Perceptions of Korean arts

[kuk sool won]

I was reading through old posts and, of course there were many a post that put Korean Arts down. I was thinking that maybe one of these reasons could be the complexity of most Korean arts, the skill level to be competent in TKD for example is quite high, especially when you compare it to say Boxing. There is a still guard and punching is the only attack (by the way i am not putting boxing down in anyway at all.) Now to be able to punch somebody in the head is considerably more easy than kicking somebody in the head, perhaps the 'dissing' that often arises is because you have to train for many years in a Korean art to use it effectively? or is that a false alligation?? are korean arts simple to learn?

What are you views on that

[medic06]

The watering down and commercializing of TaeKwonDo is a major contributing factor on this forum as to why people have no respect for Korean arts. The TKD blackbelt who can actually fight is more the exception than the rule. U

[kuk sool won]

Could the same not apply to basically any other art imagineable. I bet you wouldn't have even been doing martial arts if it wasn't for the marketing thrust of one Bruce Lee leading to the boom in the 70's. Not everyone trains to fight, maybe a more suitable question would be to exclude everyone other than those that train to fight.

[medic06]

that's just it. TKD is everywhere, it's an easy target. For every one KMA (Korean Martial Artist) out there with any skill there are at least 15 or so subpar artists with the same rank.

I trained in Hapkido for many years, and our school was known for having fighter with alot of power. but I have met many (some from my school) have no power and in my opinion don't deserve the rank they have.

[kuk sool won]

i totally agree with that. My school is considered or should be considered the best Kuk Sool won school in the world relating to our acheivements but we have bad artists aswell. My question was not why KMA is bashed but could it have some relation to the difficultly of 'mastering' (and i use that term losely before anyone tries to tell me there is no real master bla bla bla) Korean arts?

[medic06]

I don't think it has to do so much with the complexity or difficulty of KMA more so than alot of schools teaching KMA are putting out crap. The techniques are not harder to learn, and not that different than other arts which are considered effective on this forum (e.g. BJJ). The biggest difference is the intensity of the training.

[kuk sool won]

Well i can tell you my training is intensive and i don't consider my school the exception doing 300 kicks as a warm up pretty much proves that, however, i do think that you do have a good point but i don't consider korean martial arts to be that different to others, no art is perfect and there is ALWAYS practioners that aren't up to scratch so why should KMA be singled out?

[medic06]

We are easy targets because there are so many of us Not hard to find someone who sucks in say TKD (see I'm picking on it already ) and say "See, told you TKD sucks"

[Tom Yum]

Korean MA's

Korean MA's are pretty unique in the class of TMA's. They are so diverse - from heavy kicking arts (TKD), to more karate like (Tang Soo Do) and then there are the other arts that look like they borrow a great deal from Shaolin, Jujitsu, Aikido (like your art, HWD) to those that are strictly focused on combat (HKD, TKMS).

Quality is like you suggested, kuk sool. You have Korean Martial Artists that have attained a great deal of control, dedication and application of their arts and can fight rather well to the soccer moms who go to brown belt barely geting down the basics of the ahp chagi.

[tkd_person89]

No.

There are a lot of competent black belts.

There are a lot of incompetent black belts in other arts too. Don't just look at TKD, medic.

You sound like a basher yourself.

[kuk sool won]

We are talking about KMA not just TKD, he isn't bashing the art at all he basically stating the point you just made.

[medic06]

No.

There are a lot of competent black belts.

There are a lot of incompetent black belts in other arts too. Don't just look at TKD, medic.

You sound like a basher yourself.

I just used yall as an example. TKD is everywhere so it is an easy target, KSW is not nearly as common, Hapkido is rare, and I've yet to come across a HWD prctioner. In my personal experience, I've met TKD practioners who couldn't kick a bad habit, and then I've met a few that I wouldn't mess with.

On a lighter note, once I was having a discussion with several other martial artists about which style is the most dominant. I said TKD, TKD is in no danger of dying out anytime soon

[medic06]

HKD is falling quickly into the McDojo category itself, and I think BJJ is starting along that line too.

[Hardball]

Every art has it's share of criticisim and that's becauses of wannabees, charltons and just plain big mouthing.

On this forumn I can personally tell you that I have seen strong crticisizing of Tae Kwon Do, Wing Chun, Shotokan and Krav Maga. No one is immune from criticsisim. {sp} Just live the martial way, practice daily and don't get your ass kicked. Getting your ass kicked can really hurt the reputation of your art, your instructor and yourself.

[medic06]

yep, definitely don't get your ass kicked My teacher used to say "Don't go out there and embarrass me" whenever we represented our school.