Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine - Issue 17 - Usadojo

amboo sword called a shinai. The
Kendoka (Kendo practitioners) are dressed
in safety armour. Strikes are only allowed
to a handful of specific areas on the
opponent’s body. Striking is usually
accompanied with a loud shout, known as
the kiai. (The Korean term for kiai is gihap
and literally means a “concentration of Ki.”)
Success in Kendo often goes hand in hand
with feint attacks. “For the feint to succeed,
your opponent has to confuse it with a
movement of actual attack,” and “if the feint
succeeds, it is because your gesture, as
minimal as it may have been, has
succeeded in troubling the mind of your
opponent,” explains Tokutsu (32, 33). At
advanced level Kendoka are less likely to
demonstrate
any outward
feints. The
advanced level
practitioner
attempts to
“cause a
movement in
the mind of
[his or her]
opponent
w i t h o u t
producing any
o u t w a r d
sign” (33). In
the place of
outward feints,
the advanced
level Kendoka
disturbs the Ki
of his or her opponent by projecting his
own Ki onto the opponent. It is for this
reason that most people actually finds
Kendo quite boring to watch. The two
advanced level practitioners may stand
facing each other, their shinai crossed at
the tip only revealing minute motions for
extended periods of time with no dramatic
movements at all. Then suddenly there will
be a flurry of movement, some screaming,
and a point scored. While no overt action
was visible during their initial stillness, a
big battle was actually occurring in the
minds of the two opponents. They were
40 - Totally Tae Kwon Do
sensing each other’s intentions,
intimidating each other, fighting a battle of
Ki. “The most important combat takes
place in this not particularly dynamiclooking
exchange,” says Tokutsu (35).
Only at the moment when the Ki of one
Kendoka overwhelmed or disturbed the Ki
of the other, did the first land his attack.
Tokutsu quotes the famous Kendo proverb:
“Do not win after having struck, but strike
after having won.”
In the sport of WTF Taekwon-Do sparring
we find an unarmed counterpart to Kendo.
When novice players spar each other their
match is much more dynamic than when
advanced players spar. Novice players
seem to kick
wildly and
powerfully,
often shouting
ceaselessly. A
bout between
experienced
WTF players
looks quite
different. The
two opponents
will face each
other in a
tension filled
silence. Like
the little
movements of
the shinai tips in
the Kendo
match, so the
advanced level WTF competitors move
only a little; bouncing in their knees or
demonstrating careful, almost nervous,
footwork. The non-WTF onlooker looks at
the match with frustration as nothing
seems to happen. Just little nervous jolts in
the players’ bodies as each anticipate the
movement of the other. Then suddenly a
flurry of powerful kicks and counter-kicks
are exchanged with deafening gihaps. Like
with Kendo, in advanced level WTF
Taekwon-Do the real combat takes place
during the time before the exchange of
physical attacks occur. WTF has mastered
Two practitioners may stand facing each other, their shinai
crossed at the tip only revealing minute motions, for extended
periods of time with no dramatic movements at all