Kuk
Sool Won
Over thousands of years, three main
branches made up the types of martial arts practiced in Korea. The tribal
(SahDo MuSool), Buddhist (BoolKyo MuSool), and Royal Court (KoongJoong MuSool)
were practiced separately within their different respects until 1958 when
In-hyuk Suh (Grandmaster) officially founded Kuk Sool Won. He organized all
three branches of old to create something new and comprehensive that is
actively promoted, celebrated, and practiced today. Kuk Sool Won incorporates
several types of practices and principles to give the student a complete
experience and is actually considered to be a martial arts system instead of
just a simple style. Today, Kuk Sool Won is a highly organized discipline with
established schools in hundreds of cities worldwide. It is an official
baccalaureate program at Young-San University and continues to gain wide spread
media and literary coverage on the achievements of its students. In-hyuk Suh
himself says that every distinction or honor granted to him or any member is a
credit to the entire organization and every individual included within it. His
view personifies the unification that Kuk Sool Won strives to achieve in every
student.
Three
Ancient Histories Come Together
It all began with the Tribal Martial
arts, to which many TaeKwonDo techniques can be attributed, as the earliest
form of martial arts in Korea. Commoners formed volunteer militias to defend
their homes using this type of martial arts as it developed over time. Later,
when Buddhism was introduced in the year 347 within the Koguryo kingdom,
Buddhist monks and martial artists worked together to create a way to defend
themselves along their travels. The Buddhists peaceful natures made for a
unique combination of self-defense and meditative techniques to improve health,
concentrating on both internal and external training. This eventually led to
the surprising development of warrior monks, who were incredibly accomplished
as well as ethical and compassionate. The private armies of the elite (such as
kings and government officials) brought the Royal Court Martial Arts and the
use of easily concealable weapons and techniques that are often used in the
modern Japanese art of Jujitzu like the utilization of pressure points. Despite
royalty later discouraging the use of weapons and martial arts for fear of
rebellions, all of these disciplines developed and grew throughout centuries
and generations of dedicated instructors passing on their gathered knowledge.
In 1910, when Japanese forces occupied
Korea, all of these martial arts were banned. Master Instructor Suh MyungDuk
did not stand for this and was diligent in ensuring that traditional Korean
Martial Arts were preserved and passed on. Determined to keep 16 generations of
a rich heritage alive, Suh Myung Duk began teaching his grandchild In-hyuk Suh
at a very early age and continued even after his death by way of arrangements
and letters of introduction to Buddhist temples and private instructors that he
had written in anticipation of his death. Even with these tools, In-hyuk Suh
still had a bumpy road throughout his martial arts education. Buddhist temples
and private instructors alike had many qualms about passing on their knowledge
in addition to the temples having changed from martial arts facilities to
strictly education-based places.
For decades, In-hyuk Suh gathered the
knowledge of every Korean martial arts heritage that he could find, over years
of extensive training and travels. In the late 1950s, he sought to put all of
it together into a single system that would later become known as Kuk Sool Won
all over the world. By 1974, the system was accepted and celebrated by the
public and In-hyuk Suh brought it to the United States to establish the World
Kuk Sool Association officially in 1975, which is what it is known as today.
The
Pledge
When a student first begins instruction
in Kuk Sool Won, he or she is expected to learn and live by the Kuk Sool Won
pledge.
“1. As a member of the Kuk Sool Won, I pledge to obey
the rules of the association and to conduct myself in accordance with the true
spirit of marital arts.
2. I pledge to be loyal to my country and to promote
the development of a better society.
3. I pledge to work together with all classes of
people without regard to politics, race, or religion.
4. I pledge to promote international goodwill and
strive for world peace through the practice of martial arts. “
Source: World Kuk Sool
Association
This pledge is based on the principles
that the student will learn throughout their years of study in Kuk Sool Won.
Each part of the pledge comes from a culmination of the different branches of
traditional Korean Martial Arts.
Being
a Student of Kuk Sool Won
There are several sets of techniques
that a student of Kuk Sool Won sets out to master throughout his or her
education. As the student moves through the colored belts, different sets are
to be mastered in order to advance. The colored belts begin with white (Huin
Tti) and continue on through yellow (No-Ran Tti), blue (Cheong Tti), red (Hong Tti),
brown (Ja Tti), brown-black (Dahn Bo Nim), and end when the student earns the
rank of black (Yu Dan Ja). This progression can take several years depending on
the student’s dedication. After this, the student may move forward to the
master levels. At the Dahn ranking, students must undergo some of the most
difficult tests and master several (sometimes more than twenty) sets of
techniques to gain black stripes on their brown belts for a minimum of 6-10
before they can begin the mandatory two years of training and then two years of
testing to reach the rank of Yu Dan Ja. This part of training can take up to
4-6 years, depending on the student. Until students reach the rank of Dahn Bo
Nim, it is common practice to refer to their rank as the color of their belt
instead of by the traditional name of the rank.
At the level of black belt, the student
is able to begin teaching starting at the rank of Instructor in Training all
the way up to Grandmaster. Advancing through these levels is extremely
difficult and often takes extensive study in both the physical and mental
disciplines.
Students are expected to wear a
traditional Kuk Sool Won uniform called a “dobok” while in training, as it is
designed to give them the full range of movement necessary for learning the
techniques. The uniforms are black instead of white like many other martial
arts uniforms and there are specialized formal uniforms for black belt holders
and special occasions (called a “general’s uniform”). Students wear a practice
uniform which includes the dobok as well as various patches according to the
practitioner although no patch may be worn to specifically signify the school
that the student attends in order to promote a sense of unity and family
between the different schools.
Several sport competitions are held all
over the world for students and instructors of Kuk Sool Won to showcase their
skills, spar with others, and often there are belt promotion ceremonies.
Students participate in sparring and board breaks in order to score points during
competition. While this is an enjoyable part of Kuk Sool Won, competition and
sparring are not emphasized as prominently as they are with other martial arts
as this system stresses to incorporate all aspects of mind and body
conditioning as well as healing techniques and meditation.
The
Comprehensive Techniques
Kuk Sool Won incorporates the styles of
all kinds of Asian fighting styles, body conditioning techniques, and
traditional elements of martial arts. Although this system is highly organized,
the different things that it covers are vast and numerous, which is why it
takes many years of study to master them. Some of these techniques include open
and closed hand combat such as striking, parrying, and blocking, leg techniques
like various types of kicks, jumping and spinning, grappling defenses, ground
fighting, joint locking, pressure point techniques, acrobatics and agility
training, stretching, flexibility, muscle toning, and many others. These
examples are only of the combat, defense, and body conditioning techniques
offered when studying Kuk Sool Won but there is much more to learn.
In addition to these examples, this
system also employs the study of meditation and breathing techniques as well as
animal styles, martial art healing methods, and traditional Korean weapons.
Healing methods that are taught include but are not limited to herbal medicines
and acupressure and the traditional Korean weapons that students train with
vary from sword and staff to the folding fan and even the bow and arrow. Each
student is different and may train differently, master different principles at
different paces, and move forward more quickly or slowly than others.
Kuk Sool Won incorporates all of the
spiritual values of a true martial artist, asking students to learn about the
rich history behind its roots as well as the development of inner power and its
utilization in controlled breathing methods, meditation and concentration, and
the appreciation of the system as a whole.