33. Se-Jong reverse crane stance

Last time I covered the reverse crane stance in Ilyeo. This stance comes from the kata Chinte (meaning "strange hands"), but was utilized by early taekwondoin in both Se-Jong (ITF) and Ilyeo (Kukkiwon). The stances are the same, but the context and hand techniques are different. Ilyeo seems to use the stance as a leg hook, and includes a leap forwards to throw the opponent. But neither Chinte nor Se-Jong have a leap, and using it as a leg hook is unlikely given the context. So what's going on?

I think it's a crouch.

Consider the previous two movements: we perform a knee strike (one-leg stance) to get the opponent to bend over. Then we push down their head while raising their right shoulder with the palm pressing block. Finally, we perform a downward elbow strike to the back of their head (front backfist strikes typically code for downward elbows [1]).

Sources: Sabeel Combatives, Evangelos Efseviou

By tucking your left foot behind your right knee, you can sink into the strike merely by bending your right leg. You can crouch all the way to one knee if you wish. The open palm striking the forearm maintains the underhook (not pictured), which keeps the opponent's head lowered.

This is an interesting case of the two styles of taekwondo taking an obscure movement from one kata and interpreting it differently.

[1] The technical instructions for this movement are to slap the right back forearm with the left palm, but it was later interpreted as a front backfist strike.