Suwon, South Korea

[GeneChing]

This is dated but I love the photos. I'm only posting the first pic. You'll have to click the link for the rest.


Historians clash with Olympians to preserve South Korean martial arts in Suwon (http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/play/martial-arts-performance-suwon-294684)
CNNGo reader Derek Winchester looks at the Suwon Citizen’s festival, which in October will recreate various martial arts from South Korean history
By Derek Winchester 10 September, 2010

http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/624x468_gallery/2010/09/10/martial-arts-3_main.jpg

Suwon, about 45 minutes south of Seoul, is home to a unique group of martial artists.

These men and women are keeping alive a set of skills used to teach South Korean warriors fighting. Created hundreds of years ago by studying the strengths and weaknesses of other martial arts, these arts are divided into unarmed, armed and horse-mounted styles.

At the daily demonstration only the armed and unarmed styles are performed. The horse-mounted styles are saved for special occasions like the October citizen’s festival.

The performers come from all walks of life, from South Korean history scholars to ex Olympic alternates to local high school students. They train and perform six days a week, and sacrifice a lot to preserve this part of South Korean culture.

During the Suwon Citizen’s festival in October, the martial artists get a chance to display the horse martial arts and reenact a night assault on the Hwaseong fortress. Every year a lot of thought goes into making this event special and unique. Fireworks and hundreds of re-enactors take the guise of Japanese soldiers and samurai.

The performance in Suwon has become so popular that they have started a performance in Seoul at Namsan Tower. This performance is different in that it is more court based and flows more like a dance, while the one in Suwon is more military based.

They perform every day except Mondays at 11 a.m. from March to December at Hwaseong Haegung in Suwon. The performance is free. Another group performs at Namsan Tower in Seoul every day except Monday at 3 p.m.

[Hebrew Hammer]

The Koreans have several 'cool' arts that combine the best of both Chinese and Japanese styles, that I'd be interested in, like Kuk Sool Won, Hwrangdo, and the more modern Gongkwon Yusul. Korea has been conquered by both nations over the years yet they always seem to reclaim the roots of their arts as originally Korean.

The other thing that always interests me about Kul Sool Won and Hwrangdo, is that they claim to have meditation, acupuncture, and acupressure...the healing arts as part of their upper level curriculum yet I can never find anyone who actually trains with it. I wish I could find an art that encompasses all that...CLF/Chi Kung was the closest thing I've come to that.

PS good find Gene...thanks for the link.

[ShaolinDan]

I think it's pretty cool they still practice on horseback. This is the only TMA I've heard of that does this, even though it was obviously a big part of any truly martial style from anywhere that had horses.