Tracking Lineages

[Bruce W Sims]

Dear Folks:

I know that lineage is not a huge focus of Korean MA. All the same its nice to know one's roots, ne?

Recently I have been contacting various schools to find out how they fit into the larger picture of Korean sword development--- at least back to the KKA (known as the TAE HAN KUM SA at the time) in 1948. I am rather surprised at how little response I have gotten. Is there a reason people are reluctant to discuss such things or is this just not something most schools are interested in? Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[samsuh]

Dear Folks:

I know that lineage is not a huge focus of Korean MA. All the same its nice to know one's roots, ne?

Recently I have been contacting various schools to find out how they fit into the larger picture of Korean sword development--- at least back to the KKA (known as the TAE HAN KUM SA at the time) in 1948. I am rather surprised at how little response I have gotten. Is there a reason people are reluctant to discuss such things or is this just not something most schools are interested in? Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

Purely my personal conjecture, but here it is... I think the reason why is because kumdo (Tae Han Kumdo) looks and feels just like kendo and there is an apprehension that "digging deep" may suggests that kumdo in fact is kendo. The Tae Han Kumdo (KKA) history seems to suggests that the native sword practice technique called "gyokgom" was assimilated into the Japanese kendo when Japan annexed Korea in 1910. So, for those who re-established kumdo in 1948, it was in many ways as "native" as it was going to be.... Below is a translation of KKA history that I did a while back when I set up my personal homepage (which is no longer available). I've highlighted the section that is most relevant to the issue at hand.

Korea's swordsmanship has a long history and tradition. According to various records, during the Koguryo Period Korean warriors trained in various martial arts including the swordsmanship, while contemporaneously the Kingdom of Paekche retained sword makers to produce swords. Additionally, history records that teachers of swordsmanship went to Japan.

However, it was in the Kingdom of Silla where the Korean swordsmanship made a significant development. With the blossoming of the Hwarang system, the native swordsmanship opened a new chapter...

The development of Korean swordsmanship which made a significant strive in the Silla Period continued into the Koryo Dynasty until the inauguration of the Choson Dynasty whose state philosophy [Neo-Confucianism] favored civil tradition denigrated martial arts. On the other hand, Japanese continuously made considerable progress in the art of swordsmanship which flourished.

The native Korean swordsmanship which was neglected until the middle of the Choson Dynasty regained its importance following the Japanese Invasion in 1592 (Imjin Waeran or the Japanese Invasion in the Year of the Black Dragon) and the Second Manchu Invasion of 1636 (Byonja Horan). This recognition of the importance of swordsmanship is attested by the inclusion of Bonguk Gombop--the native swordsmanship originally developed during the Silla Dynasty period--in Muye Dobo Tongji (A Comprehensive Illustration of Martial Arts) during the reign of King Jongjo (22nd king of the Choson Dynasty; reigned between 1724-1776). Later in 1896, during the reign of King Kojong, Kyongmuchong or the Police Agency adopted kyokgom ["combat swordsmanship"] as one of its training subject, and in 1904 the Yonsong Army Academy included kyokgom in its curriculum.

In 1908, the first ever Korea-Japan police kyokgom contest was held. In September of the same year, an organization named Mudo Kigye Chaeyukbu or the "Armed Martial Arts Athletics Department" was formed and promoted physical training amongst civilians, including kyokgom. By this time, the kyokgom training equipment and techniques developed to something that closely resembles those of modern kumdo.

[Translator's comment: In 1905, the Japanese government forced protectorate treaty on the Choson Chaeguk, or the Korean Empire, following its defeat of the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05). In an Anglo-American sponsored peace treaty between Russia and Japan, the Treaty of Portsmouth, Japan was recognized and granted its preeminent influence over Korea, opening the door for Japanese military expansionism for the next forty years ultimately culminating in the Japanese attack of the Pearl Harbor. Ironically, US President Theodore Roosevelt received the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his instrumental role in the Treaty of Portsmouth. Too weak and internally divided to resist the Japanese in the face of Western power's abandonment of Korea's soverignty (by this time Korea had signed amity treaties with the Great Britain and the United States among others), the Choson Empire capitulated to the Japanese. The Empire of Japan essentially took all sovereign power from the Choson government, and five years later in 1910 annexed Korea outright without much western protest.]

Circa 1910, the term kyokgom was dropped in favor of kumdo. This is when the art of swordsmanship began to change from one of combat to a "martial" sport. With this shift in the nature of swordsmanship, kumdo began to be popularized amongst the masses.

Osong Private School became one of the first private institution to teach kumdo when it began to training its students in the art in 1906. In 1920, Choson Chaeyukhoe (Choson Athletics Association) was established, and a year later, Mr. Kang Nak-won opened Choson Mudogwan, the country's first private school to teach kumdo exclusively.

In 1927, kumdo became an official middle school curriculum, and in 1935 kumdo was included in the 16th All Choson Athletic Games as an official sport. However, with increasing oppression by the Japanese colonial government, the Choson Athletics Association was dissolved.

With the defeat of the Japanese Empire in 1945 and the concomitant liberation of Korea, kumdo regained its popularity. With the 1947 Seoul Metropolitan Police Kumdo Championship, kumdo began to develop into an organized sport. In the following year, some 100 senior kumdoists, including Mr. Kang Nak-won, Suh Chong-hak, Ho Ink-yong, Kim Yong-dal, Pak Chong-kyu, and Kim Yong-bae, met on the grounds of the Changdok Palace and formed Taehan Kumsahoe (The Korea Kumdoist Association). Taehan Kumsahoe is the mother organization of Taehan Kumdohoe (The Korea Kumdo Association).

In April of 1950, the first Korea National Police Kumdo Championship was held. Two years later in 1952, a preparation committee began its work to form the Korea Kumdo Association, resulting in the establishment of the Korea Kumdo Association in1953 as an affiliate organization of Taehan Chaeyukhoe (The Korea Athletics Association). Starting this period, subordinate provincial and city affiliate kumdo associations began to be formed; the first Korea National Individual Kumdo Championship was also held.

In 1956, kumdo returned as an official competition sport in the National Athletics Games after a 20-year hiatus.

That same year, the Individual Kumdoist Championship and the National Students Kumdo Championship were held, attesting to kumdo's increasing popularity throughout Korea.

In 1964, the Students Kumdo Federation was reorganized as a subordinate entity of the Korean Kumdo Association, and in 1967 a kumdo championship was held to celebrate the birthday of Chungmugong (or Admiral Yi Sun-shin; Chunmugong is admiral's posthumous title).

In 1970, the Students Kumdo Federation was divided into University Kumdo Federation, High-School Kumdo Federation, and Middle-School Kumdo Federation. That same year, with the establishment of the International Kendo Federation, the Korea Kumdo Association joined the international body as the vice-chair country.

In 1972, kumdo became an official competition category in the Youth Athletic Games.

In 1979, the Korea Kumdo Association and DongAh Ilbo [a newspaper company] jointly sponsored the Presidential Standard Regular Kumdoist Championship. And in 1988 with the formation of Hanguk Sahoein Kumdo Yonmaeng or "The Korea Kumdo Federation for Social Members," the first Korea Kumdo for Social Members Championship was held in Ulsan.

In 1992, the Bonguk Gombop Demonstration Championship was held, and in 1993 the SBS National Kumdo King Championship began.

Currently, there are approximately 500,000 Koreans practicing kumdo; ranked kumdoists registered with the Korea Kumdo Association number well over 150,000.

[Bruce W Sims]

What A great contribution. Thank you very much! I have c&P your post into my notes to include in the history I am working on. In addition I also have a sort of lineage that goes from me to my teacher and back to Kong Nok Won. Now I am left wondering if there are others who have been doing the same thing. For instance there are a lot of names mentioned in your hisotry and I wonder if anyone has been doing any work to identify teachers who proceed from one or more of the folks that are mentioned. For instance, here is a line from my own notes.

".... The TAE HAN KUM SA Association, predecessor to the Korean Kumdo Association was not organized until May 20, 1948. At that time, Masters
Suh, Ching Hac,
Kim, Yong Dal,
Ho, Ik Yong
Chung, Tae Min
Lee, Chung Ku
Do, Ho Mun
worked together to organize all Kumdo practitioners under one group...."

Certainly names like these are familiar to many here. Wouldn't it be possible to trace some of the students of these folks who went on to teach and open school and win championships? Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[Bruce W Sims]

What A great contribution! Thank you very much! I have c&P your post into my notes to include in the history I am working on. In addition I also have a sort of lineage that goes from me to my teacher and back to Kong Nok Won. Now I am left wondering if there are others who have been doing the same thing. For instance there are a lot of names mentioned in your hisotry and I wonder if anyone has been doing any work to identify teachers who proceed from one or more of the folks that are mentioned. For instance, here is a line from my own notes.

".... The TAE HAN KUM SA Association, predecessor to the Korean Kumdo Association was not organized until May 20, 1948. At that time, Masters
Suh, Ching Hac,
Kim, Yong Dal,
Ho, Ik Yong
Chung, Tae Min
Lee, Chung Ku
Do, Ho Mun
worked together to organize all Kumdo practitioners under one group...."

Certainly names like these are familiar to many here. Wouldn't it be possible to trace some of the students of these folks who went on to teach and open school and win championships? Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[samsuh]

As a suggstion for your book, I would look into any material related to the Japanese Police history and the Japanese Government General in Korea. The first hand materials from these two entities survived WWII and should be available in archives. I say this with confidence because many secondary sources relating to the Japanese colonial rule in Korea used these documentary evidence.

I'm going to check on some of my references to see what I can dig up.

[Bruce W Sims]

Many thanks for the suggestion.

The Hapkido community is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the passing of their originator, CHOI Yong Sul, this Fall in the Guemsan/Taejon, SK area. I had thoughts of finding time to make a visit to the Police Museum in Seoul for exactly the same reasons. There is also quite a bit of talk going around of a couple of other manuals after the manner of the MYTBTJ but right now I am limited only to rumors (IE. Somebody knows someone who heard about yada, yada, yada....). I saw a couple of older manuals at the museum at YONGSAN Military Academy but, of course, they were not available for examination.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[samsuh]

Bruce,

Since you are planning to go to Korea, I suggest that you take the time to visit the following places if you haven't done so..for collection of Korean swords. I've found that some of these places have fairly good selection of ancient blades Korean blades.

Koryo University Museum
The new National Museum (located next to the southpost of the US Army Yongsan Garrison; also near the Korean War Memorial)
The Korea Army Museum (located at the Korean Military Academy; includes military related texts such as MYTBTJ)

I used to know someone in the ROK Army whose friend was a curator for the Korean War Memorial about six years ago...I wish I had kept the contact...

[Bruce W Sims]

Seems as though I will have my work cut out for me, yes?

You and I seem to be the only ones interested in tracking the history and lineages. I am still getting the feeling that pursuing such things is just not a very popular activity. I would still like to build a "Family Tree" of sorts for the many people who have made contributions to the sword arts. have you done anything along these lines? Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[samsuh]

Bruce,

I have not done anything like what you've been trying to do.... As doing so seems to hit a lot of nerves (the nationalistic ones) as you've already stated. My interest is more basic. I would like to do research in the military history, particularly in regards to technology and weapons, from the Three Kingdoms Period down to the end of the Taehan Chaeguk (The Taehan Empire). This is going to be hard as there are only a few documentary evidence that border on myth and legends (Samguk Sagi, Koryosa, Nihongi, Nihon-shoki, etc). Additionally, original sources are in classical Chinese (e.g. Choson Sillok--the Veritable Records of Choson Dynasty--which is now available in CDROM format for researcher)--I now wish I had taken classical Chinese rather than Japanese when I was in grad school. My additional interest is to examine existing historical swords by lookng at their construction, including matellergy and possible swordsmithing techniques used. One of these days when I visit Korea I'm going to go to country side and see if I can locate old/traditional style blacksmiths and document how they make knives to see how swords could have been made in Korea. It used to that you could still buy knives made by blacksmiths when I was a little kid--my mom still has one which has a thick heavy blade.

[Bruce W Sims]

Yes. For myself I have stopped going back any farther than the Koryo period since there are simply no resources that go back further. Even the SAMKUK YUSA was written in the 14th century, which allows for a lot of time to pass before attempting to speak about the Pre-Mongol period.

I think, for the moment I need to focus most closely on the last 300 years and see how well I can track the history of the Korean sword and other martial traditions. So far working backwards from today is more than a challenge for the reasons we have both acknowledged. Since I live in Illinois it may be worthwhile to make a trip to Iowa to see if I can connect with the WKF there and get some historical in-put. I would certainly be willing to post what I find out here if others are interested. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[The Rose Knight]

...unfortunately, I can contribute little. I must say that the information in this thread is fantastic!! Thank you both!! If more is posted, I will definitely read it!!

Daniel

[idma]

This is the problem with researching Korean martial arts or sword arts history. Most of the history on Hwarang are found in the samguk sagi, samguk yusa, & the haedong goseungjeon, are no longer in existance. Althought these were all older documents, they would have provided good insight. Although there were some documents that survived, such as the um & yang documents & the muyi dobo tongi(now published), these are much newer & only allow a small glimse of what Korean sword arts or martial arts would have been like. In the late 80s, the Hwarang Segi manuscript was found in Gimhae, but most people beleive that it was forgered.

[Bruce W Sims]

Thanks, but actually I was thinking more along the lines of beginning with modern practice and moving backwards. For instance, how many people can trace thier teachers back 6 generation from today? It doesn't seem like it would be that hard, right? Certainly most folks ought be able to trace back to at least the end of the Second WW, yes? That should be only about 3 or 4 generations, right? In my own case I can trace back to at least 1950 or so. Seems like others ought be able to do the same, yes? Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[idma]

accidental post

[idma]

Most Korean arts only go back to the 40's,50's, & 60's. If you want to go any farthur you usually have to look at Japanese history. Other than Taekkyon, there are very few arts in Korea that do not have Japanese roots. I believe that any sword arts(I know there are many) that claim to be stricly Korean are either fake or learned from old manuscrips, in which means the 'new' founder of the art was never taught, he, in essance, learned from books.