History of tae kwon do

The oldest ancestor of taekwondo is an amalgamation of unarmed combat styles developed by three rival Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Silla and Baekje. Young men were trained in unarmed combat techniques to develop strength, speed, and survival skills. The most popular of these techniques was subak, with taekyon being the most popular of the segments of subak.


As the Goguryeo kingdom grew in power, the neighboring Silla kingdom became comparatively weaker, and an effort was undertaken among the Silla to develop a corps of special warriors. The Silla had a regular army but its military training techniques were less advanced than those of the Goguryeo, and its soldiers were generally of a lesser caliber. The Silla selected young men, some as young as twelve, and trained them in the liberal arts. Those who demonstrated strong natural aptitude were selected as trainees in the new special warrior corps, called the Hwarang. It was believed that young men with a talent for the liberal arts may have the grace to become competent warriors. These warriors were instructed in academic as well as martial arts, learning philosophy, history, a code of ethics, and equestrian sports. Their military training included an extensive weapons program involving swordsmanship and archery, both on horseback and on foot, as well as lessons in military tactics and unarmed combat using subak. Although subak was a leg-oriented art among in Goguryeo, Silla's influence added hand techniques to the practice of subak


In spite of Korea's rich history of ancient and traditional martial arts, Korean martial arts faded into obscurity during the Joseon Dynasty. Korean society became highly centralized under Korean Confucianism and martial arts were lowly regarded in a society whose ideals were epitomized by its scholar-kings. Remnants of traditional martial arts such as Subak and Taekyon were banned from practice by the general populace and reserved for sanctioned military uses although folk practice by the common populace still persisted into the 19th century.

Modern of Taekwondo

By the end of the Korean War, nine martial arts schools (translated as kwan) had opened, and South Korean President Syngman Rhee ordered that the various schools unify under a single system. A governmental body selected a naming committee's submission of "tae-kwon-do," possibly submitted by Choi Hong Hi, a general in the South Korean army and the founder of the Oh Do Kwan. However, several taekwondo leaders dispute this stating that Son Duk Song of the Chung Do Kwan submitted the name.[citation needed] Following the acceptance of the name "taekwondo" on April 11, 1955, the Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) was formed in 1959 to facilitate the unification. Shortly thereafter, taekwondo made its debut in North America. Standardization efforts in Korea stalled, as the kwans continued to teach differing styles. Another request from the Korean government for unification resulted in the formation of the Korea Tae Soo Do Association, which changed its name back to the Korean Taekwondo Association in 1965 following a change of leadership. This new leader was Choi Hong Hi who ended up falling out of favor in South Korea following a trip to communist North Korea. This resulted in Choi's separation from the KTA and the founding of a new, private organization, the International Taekwondo Federation, in 1966.



In 1972, the Korea Taekwondo Association Central Dojang was opened. A few months later, the name was changed to the Kukkiwon, which means "National Technique Center." The Kukkiwon remains the World Taekwondo Headquarters to this day. The following year, the World Taekwondo Federation was formed. The International Olympic Committee recognized the WTF and taekwondo sparring in 1980, and the sport was accepted as a demonstration event at the 1988 Seoul and the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games. It became an official medal event as of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Taekwondo is one of two Asian martial arts (judo being the other) in the Olympic Games.



The public WTF and private ITF, the two largest taekwondo organizations, operate and train in hundreds of nations and teach the martial art to millions of people each year. Although competition has always been a significant feature of Taekwondo, many practitioners study taekwondo for personal development, to learn self-defense, and/or for fun

tehniques sparring

techiqques & trick sparring tae kwon do

History of Aikido

Aikido, a traditional Japanese martial art, was developed in the early part of this century by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969), now known as O-Sensei (venerable teacher). Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei, the Aikido Kaiso (founder), was born in 1883 in Tanabe, a coastal town in southern Japan. From the time of his youth, he studied various martial arts, eventually including sumo, swordsmanship, spear technique, staff technique, and various styles of jiujutsu, particularly the Yagyu and Daito styles

From youth, Ueshiba also appears to have been a deeply sensitive and spiritual person. Eventually influenced by the charismatic spiritual leader and artist Onisaburo Deguchi, he came to view his martial training as a means of personal purification and spiritual training.


The time of O-Sensei's life saw Japan involved in some of the most violent conflicts of the 20th century, culminating in the Pacific war. However, it was during this time that he founded Aikido and declared it to be a way of joining the peoples of the world together in peace. In this way, Aikido is truly Budo - a martial Way - rather than simply a bujutsu (martial technique) or bugei (martial art). When martial training is undertaken not simply as a means to conquer others, but as a means to refine and perfect the self, this can be said to be Budo. The famous motto of O-Sensei, "Masakatsu Agatsu", contains the essence of the spirit of Aikido: "True victory is victory over the self."



The Kaiso's incredible technical expertise and charisma brought him tremendous support from high-ranking military officers, government personnel, and the Imperial family during his life. Following his death in 1969, he was posthumously awarded an Imperial medal for his unique contributions. However, recognitions and honors aside, it was the universality of his insights, and his vision of the martial Way being open to all sincere persons internationally, which have led to the phenomenal growth of Aikido. The noblest philosophies and intentions of the samurai have become a part of world culture, and give spiritual sustenance to millions of persons of all cultures; this is largely due to the groundbreaking influence of Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei.

Techniques aikido I

Techniques and attacks in aikido

Jubiläumslehrgang mit Kimeda Sensei aus Kanada 2002



Kimeda Sensei, 8. Dan, Kanada







Muguruza Sensei, 7. Dan, Frankreich und Spanien








Yates Sensei, 6. Dan, Großbritannien

AIKIDO TECHIQUES II

Techniques and attacks in aikido

Jubiläumslehrgang mit Kimeda Sensei aus Kanada 2002


Gardonio Sensei, 6. Dan, Kanada - Nagano Sensei, 6. Dan, Deutschland

AIKIDO TECHIQUES III

Techniques and attacks in aikido

Jubiläumslehrgang mit Kimeda Sensei aus Kanada 2002

Stefan Otto, 4. Dan und Marie-Luise Tomasek, 3. Dan, aus München

AIKIDO TECHIQUES

Techniques and attacks in aikido

At my dojo Enighet in Malmö, we have made a listing of basic aikido techniques and on what attacks they are reasonably possible to do. The list is long, of course. We have also formulated some basic principles on what to be considered by tori (defender), uke (attacker) or both. In case this is of any use to you, here it all is. There may be additions in the future.

Japanese folklore

LEGEND

Several competing stories tell of Kintaro's childhood. In one, he was raised by his mother, Princess Yaegiri, daughter of a wealthy man named Shiman-choja, in the village of Jizodo, near Mt. Kintoki. In a competing legend, his mother gave birth to him in what is now Sakata. She was forced to flee, however, due to fighting between her husband, a samurai named Sakata, and his uncle. She finally settled in the forests of Mt. Kintoki to raise her son. Alternatively, Kintaro's real mother left the child in the wilds or died and left him an orphan, and he was raised by the mountain witch Yama-uba (one tale says Kintaro's mother raised him in the wilds, but due to her haggard appearance, she came to be called Yama-uba). In the most fanciful version of the tale, Yama-uba was Kintaro's mother, impregnated by a clap of thunder sent from a red dragon of Mt. Ashigara.

The legends agree that even as a toddler, Kintarō was active and indefatigable, plump and ruddy, wearing only a bib with the Chinese character for "gold" (金) on it. His only other accoutrement was a hatchet (a Chinese symbol of thunder). He was bossy to other children (or there simply were no other children in the forest), so his friends were mainly the animals of Mt. Kintoki and Mt. Ashigara. He was also phenomenally strong, able to smash rocks into pieces, uproot trees, and bend trunks like twigs. His animal friends served him as messengers and mounts, and some legends say that he even learned to speak their language. Several tales tell of Kintaro's adventures, fighting monsters and demons, beating bears in sumo wrestling, and helping the local woodcutters fell trees.

As an adult, Kintarō changed his name to Sakata no Kintoki. He met the samurai Yorimitsu Minamoto as he passed through the area around Mt. Kintoki. Minamoto was impressed by Kintaro's enormous strength, so he took him as one of his personal retainers to live with him in Kyoto. Kintoki studied martial arts there and eventually became the chief of Yorimitsu's "Four Braves" and renown for his strength and martial prowess. He eventually went back for his mother and brought her to Kyoto as well.

Kintarō in Modern Japan

Kintarō is an extremely popular figure in Japan, and his image adorns everything from statues to storybooks, anime, manga to action figures. For example, the anime Golden Boy stars a character with the same name. Kintarō as an image is characterized with a Masakari ax, a Haragake Japanese-style apron and sometimes a tame bear.
Kintarō candy has been around since the Edo period; no matter how the cylinder-shaped candy is cut, Kintarō's face appears inside. Japanese tradition is to decorate the room of a newborn baby boy with Kintarō dolls on Children's Day (May 5) so that the child will grow up to be strong like the Golden Boy. A shrine dedicated to the folk hero lies at the foot of Mt. Kintoki in the Hakone area near Tokyo. Nearby is a giant boulder that was supposedly chopped in half by the boy hero himself

SAMURAI CINEMA

Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai, 1954 Japan 200mins)
Source: Heritage Films Prod Co: Toho Prod: Shojiro Motoko Dir: Akira Kurosawa Scr: Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni & Kurosawa Phot: Asakazu Nakai Ed: Fumio Yamaguchi Art Dir: So Matsuyama Fencing: Yoshio Sugino Archery: Ienori
Kaneko & Yoshio Sugino Mus: Fumio Hayasaka

Winner of the 1954 Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion and nominated in subsequent years for 2 Oscars-Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Takashi Matsuyama) and Best Costume Design (Kôhei Ezaki)-as well as for 2 British Academy of Film and Television Awards-Best Film and Best Foreign Actor (2 nominations, Toshiro Mifune and Takeshi Shimura)-Seven Samurai is widely acknowledged as one of Kurosawa's, and indeed Japan's and World cinema's, greatest films. Kurosawa directed and edited the film and also worked on the script with long-time collaborators Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. As with so many of his projects, his involvement in Seven Samurai was extensive and indicates his powerful commitment to exploration of the issues the film broaches and to achieving the widest possible audience for that exploration. Kurosawa's recipe for this task was to make an action film that engaged the emotions and the intellect in equal and extraordinary measures.

Seven Samurai is a story about a poor farming village community in the sixteenth century Sengoku jidai era of civil strife and feuding samurai clans. Without the protection of a strong feudal warlord's samurai in these strife torn times, the village is repeatedly raided by a band of outlaws. Its crops are pillaged, its men killed and women abducted. The villagers decide to hire wandering, masterless samurai (ronin) to protect themselves from the bandits (many of whom are themselves ronin), offering only board and three meals a day as their payment. The first half of the film depicts the plight of the farmers and their difficult search in the nearby provincial town for samurai who are willing to stoop to working for their social inferiors. 'Find hungry samurai!' is the wise advice of the village elder, played by Kokuten Kodo. They eventually find one ronin, Kambei, played by the wonderful Takeshi Shimura-whose performance in this film is only bettered by his starring role in Kurosawa's Living (Ikiru, 1952). Kambei is able to recruit a team from among the ronin passing through the town.

The latter half of Seven Samurai concerns the preparations of the samurai in the village, their efforts to win the trust of the initially fearful farmers, and the final battle of the samurai-led villagers with the bandits. In thematic terms, the central hypothesis being 'tested' in this social experiment between the samurai and the peasant class is the question of the possibility of class cooperation and harmony. The stakes are not only survival, but also social and, by extension, national peace and prosperity. These stakes have as much to do with the historical era in which the film is set as they have with the post-war era of 1950s Japan. The film must be seen as an effort to address pressing questions around the nature of Japanese identity, culture, class structure and nationhood that Kurosawa and all Japanese people confronted in the wake of the Pacific war, foreign occupation and the subsequent 'reinvention' of Japan.

In typical Kurosawa fashion, these stakes are brought to life for the spectator through the dynamic and highly charged emotional conflicts of individual characters in the film. Toshiro Mifune's Kikuchiyo is a central figure in this regard. He is an orphaned farmer's son who aspires to become a samurai (a not unrealistic goal in the turbulent social mobility of the Sengoku jidai). Rejected initially by Kambei as a member of the force he assembles to protect the village, Kikuchiyo pursues the samurai relentlessly and comically until he is finally accepted as the seventh of their group. Having done so, he performs a crucial pivotal role between the farmers and the samurai, overcoming some of the fears and suspicions that keep them dangerously disunited. But this go-between role means he exists at the site of the well-worn conflict that threatens to break up the alliance, a conflict between arrogant, dominating samurai and suspicious, resentful farmers.

In fact, this conflict is at the heart of Kikuchiyo's character. In the film's most crucial scene, Kikuchiyo presents to the other samurai armour and weaponry that the farmers had kept hidden in a secret cache, expecting them to be pleased at the discovery of these new resources. Instead they are disgusted, knowing that the material would have been stripped from the bodies of dead or murdered samurai after battle. Their anger grows and they even contemplate slaughtering the villagers. In a performance of overwhelming emotional intensity, Mifune's hitherto clownish Kikuchiyo lambasts the samurai for their ignorance and hypocrisy, explaining that while the farmers are dull, wicked, murderous and cowardly, it is the samurai who have made them so, by plundering, burning, raping, and oppressing the peasants on behalf of their warlords. As a victim of that oppression, and one who now aspires to the role of samurai, that is, the role of warrior but in principle also the role of servant and protector of the people, Kikuchiyo's passion arises from his tragic embodiment of these hierarchical differences between Japan's people, and by the same token their potential synthesis.

Space is too short to do justice to all the complexities of the film's story, or to the amazing performances of Shimura, Mifune and many of the other cast members who were part of Kurosawa's troupe of trusted actors in the 1950s and 1960s (including Minoru Chiaki who plays the samurai Heihachi and Bokuzen Hidari whose face radiates the affects of peasant fear and powerlessness as Yohei). Furthermore, the film's stunning formal and stylistic features-the influential slow motion death scenes, the reinvigoration of silent cinema narrational techniques, the dynamic spatial compositions-have hardly been mentioned. If anything can be said about these here, it should be insisted that Kurosawa's formal experimentation and choices as director and editor are an integral part of the film's exploration of these themes of social conflict and group versus individual ethics. At the same time they maximise the film's brilliant portrayal of action and dramatic events in order to make the film as enjoyable and moving as possible.

While mention is frequently made of the influence of John Ford's wide-screen cinematography and large scale mise en scène on Kurosawa's depiction of action sequences, the importance of Eisenstein's notion of a montage of oppositions is equally significant in considering the look of Seven Samurai. (1) Kurosawa's dynamic camera, tracking fast-moving warriors and sweeping across battle scenes, is counter posed with static and close-up shots. Long takes are opposed to rapidly cut sequences from a number of camera angles. Like Eisenstein (another great action filmmaker), Kurosawa's editing and camera direction work together to create spectacular visual impacts and elicit complex combinations of emotions and thoughts in the spectator.

The opening of the film provides an apt example. After one farmer overhears the brigands planning to raid the village in the near future, all the villagers gather to discuss the situation. This sequence is handled by a combination of long shots of the whole group and closer shots of 2 or 3 individuals arguing about what to do. Then there is a surprising, big close-up of the face of one of the peasants, Rikichi, as he proposes to kill all the bandits as a solution to the problem. Rickichi's proposal is rejected by others as impossible and too dangerous. His hatred for the bandits is motivated by their abduction of his wife during the last raid. As he ridicules the counter proposition of begging for mercy from the bandits, Kurosawa cuts to a high angle long shot of the group with Rikichi at their centre. Rikichi then leaves the tightly formed circle of the farmers, walking outside of its bounds toward the top of screen. The following shot is a devastating recuperation of Rikichi's rebellious gesture: Kurosawa frames Rikichi, now squatting down in his misery, at a straight angle with the sitting villagers behind him. As Stephen Prince points out in The Warrior's Camera, the angle and the flattened out plane of the long shot has the effect of reuniting Rikichi with the village group he seeks to escape (2). As the farmers decide to consult the village elder, one of them goes out and brings Rikichi back to the group.

This is just one early example of Seven Samurai's masterful employment of combinations of camera and character movement in a dialectical and dynamic dialogue with the spectator. A film of immense emotional impact and one that as Eisenstein would have it, 'thinks in images' (and sounds I would add), its pleasures seem inexhaustible to this indefinitely repeating reviewer.

A samurai story.....

A Samurai Story

A lot of Japanese folks like to brag that they're descended from Samurai stock. The Samurai were the warrior class in feudal, pre-modern Japan. They started out as fighting men. But, they evolved into a ruling or noble class, if you will. They were the only group of people who were allowed to carry swords and other weapons. Many were effete administrators and oppressive landowners. They did no real work other than to wage war or serve as bodyguards and lived off the forced tributes of the peasants. Some Samurai were aristocrats, much like the lords and ladies of feudal Europe. Other Samurai were mere foot soldiers, known as Ashigari. Although I originally thought my ancestors were Ashigari, further investigation revealed that they were Samurai of some higher rank and importance.

Prior to 1600, there was constant warfare between the lords and overlords of feudal Japan. Fields and forests were strewn with dead soldiers from hundreds of battles. There was a decisive battle in 1600 at Sekigahara between two powerful overlords, Ishida of Western Japan and Tokugawa of Eastern Japan. If you've read the James Clavell's novel, Shogun, or seen the TV mini-series of the same title, these two were fictionally known as "Ishido" and "Toranaga". Tokugawa was victorious. He established a powerful military dynasty that lasted from 1600 to 1868 when the isolationist regime was finally forced to open up the country to Western powers. Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy set the change in motion in 1853 by threatening to bombard the Japanese unless he was allowed to deliver a letter from President Fillmore to the Shogun.

Where did we fit in all this? My ancestors were involved in the Sekigahara battle. We happened to be on the losing side. In those days, the options weren't very good for soldiers on the losing side. If they were captured alive, they would probably be tortured and killed. They could opt to commit "harakiri" or you may know it as "hary-cary". Or they could "head for the hills". Guess which one my ancestors picked. They weren't stupid. For the next 300 years, my ancestors blended into the countryside and lived as peasants. Well, so much for my proud Samurai roots.

Our family name was probably not Kaku originally. The first syllable "Ka", is derived from the ancient province of Kaga, which today is more or less Ishikawa prefecture in central Japan. The second syllable "ku" is a shortened form of the verb "kuru", which means to come. To escape detection and capture, my ancestors disguised their identity with this obscure name, Kaku, that only hinted of their home province of Kaga. This fact substantiates my belief that my ancestors were Samurai of a higher rank than Ashigari. Upon capture, Ashigari would probably have not been required to forfeit their lives. Is this story true? Or is it a family myth? I'll never really know. A Japanese friend of mine thought that the story is plausible, because of the unusualness of the name.

japanese samurai histoty

The Origins of Japanese Samurai


The Japanese samurai warriors came into existence in the 12th century when two powerful Japanese clans fought bitter wars against each other - the Taira and the Minamato. At that time the Japanese shogunate, a system of a military ruler, called the shogun was formed. Under the shogun the next hierarchy were the daimyo, local rulers comparable to dukes in Europe. The Japanese samurai were the military retainers of a daimyo. And finally you may have heard of ronin. Ronin are samurai without a master. This is what happened to the 47 Ronin in the famous story of Chushingura after their lord was forced to commit suicide.

According to historians the fierce fights between hostile clans and war lords was mainly a battle for land. Only 20 percent of Japan's rugged and mountainous area can be used for agriculture.


Decline and End of the Samurai History


During the Tokugawa shogunate from 1603 to 1867 (the Edo period) the country lived in peace. The samurai warrior class had basically nothing to do. Now they took other tasks, in the bureaucracy for instance.

In 1867 the last shogun resigned and the emperor was reinstalled as the formal leader of Japan. In 1871 the old feudal system and the privileges of the Japanese samurai class were officially abolished. The daimyo had to return the land to the emperor for which they received pensions by the Japanese state.

Historians estimate the percentage that belonged to the samurai class at 8 percent of the overall population of Japan. The abolishment of the samurai class caused severe social problems. Many samurai did not know how to make a living and survive. There were cases of samurai wives who sold themselves to brothels to support the family.



Samurai in Modern Japan

Although samurai do not have any official status in today's modern Japan, descendants of samurai families still enjoy a high esteem among the Japanese population.

harakiri history

Many people who hardly know anything Japanese, use the word Hara-kiri, freely, meaning 'Suicide'. In Japanese, the word hara means belly or 'viscera', and kiri means cut or split.

This form of suicide was regarded as an act of great honor, and was actually performed willingly by slitting the stomach of oneself. There is another version of 'hara-kiri' - which is an act of submission to be beheaded on the order of a superior. It is known as "seppuku". In this case, the man sits before an admiring circle of friends and colleagues, early morning, facing the rising sun. He is asked to write down a small farewell poem and then accept the inevitable - yet the most honorable end by a sword, wielded by one of his best friends. The Samurais of yore welcomed such a command from their overlords, as an act of sincere penance for a shameful conduct.
Once a Samurai, always a samurai

Though this practice is long extinct in Japan, shame still dwells in the sub-conscious as a silent, unspoken, below-the-threshold psychological trait that influences even the most modern Japanese. Shame can easily silence one or act as a sublimating mechanism in Japanese behavior. The Japanese suffer from the worst fear of committing a shameful act or being ashamed of dishonesty, disrespect or dis-harmony with socially accepted norms. Many of the suicide cases are traced to the Japanese apprehension of acute shame. However, both 'hara-kiri' and 'seppuku' are no longer practiced in today's Japan.

Coming back to the hara, to the Japanese it connotes far more - backbone, heart, mind, guts. And it is the source of breath and hence spirit, similar to the Greek concept of psyche. From the hara rises the breath for chanting sutras. The thoughts that emanate from the hara help to make one's communication agreeable and indulgent. It is called hara-gei - a word that describes the form of trust and intimacy, for instance, between the manager and his worker. One must be capable of reaching another's heart through his 'hara' -somewhat like the expression: "the route to the heart is through the stomach".

There are several connotations related to hara - such as a man of ill will has a black hara and a generous man has a thick hara, and so on. Semantics apart, the Japanese literally protect the hara with a cloth band which is called hara-maki. Women in their fifth month of pregnancy ritualistically wrap themselves in a hara-obi, which they continue until delivery. I have noticed the Japanese advising Indian women not to reveal the midriff and to keep the belly always well wrapped for good health.

In the meditative posture called Zazen, the breath should rise unimpeded from the hara, -comparable to the Indian kundalini- according to Zen practices. The Japanese claim to be able to communicate with others - silently - through the hara, during games, negotiations or meetings. Many Japanese game parlours or meetings are unbelievably quiet, because it's only in silence you can wake up the hara and respond to it.