'Taekyon' steals show at Silat tourney
JAKARTA (JP): It was the pencak silat world championships but a martial art new to Indonesia captured the public's attention on Wednesday as South Korea introduced taekyon.
Korea, known throughout the world for tae kwon do, presented the country with the more original combat sport, which is much older.
Korea sent its grand master Park Man-yeup and four masters Lee Chin-yuk, Park Sung-kyu, Kang Chun-go and Lee Hyun-ki to perform an exhibition event at the opening of the 2000 Pencak Silat World Championships.
"Currently, there are some 200,000 people in South Korea practicing taekyon. They are mainly in the Chungju province although the martial art is nationally acknowledged," Grand Master Park told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the biennial event, which will finish on Sunday.
"I've been practicing taekyon since I was six years old and I'm now 41. I learned the art from the late grand master Shin Han-seung."
Park Man-yeup is the only grand master of taekyon holding a dong (level) nine. He was named Korea's second living cultural asset for his dedication to taekyon.
The martial art was developed during the era of Koguryo Kingdom, some two thousands years ago. It was a part of military officers' required training. Those with good taekyon skills had a chance to reach high positions in the military.
Taekyon has been developed for a long time as a national tradition and was designated Korea's intangible Cultural Treasure No. 76 on June 1, 1983.
It was gradually developed by two leading figures, Song Duk-ki (1893-1987) and Shin Han-seung (1928-1987), who became the first human cultural assets.
Taekyon's gestures are simple, subtle and curved, which can be used for offensive and defensive purposes. It is composed of basic steps, and hand and leg movements which allow the fighter to throw his opponent over the shoulder.
After performing the exhibition on Wednesday, the masters had a training session with Indonesian pesilat (fighters) Fitri, Heru Wibowo, Pengky Simbar and Sudirman to compare both martial arts.
"We found that both traditional martial arts have similar techniques, including kicking, foot sweeping, the scissor attack and throwing. As in pencak silat, taekyon also uses both hands to counterattack and catch," Pengky told the Post after the session.
"But taekyon fighters hook more than we do in pencak silat. They always do foot-hooking techniques instead of foot sweeping."
Grand Master Park said there were similarities between the two traditional martial arts as well as differences.
"It's allowable to attack the opponent's face in taekyon while it's forbidden in pencak silat. We rarely punch our opponents, unlike in silat. But both martial arts deliver kicks as well as throwing the opponents," he said.
"Another difference is pencak silat fighters use body protectors but we don't." (nvn)