Bon Kuk Kum Revealed Bon Kuk Kum History Two things inspired me to come to Korea: my Hwarang Sword Art childhood hero, Chuck Norris, and tales of legend- By Guy Edward Larke ary young Korean knights called Hwarang, which existed in the Three Kingdoms era of ancient Korea. They were the sons of the ruling aristoc- Ever since I was motions meant, I was looked at strangely or told racy in a country known as Silla. These young a toddler I fancied it’s just for show. knights were skilled and educated in all things myself a knight of old, I decided after that to focus on empty-handed martial, scholarly and philosophical. Some say they brandishing a stick or training until a chance encounter at a Hanminjok were almost too good to be true. They lived by whatever was close by Hapkido yearly meeting three years ago in Seoul. a strong code of honor and ethics that was more as a longsword. I know Amongst all the typical important chief men, stern important to them than their own lives. They had I was far from alone. As looking conservative men with brush cuts and dark five basic commandments. They were: I grew older, I fell in love suits, stood one middle-aged gentlemen with a with Robert E. Howard’s beard (although traditional, almost never seen on • Sa-gun-i-chung: This meant to serve your immortal creation of a Korean man since the Japanese Occupation) and monarch loyally. Conan the Barbarian. That a gold hanbok. With his sword, clothing and pres- grew into a fascination with ence he seemed to have stepped off a movie set. I • Sa-chin-yi-hyo: This translates into being a the bladed weapons of the discovered the man was Grandmaster Lee Jae-Sik dutiful and filial child to your parents. Samurai and Ninja, which and he was solely responsible for resurrecting the • : One should always be a true developed into an interest in lost art of Bon Kuk Kum or National Sword Art. Gyo-woo-yi-sin and faithful friend and ally. bladed weapons from all over He explained to my wife and me a bit about this the world. art and Korea’s martial legacy. • Im-jeon-mu-toi: Never flinch or hesitate when Twelve years ago I dis- on the battlefield. covered Internet sites on the exotic art of Hwarangdo • Sal-sang-yu-taek: A Hwarang also was to never and became enthralled with take a life unless absolutely necessary. the accounts of those amazing techniques, polearm arts and several other arts, young men that fought a mil- So intense was the training of the Hwarang, a total of 24, and was released as the Muye Dobo lennium ago. Actually it was that it is said they developed the first truly sophis- Tongji or the Illustrated Martial Art Textbook. To one of the deciding factors that ticated sword system in Korean history. Historians claim it was actually the first pure sword art in this day, it is still reprinted by several companies lead me to choose Korea as my (the English edition is available through Turtle next home. I wanted to see, visit, Asia’s history, but Korea’s first actual sword was in existence many centuries before. These power- Press). and research the birthplace of the A successful invasion by the Imperial Japanese so called “flowering knights,” the ful military leaders lead their country to conquer the other two neighboring nations of Baek-jae and Army brought about the end of the dynasty and translation of Hwarang. I was dis- almost totally destroyed what was left of the appointed to see many people had Goguryeo. The nation was in power for almost 1000 years. Korean military tradition. Japanese forces tried to no clue of who the Hwarang were or re-educate their new colony by having the Koreans what they represented, let alone their After the reign of the Silla Empire, which also spelled the end of the Hwarang, the unified nation adopt all things Japanese, including martial arts. fighting disciplines. In their place was Bon Kuk Kum went into a kind of limbo for sev- a plethora of silly belt factories that ran went through a number other dynasties. The most significant was the Joseon Dynasty. In reality, this eral years. like play rooms rather than what we Many years later, Jae-Sik Lee, a skilled artist, as foreigners envision. I tried Haedong dynasty sought, through Confucianism, to have the pen subdue the sword. However in 1790, King devotee to Korean sword arts and grandson of Kumdo or Eastern Sea Sword Art for Han-Gil Lee, a fighter for national independence two years and perhaps it was just the mas- Jung-Jo ordered a set of military texts to be com- piled on all existing combat methods known to the against the Japanese, discovered and recovered ter and looking back, it probably was, but historical documents detailing long lost Bon Kuk I was left far from satisfied. Most of the nation. This included armed and unarmed combat, as well as combat done while on horseback. One of Kum techniques, while mountain climbing. After moves seemed to be pieced together to look the long recovery process, he set out to decipher, pretty and easy for lazy children to pick up the sword fighting methods was entitled Bon Kuk Kum, Bon Kuk meaning “original” or “motherland” analyze and memorize the contents. Shortly there- quickly. When asked what many stances and after, he set out to revive Bon Kuk Kum. while Kum meant “sword”. It was paired with staff

2 July 2010 / taekwondotimes.com taekwondotimes.com / July 2010 3 a specific name, meaning and emulates a spe- cific battle condition. At higher levels of black belt training, other weapons are used. These were con- sidered many times the secondary weapons of the Hwarang and other ancient military adepts. Most noticeably, the weul-do or curved halberd, hyeop-do or light halberd, bong or staff and kwon-bup or unarmed combat. In addition, fighting while on horse- back is taught to the most serious of candi- dates.

For more information: There are other many unique aspects to the art, but they really In March of 1980, he opened the first of over must be experienced rather than discussed. 100 gyms in the city of Masan. He built a repu- Grandmaster Lee and Master Kang Byung-Su tation and a following. Now, several schools and are among the many teachers scattered through- TV appearances later, his association is spread out Korea, eager to share and spread this combat throughout Korea and is spreading internationally. art. You can contact the association through their Webpage: www.bonkukkum.com and press the The Sword System English link. There is a forum you can leave your questions. Like other systems of swordsmanship, footwork ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Guy Edward Larke sabumnim has is very important. There are numerous positions, dedicated his life from a young age to the pursuit of the martial but the most basic one is Si-man-se. It resembles arts, Asian culture and hopology. It led him to Korea in 2000. the Ap-seo-gi, or walking stance, found in Tae He now lives in Daejeon city with his wife Gi-Ryung and their son Alexander. He holds black belts in Tae kwon do, Hapkido, Kwon Do, except that the back heel is lifted. This Taekkyon, Bon Kuk Kumdo, Korean Kickboxing, Karate-do, was copied over from the ancient military text, Wushu, Cheon Ji Muye Do, and Hoshin-Sul. Currently he teach- es Taeglish (English Tae Kwon Do) full time in addition to writ- Muye Dobo Tongji. It allows the fighter to explode ing for various magazines and running Kisa-Do Muye (Martial from the stance at any moment. Arts) & Marketing. In the future he plans to relocate to Malaysia to teach martial arts and continue studying. He can be contacted In addition to constant stance training, the cuts on Facebook or at [email protected]. and blocks are drilled repeatedly in combination with each other. As there is little competition in the art, there is more attention put into study- ing traditional Korean philosophy and history. Breathing and meditative techniques are daily practice, even for young children. Another subtle difference is when the sword is sheathed and gripped, the sword hand is held over top the pommel, rather on the grip of the hilt. This was in times of war to prevent the enemy from pulling your blade out of your scabbard to use against you. Every part of the sword has a purpose in the forms or as they are called, kum-bup. Kum-bup isn’t learned until red belt. There are few rolls or superfluous techniques in them. The parries or thrusts resemble ripostes from fencing many times and the attacks are quick and brutal. The forms are therefore short and direct, just like a real fight. There are three sets of twelve kum-bup: Bae-Dahl, Hwarang and Taegeuk. Each form has

4 July 2010 / taekwondotimes.com