TKD Books/Magazines to read?

Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz.

Mitch

 

Ch'ang Hon Taekwondo Hae Sul

As this book is so directly relevant to all Ch'ang Hon practitioners (ITF, TAGB and other ITF-style TKD practitioners), and represents something not previously available, I've decided to write a more detailed review than normal. Let me state in advance that I have no connection with the author, indeed I Instruct for a rival association. If you can't be bothered with the details, skip to the Summary at the end.

Ch'ang Hon Taekwon-do Hae Sul, by Stuart Anslow 359pp, A4, softback, £24.99

Those familiar with the work of Iain Abernethy will have some idea of the major content of this book. Breaking patterns down and seeking more realistic applications for movements or sequences of movements has been an increasingly popular and, I believe, important movement in Karate for several years. Unfortunately there has been nothing similar for TKD, until now.

Contents
CHTKDHS begins with a chapter on the background and history of TKD. Nothing terribly controversial here, but some interesting info nonetheless and things all practitioners should know.

The following chapters include:

• Debunking Taekwon-do myths (eg "TKD is all about kicks")
• How TKD movements develop power and specifically how some common movements differ from Karate
• Research Sources for new applications
• How and at what grade to teach new applications
• General principles on researching new applications
• Basic TKD movements and how they can be applied in a wider context.

There follow chapters on each pattern, Sajo Jirugi up to Toi Gye. I'm not going to detail much on these as the applications need studying and practicing, but as a general rule each chapter includes:

• Clear photolayout of the pattern
• 3 or 4 pages of background on the pattern meaning and history.
• Applications to movements profusely illustrated with photsequences.
• Alternative Applications, which fit less easily into the flow of the pattern or the analytical method the author has used, but are useful nonetheless.
• Each pattern is covered in 15-30 pages, so a lot of detail.

The book concludes with a chapter rounding everything up, then a series of notes and appendices, covering everything from Ki to Sinewave to tables of which techniques occur where in the patterns.

There is even the URL for a website for continuing discussion of the book with the author!

What I Like
The background chapters contain some real gems of information and a good general background to TKD. For those outside TKD they should go a long way to destroying the negative stereotypes of our art. As a practitioner I found much of interest here.

The Chapters on the patterns themselves show some excellent applications for the movements. Many are restoring the grappling and close quarters aspects of TKD that have been lost to some extent over the years. Those who have attended seminars on this sort of thing will be familiar with these ideas; but to have so many, in such detail and so clearly illustrated with photographs makes for an invaluable resource.

As always, there are some applications that I don't particularly agree with and some that seem to me as unrealistic as the interpretations in the ITF manual. However there are a handful of these, compared to literally hundreds of other intersting and useful movements. Frankly, if you agree with everything in a book of this nature you're not thinking about the interpretations sufficiently for yourself!

Finally, the extra information on each pattern, over and above the standard meanings learnt by most practitioners, makes for an excellent read. Coupled with the introductory section and the Appendices they make this much more than just an applications manual.

Similar books have been written on Karate Kata, so will this add anything if you already have them? Yes, as it is written specifically with TKD movements in mind, so requires no "translation" when Karate movements differ from ours and so would not work in a TKD context.

As a comparison, this does a similar job as books such as Karate's Grappling Methods, but specifically for TKD, in more detail and with a huge amount of background added. And that is not a criticism of Mr Abernethy's excellent book, more an appreciation of the sheer amount of work which must have gone into this.

What I Don't Like
I used to be an English teacher, so grammatical errors annoy me more than they probably should. The opening chapters especially seem to suffer from typos and grammatical problems. There is nothing that interferes with the meaning of the text, and many may not bother most people at all. If a chapter called "Where's the Applications?" doesn't upset you, you'll have no issues with the proof reading, but I am a little disappointed by it.

Interestingly enough, these typos are much less frequent in the pattern application chapters.

The photography is all black and white, which tends to give an overall "school textbook" appearance. Though always clear, some of the photos would look better at a higher reolution. Colour would of course add significantly to the cost and is understandably not always possible in more limited print runs, but I'm reviewing from the viewpoint of what would be my ideal.

Finally, there are some 20 pages in the appendices devoted to photos and details of the author's Association and his own School. I suppose one can't argue with a little self-promotion and it could be argued that it's more about establishing credibility, but this sort of material will be flicked through once then left unused in the future.

Summary
My gripes are based on production costs, proof-reading and a small amount of promotional material. Valid points (for me) but minor.

What I am hugely impressed by is the scope and detail of the research involved here. The research of the applications themselves alone must have been a massive undertaking, but then the additional material takes this beyond being just a book of interpretations of patterns and into something so much more. The clear presentation through description and lavish use of photographs makes for an easy-to-follow guide which will be of interest to all stylists and deeply enrich and inform the training of all Ch'ang Hon practitioners.

Mitch
2nd Dan TAGB
That's right, don't read his stuff about his association, join the TAGB, join the TAGB...

 

Yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, but yeah....

BUT! Aha! TAGB spell it "Sajo" in their "White Belt to Yellow Belt" book so I'm going to claim victory!

This may be the result of them translating it in a midlands accent or something, but I'm willing to take it.

So

Cheers,
Mitch

PS: It should be, "Hee hee" not, "hee hee"

Pedantic-Mitch

PPS: It's still an excellent book, many congratulations. :love:

PPS: StuartA is correct about the associations, IAOMAS are not rivals to TAGB, my bad and apologies to all. You should all still join TAGB though...

 

Not a TKD book as such, but interesting and well put together is Bob Breen's A Path to Understanding Fighting, ISBN978-1905005-07-9.

Bob is a well respected JKD guy here in the UK.

I haven't finished it or begun to digest it all but what I have looked at seems clear, concise and interesting.

Waterstones in the UK have it for £9.99, reduced from its normal £14.99 at the moment.

Mitch