Kumdo or Haedong Kumdo?

[Neil Gendzwill]

It's only the dishonesty with haedong gumdo that bothers me. Obata-sensei doesn't try to convince anyone that what he does is anything other than what it is - his own system based on his rather extensive experience in various other systems.

[ChaShu]

I've been practicing Kumdo for 2.5 years and would reccommend Kumdo over Haedong Kumdo. Kumdo is essentially the same as Kendo (except that we learn single person forms that are not taught in Kendo), whereas Haedong Kumdo is very different with acrobatic like moves. Just my opinion though. I don't know much about Haedong Kumdo - so I guess you should check both styles out and decide what you would enjoy more.
Good Luck.
Joe Hibbs

Hi John/Joe-san. Very interesting to hear about the single person forms that you practice in kumdo. Do you know of any internet sources/video demos about them? I'd love to get a look at them. Kamsamnida in advance!

[rainmaker]

This is Haedong Kumdo style...
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/mlim2...s/haedong1.wmv

They claim that Haedong Kumdo is rather one to multiple fight situation, such as War. So they need lot of moving and jumping technic. I still think it will make you get tired very quick though....

[ChaShu]

This is Haedong Kumdo style...
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/mlim2...s/haedong1.wmv

They claim that Haedong Kumdo is rather one to multiple fight situation, such as War. So they need lot of moving and jumping technic. I still think it will make you get tired very quick though....

The fight sequence reminded me of some sort of Errol Flynn swashbuckler stunt sequence. The cutting exercises looked like a fancy form of tameshigiri, and the sword form looked suspiciously a lot like tai-chi sword forms, with tassle and all!

[John Shin]

Hi John/Joe-san. Very interesting to hear about the single person forms that you practice in kumdo. Do you know of any internet sources/video demos about them? I'd love to get a look at them. Kamsamnida in advance!

Hello ChaShu. I haven't seen any video on the web that references the forms - though I haven't really looked too hard. The five forms that I had to learn for my 1st dan are called:
-Ch'ung Gum
-Hyo Gum
-Shin Gum
-Yong Gum
-In Gum

There is one more that I'll be learning called Bon Guk Kum Bup, which you may have seen drawings of.

They're single person forms fighting and defending against 4 imaginary opponents. There are roughly 22 - 30 moves per form and consist of forward, backward and sideways moves in all directions. They are practiced with a dull sword similiar to an Iaito. They're hard, but once perfected, they're A LOT of fun to perform. Maybe someone else can direct you to a web site with video.

Hope this helps.

Joe hibbs

[Kennesten]

From what I gathered shinkendo was a new modern art that combined a bunch of things, not just cutting but stuff with short staffs and such.

Just to clarify, Shinkendo (the physical part) pretty much only involves sword training. The "short staff" (I'm guessing you mean jo) and other weapons are part of (or supplemental to) the Aikibujutsu taught by Obata-sensei. It also includes tantojutsu, bojutsu, etc. The website has a generous amount of information on it, including info about Obata-sensei's study as an uchideshi at the Yoshinkan dojo under Gozo Shioda-kancho: http://www.aiki-buken.com/.

I hope that clears things up.

Best wishes,
Nicholas Lauridsen

[ahmed61086]

This is Haedong Kumdo style...
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/mlim2...s/haedong1.wmv

They claim that Haedong Kumdo is rather one to multiple fight situation, such as War. So they need lot of moving and jumping technic. I still think it will make you get tired very quick though....

That stuff looks pretty Fn cool if you tell me. I mean, it looks Hollywood worth, lol. It might not be a legit style, but it sure is impressive.

Ahmed.

[Neil Gendzwill]

That stuff looks pretty Fn cool if you tell me. I mean, it looks Hollywood worth, lol. It might not be a legit style, but it sure is impressive.

And that's how they make their money. They find gullible people who are impressed by the athleticism and lie to them about the history. Which is why I really don't like those guys.

[Optomitrist]

I did taekwondo for 7 years, I see a lot of similarities. (that is a bad thing, why do you think I converted to Kendo )

[ahmed61086]

And that's how they make their money. They find gullible people who are impressed by the athleticism and lie to them about the history. Which is why I really don't like those guys.

Yeh, your right. But if they stopped lying about it, then I wouldnt see anything wrong with it. I would say it is a good way to excercise. Those kids were some good acrobats.
Ahmed.


P.S. About the History, is their any truth that there were Korean samurai, at the time or b4 the time of the japanese samurai?

[ChaShu]

Yeh, your right. But if they stopped lying about it, then I wouldnt see anything wrong with it. I would say it is a good way to excercise. Those kids were some good acrobats.
Ahmed.


P.S. About the History, is their any truth that there were Korean samurai, at the time or b4 the time of the japanese samurai?

From what I understand, there has been no direct evidence of samurang in any historical texts. Here's a short article from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurang

While I do not doubt that Korea had skilled warriors and swordsmen (see: Hwarang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwarang), samurang are most probably a fabrication.

[JSchmidt]

Just FYI: As wikipedias, by design, can be edited by anyone, it can be tricky to trust the information if you aren't 100% certain of it's origin, especially so when it comes to special interest groups like Haedong.

Jakob

[ChaShu]

Just FYI: As wikipedias, by design, can be edited by anyone, it can be tricky to trust the information if you aren't 100% certain of it's origin, especially so when it comes to special interest groups like Haedong.

Jakob

While true, I have also seen the info re: samurang elsewhere besides. But thanks for the caution.

[Mr. Donigan]

I understand the Korean mind about Japanese as occupiers, and wanting to distinguish themselves, but why recreate history? America wanted to differ ourselves from England back in the day, but we didn't tell the world we invented tea but it was actually called tea-ang. Or boxing but call it box-yang. I also have no doubt the Koreans had skilled warriors, and a rich history, I just don't understand the claims on kendo, samurai, etc.

[ShinKenshi]

It seems to me that the Korean government wants to try to best the Japanese at sword arts so they keep trying to find ways of lying to people about their martial arts history and conveniently make it such that events in Korea happened several hundred years before it happened in Japan. That and I think they're trying to make kumdo into the next big thing for Korea, just as tae kwon do has been. Hadong kumdo is all a part of it as a way of trying to boost Korea's image and popularity in martial arts. Kind of like an alternative way of increasing tourism I suppose.