My Favorite Forms

I know a lot of patterns. 

I mainly practice the original 20 ITF patterns, the 9 WT black belt poomsae, plus the Original Koryo. I know a few forms from other styles.

Of these, there are a handful I gravitate towards again and again. I asked myself "If I was to theoretically compete in form performance, which one would I choose?"

The criteria I used are (1) fun to perform (2) aesthetically interesting with a variety of techniques (3) good applications. With that in mind, I choose my top five.

1. The Original Koryo

This is, in my opinion, one of Taekwondo's best forms, which is ironic because it's no longer an official WT poomsae. It's a short-and-sweet poomsae that contains a variety of hand techniques. Because it's short, I typically practice it on both sides (that is, I perform it mirrored after I perform the standard version). 

Because it was never fully standardized, there are different versions of it. The version below by David McGoldrick is close to the one I practice, except that I perform the low knifehand block in a cat stance.

Although it's short, this is a good poomsae to practice delivering techniques with speed and power. 

2. Choong-Jang

For ITF, my favorite pattern is Choong-Jang. It's a good "self-defense" pattern, containing low kicks and a variety of hand techniques that attack the jaw, throat, eyes, and temples. It is also technically challenging and one of the longest ITF patterns. 

3. Gae-Baek

Apparently I'm a sucker for forms with an "I"-shaped floor plan. Gae-Baek is highly regarded among ITF students for its flow and array of techniques. I recall one comment that it's the taekwondo pattern that feels the most like a karate kata. Application-wise, Gae-Baek's focus is locking the opponent's arm to place them in a vulnerable position.

4. Po-Eun

Po-Eun is a fun one for students to learn because of how unique it is. While it's certainly inspired by Naihanchi, I think the connection is overstated. It uses the floor plan and several movements from Naihanchi, but about half of its movements do not appear in any of the three Naihanchi kata and the sets are completely different. I would argue Po-Eun consists of five mini-patterns, a series of grapple defenses.

5. Cheonkwon

Cheonkwon (or Chonkwon) is a fun poomsae to perform. It employs wide, circular movements not present in other poomsae, including a spinning inside crescent kick. Not much else to say here other than it's pretty and takes skill to perform correctly.

Honorable Mentions

I'm also fond of modern Koryo. For the color belt patterns, I enjoy both Yul-Gok and Toi-Gye. I'm also fond of Tong-Il lately, as it's another I-shaped pattern. Taeguek 5 (which has similarities to Yul-Gok) has a nice flow to it. Moon-Moo I do not personally practice, but it is technically challenging (with lots of kicks) and interesting to watch. 

Do you have any favorites?

67: Tong-Il under fist ("bear hand") strike and circular block

Continuing our analysis of Tong-Il, let's analyze a set near the end with three unique movements:

• Inward strike with the "under fist"
• Reverse palm pushing block 
• Turn 135-degrees into knifehand circular block 

The under fist comes from Karate's kumade or "bear hand" strike. 

 

Although Gen Choi lists the striking tool as the finger knuckles, it's thought the palm heel can be part of the strike as well. 

 

For an inward strike with the bear hand, the usual application given is a ripping attack to the ear, as shown by Tom Hill below.

Source: Tom Hill

 

The idea of ripping someone's ear off seems a little theatrical to me, but you can do an ear clap attack, disorienting the opponent by slamming air into their ear drum. 

 

Howcast ear slap

 

Striking with the finger knuckles is fine, since the outer ear is soft and this will still distract the opponent. Supposing we do use this as a disorienting attack to the ear, what's next in the pattern?

 

In context, we strike the opponent's right ear while pulling their right arm. We then grab the back of their shoulder and then pull while pushing their arm forward with the palm pushing block, effectively turning them around.

 

We then attempt to throw by pulling them 135-degrees right, the turn into the "circular block". We drop our weight into this to make the throw more effective.

 

 

If the throw fails, we rise up and use the knifehand "block" as a KO strike to the back of the opponent's neck.

 

We can then use the next movement (steps 54) in the pattern to kick behind the opponent and pull them towards us with both fists, essentially the same kind of throw but pulling straight back rather than at an angle. [1]

 

[1] This kick-then-pull is not in the 1965 version of Tong-Il, which instead has you perform a rising block followed by a reverse punch. The intent of the original version is probably to strike up under their right armpit before punching the back of their head. 

66: Tong-Il W-shape blocks

I don't believe that forms, on their own, teach you how to fight. The reason I hunt for applications is because I see it as one big puzzle box to solve. Plus I want to know what the movements I practice may be used for.

Since I recovered from four years of chronic low back pain, I have been getting back into taekwondo forms (mainly as a form of aerobic exercise). It gave me time to reflect on portions of the original 20 ITF patterns that were still mysterious to me. One movement that has been my bane is the outward W-shape block found in Tong-Il.

Source: Master Natasa Manavaki

The outward W-shape block (also called "mountain block") comes from the karate kata Jitte, which also contains the stomping W-shape block.

I tried looking up applications or bunkai for the block. I didn't find much. The typical application is to block with the setup (arm fold) and then strike the opponent's neck while pushing out their arm.

My question is why do we do two outward W-shape blocks in Tong-Il, with a slide between them?

One interpretation is to use the first move as a block against a right-handed attack, while also holding the opponent's left arm. From here, you may strike into the opponent's left inner-elbow while sliding right, and then strike the side of their neck with the second W-shape block.

 From here, the opponent may try to dive down for a body lock or leg grab. But you can foil this by applying the next movement, the stomping inward-moving W-shape block, to move CCW while maintaining contact with the opponent's head, possibly moving the opponent's arm behind them.

Christopher Hein demonstrating how if your opponent dives for a body grab from this position, you may keep contact with their head while moving CCW. Is it easier to maintain contact with the forearm than the palm.

Although we turn CCW once in the pattern, we can continue to turn CCW as much as we need to frustrate the opponent, maintaining forearm contact with their head.

From here, what would I do? One option is to overhook their left arm as I shift left, trying to get a kumura lock. This applies the setup (arm fold) part of step 44

Image source: tritacacademy

From here I have two options.

The first, since the opponent's head is lowered, is that I can perform a downward elbow strike to the top of their head. This would be the application of the final outward W-shape block (Step 44), which would be a finishing blow, though I lose the kimura lock.

The other option is to keep the kimura lock and throw the opponent by performing a sweep. This is an application for the next movement in the pattern, step 45

 

We even turn 90-degrees left to throw like we do in the pattern, and can kick behind us (step 46) because our opponent falls behind us.