KUMDO - Korean Martial Art

As a sort of follow up to my previous post, I have discovered what the name of the martial art I mentioned is: Kumdo. Not only did I learn it's name, but I learned the very technique used by upper level students of Kumdo. Today I was invited by Hong to join him as he trained two of his students in the countryside of Jinyeong. There, they chopped down long poles of bamboo in order to practice their technique, holding of their sword, and stance. Younger students must practice with pretend-swords made of bamboo and cut through newspaper with them. Once students reach the age of 19 (17 in American years) they are allowed to begin training with actual swords. Fortunately for me, I was able to skip right to a brief lesson before being handed the sword. Click HERE to view all photos from today - the look on Hong's face is proof I was a natural :)

Student: Byeun Eun-teak 변은택

Student: You Sang-cheul 유상철

Student: Byeun Eun-teak 변은택

Andrew successfully cutting through bamboo with a Korean Kumdo sword.

Kumdo sword

Another attempt at Kumdo

Hong reviewing the day's lessons with his students

The cut of the sword through the bamboo

Click to enlarge. Check out Hong's face in the 3rd photo.

Korean Kumdo student Byeun Eun-teak learning from Hong from Andrew Tisue on Vimeo.


Korean Kumdo student You Sang-cheul learning from Hong from Andrew Tisue on Vimeo.