Kuk Sool Won


Kuk Sool Won is a Korean martial art founded in 1958 by Suh In-hyuk, referred to by the formal titles of Kuk Sa Nim or Grandmaster.
Kuk Sool Won is practiced in various countries, with its largest bases in the United States and the United Kingdom. The Korean Kuk Sool Won Association although related, is a separate entity.

Overview

Kuk Sool Won incorporates physical training such as stretching exercises and cardiovascular conditioning. Kuk Sool Won also emphasizes weapons skills, including use of swords. Like Chinese martial arts, many of the hand methods are based on the symbolic fighting movements of various animals. Some of the forms have been copied from Chinese martial arts.

Etymology

In Korean, “kuk” translates as nation or country, “sool” translates as method or technique, and “won” translates as courtyard or institute. The listed meaning is extracted from the full expression of "hanguk musool" for which "kuksool" is a standard method of contraction in the Korean language.

History

Suh In-Hyuk and foundations of Kuk Sool Won

Suh In-Hyuk claims that he was trained by his grandfather, a supposed master-instructor to the Korean Royal Court named Suh Myung-Deuk, and followed a family tradition of martial arts that stretched back sixteen generations. After the death of his grandfather during the Korean War, he travelled throughout the Far East visiting various Buddhist monasteries and other esteemed martial arts masters as research for developing his own system. His younger brother, Seo In-Sun, took lessons from the founder of Hapkido, Choi Yong-sool, and would later show what he was taught to his two older brothers.
A lawsuit revealed allegations that Suh In-Hyuk’s narrative was fabricated, and that his grandfather was not a member of the Korean Royal Court. Suh In-Hyuk's first wife claims that he started martial arts because he had been severely beaten and wanted revenge on his attackers. In her opinion, Suh In-Hyuk lied about his history due to the belief that it would be harder to disprove it in the United States.
A bare-bones curriculum for the system was developed in 1958 and later, the Kuk Sool Won was founded in 1961. Suh fled South Korea in 1974 and decided to introduce his system to the United States in 1975.

Spread

In 1991, Kuk Sool Won was selected as an extracurricular activity for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and in 1992, Suh In-Hyuk was presented with the Commander's Sword at West Point.
In the Netherlands, Kuk Sool Won is practiced in six schools. The highest rank instructor in the Netherlands is Robbin Baly, who teaches a group of approximately 200 students in Amsterdam and elsewhere.
Kuk Sool Won was imported to Iran in 1980 by engineer Dariush Ghaffari, who lived in the United States prior. He first started teaching the art at the "Tehran Fire Club".
There have been multiple allegations raised in a lawsuit against the organization recently. The federal court lawsuit includes claims of financial mismanagement, contract disputes, wrongful termination, and defamatory actions against former high-ranking members.

Technique

Kuk Sool Won relies on a historical perspective of traditional Korean martial arts when outlining its contents, which breaks things down into three main branches:
  1. Tribal martial arts
  2. Buddhist Temple martial arts
  3. Royal Court martial arts.
Techniques from these three segments were carefully selected and organized into a cohesive curriculum in order to form the basis of Kuk Sool Won. This martial arts knowledge was said to be passed down to Suh In-Hyuk by his grandfather, Suh Myung-deuk, who began teaching him at the age of five. A more simplistic way to describe the contents of Kuk Sool Won would be to acknowledge that it is a successful combination or conglomeration of Hapkido, Kung Fu, and certain indigenous Korean martial arts. Note that combining disparate martial skills often yields inconsistencies that are difficult to overcome, yet this is not the case for the resulting foundation of elements found in the art of Kuk Sool.
Kuk Sool Won is a systematic study of all of the conventional fighting arts, which together comprise the martial arts history of Korea. As a martial arts system, Kuk Sool Won is extremely well-organized and seeks to integrate and explore the entire spectrum of established Asian fighting arts, along with body conditioning, mental development, and traditional weapons training. The following list represents a short summary regarding the most common elements found in the system:
The incorporated skills are often practiced in class and tournament by utilizing 6 kata-like “Hyung” and 221 “techniques” learned at the coloured belt, and black belt candidate level. The fighting style is brutal and quick to damage joints beyond repair; practitioners are taught early to only use the arts in controlled settings or in true self defense. There are also types of forms consisting of weapons. Examples include short sword, knife, sword, short staff, cane, fan, bow and arrow, jointed staff, rope and spear.
In Kuk Sool Won there are four basic sword forms that are taught :
  • jung gum hyung - straight sword form - 정검형
  • yuk gum hyung - inverted sword form - 역검형
  • ssang jang gum hyung - twin long sword form - 쌍장검형
  • ssang dan gum hyung - twin short sword form - 쌍단검형
Both long and short twin sword forms include techniques where the weapons are held in either the straight or inverted fashion, or in some cases one hand in straight fashion while the other is inverted.

Attire

Kuk Sool Won practitioners don typical martial art uniforms or dobok for training. All the uniforms in Kuk Sool Won are black in colour, which according to Korean culture is used to represent wisdom.
For special occasions, there is a dress uniform for Black Belt ranks only, which was patterned after the dress worn by ancient Korean generals. In the following section, the table mentions a Wang Sa dobok, which is only worn by the grandmaster of Kuk Sool Won. Also in the table where colours are mentioned for the General's Uniform, the first colour refers to the trim on the collar, lapel, cuffs, and tails, of the uniform, while the second colour refers to that of the ascot.

Ranking system

For coloured belts: A new belt with a stripe running down its center —or— a transverse taped stripe added at the end of the belt, can be awarded for slight accomplishment before receiving the next belt.
The tail end of each listed title is ‟nim” but isn't really part of the title per se, as it serves mainly as an honorific to be appended to the title only when addressing the individual in person. Note that coloured belt ranks do not carry formal titles, except for Black Belt Candidates.
Title Meaning / Rank / Colour Scheme
Kuk Sa Nym 국사 \ 님Grandmaster - wangsa dobok
Su Suhk Kwang Jang Nim
수석관장 \ 님		Senior Executive Master - gold / gold
Suhn Im Kwang Jahng Nim
선임관장 \ 님		Executive Master - red & gold / gold
Ji Do Kwang Jahng Nim
지도관장 \ 님		Senior Master - red & gold / red
Joo Im Kwang Jahng Nim
주임관장 \ 님		Head Master - red / red
Pyung Kwan Jahng Nim
평관장 \ 님		Master - red / white
Sa Bum Nim 사범 \ 님Instructor - red & silver / white
Pu Sa Bum Nim
부사범 \ 님		Deputy Instructor - silver / white
Kyo Sa Nim 교사 \ 님 Teacher - silver / white
Jo Kyo Nim 조교 \ 님Instructor-in-Training - silver / white
Dahn Boh Nim 단보 \ 님Black-Brown Belt
-or-
Ja Ddi 자띠Brown Belt
Hohng Ddi 홍띠Red Belt
Chuhng Ddi 청띠Blue Belt
Noh Rahng Ddi 노랑띠Yellow Belt
Huin Ddi 흰띠White Belt