Last night's spar at a new school

[k0reanm4n]

augy and i visited hanwool kumdo in des plaines last night at the invitation of one of their sabunims, mr. kim. another mr. kim, the younger (my age), leads the class. he trained at hwarang for 10 years prior to opening hanwool i'm told.

the elder kim sparred us last week at my place. it was a good time, but hardly the primer for last night's war of attrition.

firstly, their warmup drills killed me. triple to what i'm used to at hwarang, and i haven't been there in a year. at home all i do is stretch, smoke a cigarette, stick in a cd and spar. after warmups we did round upon round of hitting drills and yohnyuk. towards the end i paired up with augy and we faked it, we were so useless.

the sparring: augy ended up with someone he felt gave him no challenge, due only to a disparity in experience. fortunately i ended up with the younger, springier kim at the head of the line. fortunate in that he made me focus, earn every point. (he reminds me of mr. do) from the get-go he was on me, hitting sohnmoks and huris (fast), forcing me to use deep-ass seme (which in turn gave me a defense for his muhri attempts). and it wasn't easy finding his muhri, he knew how to anticipate. still, i tried to hit muhri only, with a sohnmok here and there to reset my timing but my thinking is start at the top and go down. (i rarely do huris cuz i suck at em). a few sohnmok-muhris were in order, but those tend to tire me out. i did one hiki (backward) huri, after which i was rubbery. in total we sparred for about 25 mins non-stop (correction, i soohgoguired twice, extra long count). in that time i fouled him twice (no throat stikes per their rules), hit his muhri liberally but because i was losing oxygen in my brain i couldn't tell if they were valid. as far as sohnmoks we traded shot for shot, although he executed better. he hit my muhri once, and it was a beauty - crisp, dead on, and out of nowhere. by the end i was cramping in my stomach from all the swinging.

the whole evening was great tho, very edifying. the sabunims and resident students were welcoming, very honorific. i'm grateful for the experience. i spoke to joseph of hwarang today, we'll go back with him after he returns from a working vacation in japan (nice) next month. my brother-in-law could go too but they don't call him mayhem for nothing. and if you don't know why he's called that, spar him.

meanwhile, stv, jr, come on over. augy and i'll practice sunday night if yous can make it. i just want to show you one thing that might change your k-do forever. it has nothing to do with the kendo porn video charse was telling me about (he's in japan/korea right now) but it's just as intriguing.

but of course you'll never know if you don't show. "ttong-dahk"

[VIAGRAsas]

Sounds lovely!! And I'd be so bashful if someone invited ME!!!! :)

[supacomboy]

hahaha man you have all the fun. i need to start training again so i don't embarass myself. any style difference between our dojang and theirs?

[k0reanm4n]

hahaha man you have all the fun. i need to start training again so i don't embarass myself. any style difference between our dojang and theirs?

yeah, it was hella fun.

what i want to show you i learned from masahiro miyasaki's lecture when i was in detroit, and it's sooooo simple and yet will change your kendo forever. however, the further you train the more you might solidify a bad habit which i had had coming from our dojang. it took me a whole year to fix the "habit,' i implore you to take a look otherwise you might reget it later, when (and train all you want) i kick your ass with a simple footwork maneuver which i know for sure koo ain't privy to.

what's the difference in styles between hwarang and hanwool? nothing. everyone learned from master koo, his way. they do have a much better floor, tho. nice and soft.
and all three sabunims spar much like mr. do, altho i feel he's much faster.

stv, i need to spar you so you'll see what i talking about. it's not speed or anything bruce lee-ish, it's just posture, footwork, seme, and something we call the "kick."

i know you're good, but practice all you want, it aint gonna help. to further prove my point, you can watch my friend augy spar - he's a beginner too but he knows the kick and with it he can out-muhri anyone who hasn't learned it.

the stomp as we know it does not exist in kendo, just so you know. in actuality it's the kick misinterpreted.

from april 19 to may 1 i'm on vacation - i'll find you. if you want to save your ass beforehand, get your hogu after class, come over. trust me, you'll be astounded. and we'll tape the whole thing so you can see for yourself.

hwarang is a great place to train, plenty of sparring partners (targets), good people, i'm not trying to diss em, i love masa im actually, he's good to me, but i think there's evidence of fraud at the highest level.

there, i've said it. and i'll back it up.

f*ck it, augy and i are going to hwarang, do you go nights? i'm gonna collect some scalps.

[k0reanm4n]

http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6358

this somewhat addresses why fumikomi (kikumchae) is not a "stomp," and for those who instruct it, demonstrate it as such should take note: it is a kick that comes as a result of "semeing" forward.

for a live demonstration, come by nodan kendo at 4321 n. western, dammit!

[krapygua]

hwatang says there's no difference but there are a few. no tire and everybody bogus up.

oh yeah, everything tang claims is 100% true. yes, i taught him everything he knows.

[k0reanm4n]

krapygua? i was like, crappy guy, who would name themselves that? but then i got it.

i'll kick you ass, just like the last 4 times.

but you're right, there's no tire at hanwool, and all the sabuneems spar, unlike, ahem.

hey, want to stop by moreshigae later and talk to master im?

i just emailed you, shomen means front of the head. is that what you're going for, i mean as a name for the dojo?

nodan was good, since we're never gonna get em. i still like stone kendo but that's a wee obvious.

[krapygua]

just because you happened to catch the last point of our last spar, you think you took me in the last 4 rounds.

ok, we're gonna keep tally. our names are going up on the white board. whoever else wants in on this are all welcome. i'm bringing the cooking timer. tournament style 5 minute matches and sudden death OTs.

better pound those energy drinks cause it's going to rain men.

[rezurex]

wow i'll come to chicago in a few months, i should check out some of the dojangs there. I haven't actually trained with HRD extensively but i've sparred with several friends of mine who are ranked 3rd-4th dan in HRD. The kumdo dojang i train at the moment doubles as a kumdo dojang as well as a HRD dojang.

[krapygua]

hrd? you said you trained in korea and japan. can you tell us what you saw at kumdo dojangs and kendo dojos?

[rezurex]

hrd? you said you trained in korea and japan. can you tell us what you saw at kumdo dojangs and kendo dojos?

HRD - Hwa Rang Do :)

training in asia is much more extensive... and somewhat more hardcore. in the u.s. if your sabomnim hit you on the head because you did something wrong people would see that as something crossing the line. However in asia, as a young kid i got smacked around by sabomnim's and Buddhist monks i've trained with. it wasn't so much that they wanted to abuse us or anything like that, but typically in dojangs in the united states the little kids take martial arts not so seriousy. they tend to run around and horseplay, etc. this is strictly not tolerated in korea and in japan, atleast in the type of dojangs i've trained in. Training sessions were not also dictated by the "one hour and half" that is usually alotted in the u.s. martial arts training for youths were seen as an after school activity. Training went on for as long as it needed, sometimes lasting as long as 4 hours.

Of course not all dojangs in korea/japan are of this manner. it depends how exclusive and how traditional the school is. My family has been Buddhist for many generations, and many ancestors and relatives of mine have achieved master level ranking in various martial arts through training received from Buddhist monastaries. In general however if you train in asia in a reputable, traditional school you'll find that training is a little more intense, however as in any batch there exists bad apples. some schools tend to stress tradition and memorization of texts more so than other schools. I've also seen that Gi training is almost non-existent in the united states. True Gi training requires hours of meditation in nature. At the dojang i trained in every weekend the sabomnims would organize trips to local mountains where we would hike up to the top and train and meditate. we would pack our lunches and it was understood that it was an all day endeavor.

i've never trained in a kendo dojang. as far as kumdo i've seen training but never participated. the differences in training were pretty much what i've outlined above.

if you have any more questions, please ask. i apologize if what i've written is a bit incoherent, im late for work atm and i wanted to answer your question before i left :)

all the best

rez

[krapygua]

i've never trained in a kendo dojang.

this was all you had to say to answer my question.