Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

tainment that belongs in samurai movies. At any rate, the remaining
schools of swordsmanship that teach traditional kata, or those schools
where the emphasis is on actual sword fighting and less on rigid forms,
have been pushed aside under the pretext of not being practical in a modern
lifestyle. However, in a society where traditions die hard, it is still possible
to find old forms of swordsmanship living together with the new.
Roy Ron
See also Form/Xing/Kata/Pattern Practice; Japan; Koryû Bugei, Japanese;
Samurai; Sword, Japanese
References
Berry, Elizabeth M. 1994. The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Friday, Karl. 1997. Legacies of the Sword. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i
Press.
Hurst, G. Cameron, III. 1998. Armed Martial Arts of Japan: Swordsmanship
and Archery. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Kondo, Yoshikazu. 1997. Yumiya to tôken. Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan.
Varley, Paul. 1994. Warriors of Japan as Portrayed in the War Tales.
Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Warner, Gordon, and Donn Draeger. 1982. Japanese Swordsmanship:
Technique and Practice. New York: Weatherhill.
Swordsmanship, Korean/
Hankuk Haedong Kumdô
Hankuk is the old name for the country of Korea. Haedong refers to the
East Sea (Sea of Japan). Kumdô refers to the Way of the Sword. Hankuk
Haedong Kumdô, therefore, explicitly denotes sword forms that are of Korean
origin. Fantastic claims abound concerning the origins of many Korean
arts, but more especially Haedong Kumdô. One reason for the confusion
surrounding the origins of Haedong Kumdô is that the art remains
obscure, even in Korea.
Korean History
On August 29, 1910, Emperor Sunjong abdicated the throne of Korea and
officially relinquished control of the country to the Japanese. Japan immediately
set about the systematic destruction of the Korean culture, including
making it illegal to teach Korean history. A revisionist history, written
by the Japanese, replaced the traditional subject matter in the public
schools. Korean martial arts were banned, and eventually supplanted by
Japanese forms. Ssirŭm, a form of wrestling that the Koreans probably
learned from the Mongols, was replaced by sumô. T’aek’kyŏn, a form of
unarmed self-defense that included extensive use of kicking techniques, was
replaced by jûdô. And Korean (Hankuk) kumdô was replaced by Japanese
Swordsmanship, Korean/Hankuk Haedong Kumdô 597