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Post by Colin Wee on Mar 1, 2004 17:15:02 GMT 8
“Pen name of Yi Hwang, a noted scholar and an authority on Neo-Confucianism” (http://www.itatkd.com/pattern_toigye.html). According to Breen, “Toi-Gye and Yul-Gok are two patterns which share a common background, yet take an opposing approach in execution. As described in the description of pattern Yul-Gok, Yi Hwang and Yi I were both Neo-Confucian scholars in 16th century Korea. Yi I, Yul-Gok, was the foremost philosopher of the school that stressed the primacy of ki over i. Toi-Gye, on the other hand, thought otherwise. To Yi Hwang’s thinking, ki played a purely supporting role to the obviously dominant i. He believed that spiritual essence is found through one’s actions, and that it is only through the realisation of moral principle that the spirit is given meaning” (2001 p12). Yul-gok focused on strength over form and called for the innovative use of power to dominate an opponent. Toi-gyi on the other hand calls for the precision of technique over strength. This reminds me of a seminar I attended where an Aikijujutsu master propounded a principle of ‘force feedback’. On one level, the ability to feel feedback sometimes prompts an opponent to escalate his use of force to counter your reaction. So much so that if a person grabs hold of a limp wrist, the most power they’d be applying on your arm would be the force of grip around your wrist, rather than having a totally tensed arm. This ploy works well to unbalance the opponent who is seeking to take advantage of an inexperienced target. Didn’t Sun Tzu say all warfare is based on deception? This is perhaps the true intent of ‘technique over strength’ (rather than translating this as being precise in your technical ability). A relaxed almost nonchalant spirit should be adopted by the fighter using the essence of Toi-gye. Techniques should be done smoothly with no overt telegraphing. I reckon that Toi-gye the kata is trying to say that for an opponent anticipating feints and subversion from you, you should rely on basic, workable, and proven principles to win the encounter. It seems to say to not overly rely on gimmicks or fanfare, nor on ineffective power.
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Post by Colin Wee on Nov 20, 2005 21:51:19 GMT 8
Step 1 -3 I'd like to think of this as a zenponage or elbow attack. The opponent is holding on to your hands from the front. You extricate your right hand with the left middle block and the open palm strike is done sending your forearm into the opponent's straightening elbows.
Step 7-9 This is off the page of my Savate instructor friend who uses the cross block as a knee defence. The opponent has grabbed you and done a knee into your chest. You cross your hands to block the knee attack and strike his hips with twin blocks to get the distance for your front kick strike to his support leg.
Step 11-12 This front step and turn is great as a kotegaeshi. The extended punch grabs the opponent's left front lunge punch, and brings the punch downward. Then the step and turn rotates your hand and thus the opponent's wrist, flexing it outward into the kotegaeshi.
Step 13 - 18, 5x horse stance 'Y' blocks makes Toi-gye the wierdest of the Chang Hon forms. I practiced this for many moons before having the pleasure of listening to a historic CD of TKD where the General says that the foot stomps are there to augment the block. It took me about a week before I dismissed that one. Then just recently it all made sense to me when reading Dr Clayton's Shotokan's Secrets who suggested that the horse stances were there as secret leg/knee attacks. This made much more sense to me as I have always previously taught knee strikes off a front forebalance stance. Aside from this little hiccough, Toi Gye is a fairly graceful and elegant kata. Certainly it does seem to suggest we look out for the 'precision of the technique over power'. The early sequence following the opening builds a very rhythmic frequency where hand strikes and kicks are done very efficiently, reminiscent of the neatness of Doh-san but covering further ground.
After the 5x Y blocks, there is what seems to be a head/hair grab followed by the first vertical knee at step 21 and a quick turn into a low shuto block. This could be a taki-otoshi or arm bar. The raising of the hands for the block goes under the arm and over the shoulder, the low shuto presses the opponent into the ground. Dr Clayton's site says that an interesting app here is for a shoulder throw using the fold of the elbow at neck level. This is a good interpretation.
Step 22-27 is an interesting sequence. One would think that a front kick followed by a finger spear to the eyes would be easy to do, but everyone that I have met recently who has done the form has had trouble remembering this - and shows hesitancy whilst doing this sequence. But this may be because many people think of kicks as a long range tool, whereas in TKD patterns, most of the kicks seem to be very short range strikes. This one for instance begs you to think of how you would strike someone in the eyes if you've just kicked them with a front kick. The answer - you can only do that if you were holding on to them first.
Then there's the big jump into a stooping x block. Why do we have that in a TKD form? Have we drawn a weapon to strike our opponent? Or is this to finish off an opponent on the ground? The follow up is an interesting opportunity to do a sokomen kuzushi otoshi - a side off-balance drop; you do the x block very close to the opponent, then as you step, you place your leg behind him and slam your body in front of him.
Step 28-29: I just saw an application off an image sent from my friend Stuart Anslow (ITF 4th Dan) who uses this as a jump knee and take down. I'm interested to read what he says about this in his book. My response was that I see this as a takedown primarily from behind at shoulder level. But if he's adding knees to it, I think that's a great add-on.
Step 29-30 If not for what I've read in Shotokan's secrets and Stuart's interpretation, I think the jump landing into a x block is a good technique to get behind the opponent. Further to that the follow through double fist may be applied as a sokomen uchi - a throw. The leg extends behind the opponent and your body slides up close to his hips. The hands slam into the front of his body and your back hand strikes into and downwards to get him falling backwards over your leg.
The kata finishes off with my favourite - Step 34-36 - three scoop blocks. Very beautiful. Reminds me of the scoop blocks in Bassai which I suggest acts as finger breaks/locks.
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Post by Colin Wee on Jan 6, 2006 16:27:10 GMT 8
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Post by Colin Wee on Oct 4, 2006 10:40:31 GMT 8
Step 28 I think I finally figured out what the manji uke or half mountain block is - kaitenage for beginners! Email to Dr Clayton ... Dr Clayton - I forgot to mention, the move is called 'Kaitenage' or windmill throw. One hand is on the back of the head, the other is under a wrist that has been extended. The head is pressed downward while the arm is sent up and forward to where the person needs to be thrown. You can throw either forward or backwards - meaning you can have the head held close to your body or away. The beauty of it is that it takes minimal effort. How to set up? Katetetori Kaitenage (same side holding windmill throw) 1. Opponent square. Same side holding your right wrist. 2. 'Atemi' or strike his face with left. Right hand moves out and starts to apply tension to the ground (palm down) 3. Step with left foot under his left armpit. Rotate to face east. Hand presses South East. 4. Rotate to face south. Hand presses south. 5. Pull right foot along through and put behind left. Right hand swings down to the ground at the same time. 6. As your hand swings past lowest point, form a tiger mouth strike. 7. You'll be able to rotate your wrist out of his grab and in turn grab onto his wrist as you continue the swing (now upwards). Left hand places pressure on the back of his head. 8. Both his neck and arm should now be sent in a vertical spiral, aiming forward and downward - step forward with your right at this time. Do this slowly. Most people don't know how to roll out of this one. www.ellisaikido.org/vid/indclpka.htmlVideo 14: www.ellisaikido.org/vid/kaitenage/ka14a.html This video from the above menu of kaitenage shows the application of what I've described above, except that uke has attacked with downward strike (and it's done on the left). Colin
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Post by Colin Wee on Nov 17, 2006 20:51:05 GMT 8
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