Monday 15 September 2014

Micro Post; This Months quote:

This time I will share one quote from Kenwa Mabuni. Like Funakoshi, Kenwa Mabuni was a Karate pioneer and taught by legendary masters. He was the first teacher of Yoon Kwae Byung which those who read my blog will know is the founder of the Ji Do Kwan (or reopener of the Yoon Moo Kwan as Ji Do Kwan depending on how you look at it). So eventhough Kenwa Mabuni is a Karate master and that most of Taekwondo`s Karate roots are with Gichin Funakoshi, Kenwa Mabuni also had a finger in the Kukki Taekwondo lineage. Mabuni is or was famous for his knowledge of many differen forms or Kata, but he was also famous for his deep knowledge of them. Knowing that he knew A LOT OF Kata or forms I found this quote very interesting when I first saw it. So here is the quote:
 
"If practiced properly, two or three kata will suffice as "your" kata;
all of the others can just be studied as sources of additional knowledge.
 
Breadth, no matter how great, means little without depth.
In other words, no matter how many kata you know,
they will be useless to you
if you don't practice them enough"
 
-Kenwa Mabuni
 

2 comments:

  1. Kata/tul/hyung/poomsae is the most underestimated part of the martial trainig.I believe it is a result of the lack of knowledge most tkd,tsd,karate masters have.They can't understand their application so they say simply that forms are useless.
    kOSTAS

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    1. Agreed:-) I recently read a book on memory techniques and memory in general which made me respect the forms as a way of transmitting and retaining knowledge over time a lot more. I think I am going to Write more about the subject in the future but Applications is key in all aspects in my opinion. One thing you do get without Applications though is a mnemonic devise for the Taegeuk symbol (Um and Yang + all the different Gwe that surrounds it) in the Taegeuk Poomsae. Whole line is two stances to the sides and broken line is one stance to the sides. With this drawing the different "Gwe" from each Taegeuk Poomsae should be easy:-) Whish I knew that when I did the theory tests for my 1st dan.

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