally do not like them. They feel very foreign to me and almost ... well stupid for a lack of a better word. I know they have their purpose... I guess I just don't like the technique of them.
HI, I just went through the whole thread and found it interesting.. I just have a couple of doubts, and would appreciate it if someone could clear them up. How long did Ji Han Jae train martial arts (under Choi and others) before he created HKD? How long did Pellegrini train martial arts before he created CHKD?
They aren't my favorite but I do like them... they have a place and function. I especially like them for clearing away a hand that is holding something or to clear a hand away for another strike. On the TKD side, high crescent kicks have been a god tool in sparring (and actually I used one to knock a guy out in a self defense situation many, many years ago).
So Wikipedia partially answered my questions.. It seems that Ji han Jae trained for 10 years before he created HKD... I haven't been able to find Pellegrini's years of training, but it seems he founded CHKD in 1990 and from what I saw he had been training since before at least before 1980.
Hmmm... I'll give this one a shot as best as I can. The references I am using are some of the books published by GM Pellegrini, and the (controversial) article from the March 1990 Taekwondo Times article "Are Tae Kwon Do Schools Really Teaching Self Defense?" (pp.26-30) GM P served in the military in the late 1960s (Italian Airborne unit where they allegedly had a strong martial arts system) and then served as a police officer in the US in the 1970s. He then worked in corporate security. From about 1968, he studied various arts, starting with Judo, and then earning black belts in Karate and Hapkido as well as earning a WTF (Taekwondo) International Master Instructor Certificate. In 1990, he was also listed as the VP of the American Hapkido Association, member of the US Kum-Do Association, member of the American AiKiDo Association, and member of the World Hapkido Federation. According to the article, he had about 25 years in the martial arts at the time he started "Combat Hapkido". In his book Who's Who in Combat Hapkido book (2012), it says that he started bringing Hapkido instruction into his dojangs in Florida in 1987 and he started conducting seminars in 1988. The magazines I mentioned indicate that he began teaching and promoting 'Combat Hapkido' since 1989 (with a formal 'founding' of the art in 1992). (At some point later on, he became a certified Jeet Kune Do instructor, according to the September 2002 Taekwondo Times article "Hapkido Pioneer") In GM Kimm He-young's History of Hapkido,, on p 481, he lists GM Pellegrini's 'first Hapkido teacher' as Ji Sung Song. I don't know any dates or any rank earned from this or anything about this instructor at all. In GM P's Who's Who.. book, the first Hapkido rank he mentioned is a first dan from GM Michael Wollmershauser of the American Hapkido Association which would have been in the late 1980s as well.
Ergo, he had been involved in martial arts for some 20 to 30 years before he "created" CHKD? My point is simple.. For some reason "easterners" are somehow less technically capable than Asians.. because for some reason a westerner can train 30 years and if he decides to "label" what he practices as something new, well he is usually considered lacking. But when an Asian trains 5 or ten years its ok to be a 10th dan? I'm sorry but that almost borders on racism... Of course that I understand that 40 years ago on average people would practice 5 or 6 days a week for a few hours a day.. but still... I have no idea if CHKD is good or a pile of rubbish, I have never seen a video o attended a class, but I totally support anyone's right to create, market, label, explore and whatever they feel like (as long as its legal) IF he went up the ranks way too fast? Don't know.. how fast is fast? from zero to founder of a style in less than ten years seems very fast.
The problem is most people found a system to get rank. If you are a founder then you can call yourself 10th Dan? Shouldn't a 10th Dan have new techniques and concepts in his/her system? I'm not talking about techniques borrowed from another system but original techniques. Most 9th and 10th Dans I know were awarded their rank by some committee of martial artist or board of directors of an martial arts association. Awarding yourself rank seems a little egotistical and disingenuious I'm not saying this about Pelligini,but all founders in general.
well, I don't know...In academia a group of undergrads cannot award you a degree in medicine... so how can a group of lower ranked people award a degree that is above their level.. also, from my very limited point of view, I don't know whats higher, to be a 10th Dan or to be called "The Founder"....
Most 9th and 10th Dans received their rank from a group of peers not lower ranking martial artist. Most founders take the rank of 10th Dan or 9th Dan. (self awarded) I have seen 1 founder who awarded himself the rank of 12th Dan.
No need for rank if you found the system. Most the time all the 10th dan nonsense is due to mutual back patting societies. There's very few real judan in the world, IMO.
One of the things that GM P did not want to do is award himself rank. Each of his ranks from 1st dan to 9th dan has been awarded to him. His early dan ranks came from GM Michael Wollmershauser (1st dan and a conditional 2nd dan), and he received a 2nd dan from another instructor (I have it in a book at home... if anyone is interested, I'll look it up). His 4th and 5th dan ranks came from GM Myung Kwang-shik of the World Hapkido Federation. I will have to look up the 3rd dan if anyone is interested, but I think it was from the WHF as well. The ranks at this time came pretty quickly. GM P was working very hard to establish his 'Combat Hapkido" system and get it to where he could start marketing it to schools (as a supplemental self defense program). It is my understanding that he was working very closely with people like GM Myung Kwang-shik in order to try to help each other (bring TKD into Hapkido schools and to bring Hapkido into TKD schools). I presume his quick ranks were to reflect that relationship and to ensure that he had the 'proper' ranks for what he was doing (not unlike the 'flight over the ocean' promotions some of the older Korean masters experienced when they came to the US initially). Once he got his program solidified and running, he turned to GM Seo In-sun for instruction and guidance (and is still with him). His 7th - 9th dans come from here (and probably the 6th dan - again, if anyone is interested, I will look it up). Going back to the amount of experience he had when he set up his system, GM Pellegrini said, "I started studying and researching Hapkido when I was already a 4th dan in Taekwondo. I became passionate about Hapkido for three reasons: Taekwondo was becoming more and more of a "sport" for children and young adults: the practical self defense side was very limited and I wanted an art that I could continue to practice in my senior years when my athletic abilities would greatly diminish. I found that Hapkido was suitable for my mature body, my personality, and my lifelong desire to teach the most realistic and effective self defense system." (GM P in BUDO International NOV/DEC 2004, p. 6) GM Pellegrini explained his system as such, "Combat Hapkido, the system I founded in 1990, is a hybrid, eclectic system structured on the foundation of Hapkido. If you want to remodel, expand, or redecorate a house, it is not necessary nor wise to destroy the entire foundation. You can be creative, efficient, and practical in the changes you make, using the existing sound structure." (BUDO International NOV/DEC 2004,p.8 )
Really? What are you basing this statement on? I've answered every question that has come up to the best of my resources. If you feel that something isn't being addressed, bring it up. I'll answer if I can.
it's all purely subjective and arcane anyway. regardless of art. at least sport martial arts provide a test, some kind of test. but at the end of the day getting a "belt" really means nothing outside of that art. sometimes, it means nothing inside of that art.
