TAE Kwon Do and shaolin

[roughnready]

how do tae kwon do and northern shaolin differ? i heard that tae kwon do originally came out of northern shaolin,i beleive a famous korean general traveled to shaolin and studied their moves or something? is this true did korean karate come from shaolin?

[Nevermind]

As a former TKD practitioner, I can tell you that there is no truth to that at all. Of course, just about every style can be traced back to Shaolin if you want to look at Shaolin being the birthplace of martial arts. But as for TKD being a direct offshoot of Shaolin? No. The general you are probably referring to is Gen. Choi Hong Hi. He was a 1st degree black belt in Shotokan Karate before developing TKD as a national martial art for Korea. So TKD is more of an offshoot of Japanese Karate. Which explains why traditional TKD (not the sport version) looks very similar to Shotokan Karate. Certain kicks within TKD, such as tornado kick and crescent kick, do show some Northern Shaolin influence. Korea is sandwiched between China and Japan. So while the kicks do show that circular Kung Fu influence, its linear punching and hand strikes are more similar to Japanese Karate. Hope this clears up any confusion. Peace! (o:

[GLW]

The body movement and the way the waist and legs are used in northern styles is vastly different than the method employed in Tae Kwon Do.

Tae Kwon Do has kicks similar to Northern fists...but the hands - limited...more closely resemble Japanese styles...little wonder given the number of times Korea was occupied by Japan....

So, when looking at it, The lower part of Tae Kwon Do - the legs and kicks - in form often may resemble northern Chinese styles. But, after all, how many different ways can you execute a kick....?

The upper body with the more squared shoulders and waist - hip connection in many ways looks more like Japanese and therefore some southern Chinese styles.

Where this gets different is that northern styles tend to have a waist to leg connection that travels NOT ONLY to the legs but all of the way up to the arms and hands. For example, in northern, there is a technique called Tan Tui (similar to the routine Tan Tui in words but it actually also refers to a specific technique...confusing language)...where you kick with one leg and punch with the opposite side's fist. In a southern approach, this technique would not work. The typical alignment of the shoulders with the hips means that the punch would not get to its target while the kick would.

In a northern sense, the waist turns and extends. With a supple waist and spine, the hand and foot can indeed make it to the target.

Tae Kwon Do would NOT have this technique typically.

Northern styles extend from the waist - "One inch longer, one inch stronger" is a translation of a northern axiom. There is much more extension and twisting in the waist in northern styles than southern. This is one of the flavorings that you look for in northern.

[GeneChing]

Shaolin ‘monk’ takes on a Taekwondo master (http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/vault/cma/shaolin-monk-takes-on-a-taekwondo-master)
by K.L. Stephenson
Monday, April 10, 2017

Shoalin kung fu is one of the oldest styles of Chinese martial arts with a long, storied history dating back some 1500 years. It is the fighting style of the monks of the Shaolin temple but is seldom seen in sport’s competition as fighting for sport is not in line with their beliefs.

Taekwondo on the other hand is relatively new for a martial art, and wasn’t developed until the 1940s and 50s. Compared to Shaolin kung fu it is very sport based but it is also practiced by the Korean military.

In the following clip we see an alleged Shaolin monk named Yi Long take on a Taekwondo blackbelt named Min Yon Jin and the clash of styles is interesting to behold.

http://www.mma.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/yilongmain.jpg

Though the Kung Fu fighter in this clip is often promoted as a Shaolin monk, his background with the Shaolin temple is questionable and is most likely more marketing than anything.

In December of 2010 a spokesman from the Shaolin Temple had this to say of him:

“Yi Long, who was billed as the No. 1 Shaolin Kung Fu monk, is neither a Kung Fu monk of Shaolin Temple, nor could he be named as the No. 1 Shaolin Kung Fu monk at all.”

According to another source though at canbike.org, Yi Long has in fact spent some time training at the Shoalin Temple but is more of a Sanda/Sanshou fighter than anything.

Nevertheless, he is most definitely a practitioner of Chinese martial arts that is very clear from his fighting style which we see displayed in this clip against a Taekwondo blackbelt.

Both fighters hit the deck numerous times in this clip, especially the taekwondo fighter who goes down many times and seems to have some issues with his balance. Perhaps the heavy leg kicks Yi Long lands took their toll on him.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4k4Iy4Bk2o

Though this video is only a portion of the fight, Yi Long was eventually declared the winner via KO in the later rounds.

Hey, I know the 'monk' in the pic on the title card of this... :p

[David Jamieson]

lol, let's show it to him. :D