The Taegeuk Cipher

An analysis of the Taegeuk patterns of Kukki Taekwondo, discussing the context of their creation, realistic applications for practical self-defence including grappling and close-range striking, and the development of a pattern-based self-defence syllabus.

Breaking Through is about much more than a single kata. Colin Wee describes his four-decade journey in the martial arts, during which he came to recognize common training deficiencies in traditional hard-style striking arts such as Karate and Taekwondo. His ingenious, multi-faceted solution, dubbed the JDK Method, utilizes the strengths of kata to teach key dynamic combat skills and concepts forgotten and overlooked in modern training. Breaking Through is a case study of the JDK Method as applied to Bassai Dai—a pattern trained across many Karate and Taekwondo styles. In Breaking Through: The Secrets of Bassai Dai Kata, Colin plumbs the depths of Bassai Dai, having returned to it for inspiration time and again to deconstruct it and extract its most valuable lessons. The twelve applications presented herein delve beyond simplistic bunkai and traditional step-sparring. The lessons taught through Bassai Dai—which Master Wee and his students have relentlessly studied, tested and trained—are an effective series of principles and defenses against the most common and frequent attacks one is likely to face. When instructors and students link the applications from Breaking Through to how Colin and his students got there—the logic of why the applications work and how the applications address a dynamic combat situation—they learn to fill in the gaps left by traditional training. This is where the magic of the book truly happens. It is truly the book's subject. Once readers establish the link with the applications and the methodology, they can apply this knowledge to any other form in any other system, and it instantly levels up their understanding of how traditional training can be put to work. Published at a time when many have foregone the practice of patterns, claiming they are outdated and of little use to modern students, Colin unlocks advanced lessons encrypted in Bassai Dai kata and by this demonstrates how to universally apply the JDK Method to patterns in any style of martial art.

This martial arts book digs deep into the standard Taekwondo patterns to extract proven fighting methods that unite ancient philosophy and strategy to teach effective, tactical self defence. The book follows the history of the Korean people, starting with the myths of its origins dating from 2333 BC, and its culture, focusing on the important historic influences of the surrounding nations. All of these have combined in the development and evolution of the Korean fighting art of Taekwondo. These ancient and deadly fighting techniques have survived over several millennia, ever since people first defended their lives and property from wild beasts and ravaging bands of criminals. The first part of the book shows simple techniques that have been refined using analysis gained by Koreans over the centuries. It is presented in a careful mix of physical exercises that are designed to develop spontaneous response from muscle memory in the event of an unavoidable attack. The second half introduces more advanced students of the martial arts to more complex fighting tactics and the profound philosophy taught to black belts, and is aimed at uniting body, mind, and spirit.

Taking a global, multicultural, social, and economic perspective, this work explores the diverse and colourful history of human attire. From prehistoric times to the age of globalization, articles cover the evolution of clothing utility, style, production, and commerce, including accessories (shoes, hats, gloves, handbags, and jewellery) for men, women, and children. Dress for different climates, occupations, recreational activities, religious observances, rites of passages, and other human needs and purposes - from hunting and warfare to sports and space exploration - are examined in depth and detail. Fashion and design trends in diverse historical periods, regions and countries, and social and ethnic groups constitute a major area of coverage, as does the evolution of materials (from animal fur to textiles to synthetic fabrics) and production methods (from sewing and weaving to industrial manufacturing and computer-aided design). Dress as a reflection of social status, intellectual and artistic trends, economic conditions, cultural exchange, and modern media marketing are recurring themes. Influential figures and institutions in fashion design, industry and manufacturing, retail sales, production technologies, and related fields are also covered.

The eagerly anticipated updated return of a bestselling martial arts classic The leaders of Tae Kwon Do, an Olympic sport and one of the worldÍs most popular martial arts, are fond of saying that their art is ancient and filled with old dynasties and superhuman feats. In fact, Tae Kwon Do is as full of lies as it is powerful techniques. Since its rough beginnings in the Korean military 60 years ago, the art empowered individuals and nations, but its leaders too often hid the painful truths that led to that empowerment „ the gangsters, secret-service agents, and dictators who encouraged cheating, corruption, and murder. A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do takes you into the cults, geisha houses, and crime syndicates that made Tae Kwon Do. It shows how, in the end, a few key leaders kept the art clean and turned it into an empowering art for tens of millions of people in more than 150 countries. A Killing Art is part history and part biography „ and a wild ride to enlightenment. This new and revised edition of the bestselling book contains previously unnamed sources and updated chapters.

..". the art merely became like a domesticated wild cat, content to sleep whilst still retaining a savagery at its heart enabling it to bare its teeth when required." - John Dowding, 4th degree Ch'ang Hon Taekwon-do Hae Sul: Real Applications To The ITF Patterns, Vol. 2 continues where the ground breaking Vol. 1 left off. In Vol. 2 the senior patterns of the Ch'ang Hon System up to 2nd Dan, have gone through the same in-depth analysis as the lower grade patterns originally did, with each one having been examined, dissected and rebuilt to help the student of Taekwon-do to understand what is really contained within the patterns we practice in Taekwon-do. Patterns Hwa-Rang, Choong-Moo, Kwang-Gae, Po-Eun, Ge-Baek, Eui-Am, Choong-Jang, Ko-Dang and Juche have been examined in-depth to find more realistic applications for their movements - based upon what the author refers to as their 'DNA'. In this volume, even the ready postures and stances have been examined and the results are documented in step by step photographic detail, using over 2,200 photographs. Comprising over 350 pages, this book not only shows more realistic applications to the Red Belt, 1st Dan and 2nd Dan patterns, but also explains how it is possible to achieve these applications in the first place, why General Choi, Hong Hi, the founder of Ch'ang Hon Taekwon-do couldn't make the same conclusions, as well as expelling a falsehood that has been with Taekwon-Do since its inception! After reading this book, the patterns of Taekwon-do no longer seem just a collection of movements, performed in a dance-like fashion for competitions or gradings, but become realistic techniques that can actually be utilised as real world self defence applications - making this a must-read companion to Vol. 1, for all students who study and practice Taekwon-do.

One of the cherished beliefs of those who do not know is that the logistical services of the Army lead a safe and boring life, even in the combat zone. The Combat Engineers and the Signal Corps began to cloud this belief in World War I. The Medical Corps, the Chemical Corps and the Bomb Disposal squads of the Ordnance Corps began to demand respect as dangerous assignments in World War II. In Korea all the services won the right to be shot at. War becomes increasingly a matter of logistics. The thin cutting edge of infantry, armor and artillery still contains the larger proportion of heroes, dead and alive, but these combat arms depend more and more on the services to provide them not only with the traditional beans and bullets, but with gasoline, transportation, medical service, concealing smoke, communications equipment, graves registration, potable water, laundry service—the list is endless. Here are some true accounts that tell how the services fulfilled their missions in a tough and dirty little war. There are tales of devotion to duty that match those of any combat arm. There are roles of technical proficiency combined with the foresight to seize opportunities as they arose. But because these are true stories, there are descriptions of actions whose only value is to indicate what should not be done, what lock of preparedness means in lives and dollars. Here is an honest book—one that had to be honest because it was conceived to tell the whole truth, for the education of our army. This is a book for every soldier, every youth who might become a soldier, every parent of every such youth. He succeeded, and the fruit of his labors is here.