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Myung Jae Nam however wanted
to create a true Korean sword art without any foreign influences. Japanese
sword arts developed into the art of man-to-man duelling during the peaceful
Edo period and are characterized by a lot of attention to detail under the
influence of Zen Buddhism. Traditional Korean arts never underwent this
change and were purely taught to soldiers as a way to fight on the
battlefield, although this does not mean that in Japanese arts battlefield
techniques are not taught. Battlefield fighting is usually characterized by
more flowing and on-going movements. In duel-style fighting a lot of
attention is given to the one-strike-one-kill principle, whereas in
battlefield-style fighting the emphasis is on keeping the sword in motion
and always being ready for the next strike.
To give hankumdo a true Korean edge, master Myung Jae Nam used the Korean
alphabet, known as Hangul, to teach the basic strikes of the art. |
