'Taekyon' steals show at Silat tourney

'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)