When did it become allowable to put a national flag patch on your dobok? Is this just a well kept secret of did it happen recently? I've seen a number of people in our classes with them, and I am not really impressed. What do you guys think of them?
uh oh... are you guys trying to copy the BJJ crowd? Pretty soon you'll have your lot looking like patchwork quilts like the some of the BJJ crowd does. Not sure how formal Kuk Sool Won is... but if I showed up to Daito ryu Aiki Jujutsu with patches all over my gi... even the Japanese national flag... I'd get shown the door in right fast order. edit: I did a quick Google for Kuk Sool Won... jeezuz... what's with all the sparkly bits on the uniform?! They look more like Mozart era conductors than they do martial artists?! Have a look: http://www.mariannedyson.com/kuksooldrill.htm I also find it funny that they've got the Korean national flag on their uniform and then right under it... it's spelled out in english..'Korea'... I guess that's for people who aren't up on their national flags.
Wow, either I never noticed, or it didn't register somehow, I had to look that up... That does seem silly.
I always assumed it was for Koreans to learn more English. The Korea flag patch with "Korea" in English on it is so-very-common all through Korea on uniforms and whatnot.
I started KSW in 2003 and the rule then was the only other patch allowed on your uniform was the flag of your country.
they are wearing "generals uniforms". only worn on special occasions. i.e demos, gradings, tournaments, not for normal dojang training. the standard dobok is black and black belts can wear one with a gold tassle around the bottom of the jacket which is presented when you promote.
Personally, I think the KSW uniform should have the "current" nationality flag and no others on it. if you are in USA, you wear the stars and stripes. IF you are in Korea, you wear the Korean flag, and so on. But they forgot to ask me before they decided that. Seriously, on my other "non-uniform" items (warm up suit for example), i removed the Korean flag. Nothing against the country, style, art, or culture, but I would rather wear my country's flag. That's it.
These are called chung guhn dobahks and they are made to resemble the ancient korean warrior armor. The color of the trim denotes ranks Silver: 1st-3rd degree Silver and Red: 4th degree Red: 5th-6th degree Red and Gold: 7th and 8th degree Gold: 9th-10th degree
Hi All, Just a quick one to pick up on the "sparkley bits" thing. I am led to believe that the silver stripes on the Generals Uniform are reminiscent of the metal that was on the general's uniform/armour to stop weapons cuts (in other words if you weren't a General you ain't getting no metal on your suit to protect you!!!). I am also led to believe that the silks that they are wearing are again reminiscent of the silk shirts that generals wore, 1) because they could, but also 2) because I am led to believe that silk would be less problematic in a piercing or cutting wound wrt leaving threads or whatever for future infection. In other words the silk wouldn't leave too many threads and also was less problematic in the infection front. I may have got this wrong so if anybody could correct me I would really appreciate it. As for the gold tassel on the bottom of the Training Doh Bok, I have no idea other than it is a very quick and easy way of seeing somebody of a higher rank than me and allowing me to get my bow in before the press ups !!! lol. As for the different National flags thing, I haven't really noticed any in Europe at the Tournaments I have been to. This may be because I am in my own little world (and a happy place that is ). Is this something that one sees more in the States? Cheers all. All the best, Quozl.
In my opinion, it's a Korean martial art, not an American/British one. I've always thought that it's just a form of respect for the country of origin. I don't know if it's because of the differences in our cultures but I've certainly not seen extra patches on anyone's uniforms in the UK. From what I understand it's so that if you get shot with by an barbed arrow, said arrow takes the silk shirt into the wound and allows it to be gently teased out rather than cut out. Genghis Khan supposedly did this in numerous battles. I've checked the wiki on Mongolian Armour and it has extrenal links to sources on this matter and they seem pretty genuine. I've also seen the same thing on the BBC's "Genghis Khan" production.
What I think I'd heard was that after 9/11, a lot of people wanted to wear the US flag. So Kuk Sa Nim allowed one's own country flag to be worn on the right sleeve.
One small national flag patch on the shoulder has been permitted for a long time. I remember UK people wearing the union jack when they went to compete in the USA back in about '94.
The national flag thing has been "allowed" but not officially adpoted untill after 9/11. I personally don't care for it, I don't need a patch on my arm to remind myself or others, of my national pride. One reason why I'm thankful they(WKSA) didnt make it mandatory.
I didn't say I didn't wear it. I said I would prefer to wear my own flag. And if Kuk Sa Nim was going to allow students of any given country to wear their flag, I wish it could be the only flag. That's it. As for wearing another flag on the sleeve, even my country's, I agree... not very attractive for this particular uniform.
