Taekwondo:

It is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. It is the world's most popular martial art in terms of the number of its practitioners. Gyeorugi, one type of sparring, has been an Olympic event since 2000.

In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way" or "method"; so "taekwondo" is loosely translated as "the way of the foot and fist" or "the way of kicking and punching".

Taekwondo's popularity has resulted in the varied evolution of the martial art into several domains: as with many other arts, it combines combat techniques, self-defence, sport, exercise, meditation and philosophy. Taekwondo is also used by the South Korean military as part of its training.

Formally, there are two main styles of taekwondo. One comes from the Kukkiwon, the source of the sparring system sihap gyeorugi which is now an event at the summer Olympic Games and which is governed by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). The other comes from the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF). We at Pucará train in both styles yet grade and compete in WTF only.

Separate from the various taekwondo organizations, there have been two general branches of taekwondo development: traditional and sport. The term "traditional taekwondo" typically refers to the martial art as it was established in the 1950s and 1960s; in particular, the names and symbolism of the traditional patterns often refer to elements of Korean history. Sport taekwondo has evolved in the decades since then and has a somewhat different focus, especially in terms of its emphasis on speed and competition (as in Olympic sparring), whereas traditional taekwondo tends to emphasize power and self-defence. The two are not mutually exclusive, and the distinctions between them are often blurred.

During the Japanese occupation of Korea, all facets of Korean identity including folk culture, language and history were banned in an attempt to erase Korean culture. Koreans were forced to take Japanese names and to worship at Shinto shrines; Korean-language newspapers and magazines were banned; and during the war, hundreds of thousands of Koreans were forced into service to support Japanese war efforts. Martial arts such as taekkyeon (or subak) were also prohibited during this time; however, taekkyeon survived through underground teaching and folk custom. During the occupation Koreans who were able to study in Japan were exposed to Japanese martial arts in some cases receiving black belts. Others were exposed to martial arts in China and Manchuria.

When the occupation ended in 1945, Korean martial arts schools (kwans) began to open in Korea under various influences. There are differing views on the origins of the arts taught in these schools. Some believe that they taught martial arts that were based primarily upon the traditional Korean martial arts taekkyon and subak, or upon a variety of martial arts such as taekkyon, kungfu and karate. Others believe that these schools taught arts that were almost entirely based upon karate.

In 1952, at the height of the Korean War, there was a martial arts exhibition in which the kwans displayed their skills. In one demonstration, Nam Tae Hi smashed thirteen roof tiles with a forefist punch. Following the demonstration, South Korean President Syngman Rhee instructed Choi Hong Hi to introduce the martial arts to the Korean army.

By the mid-1950s, nine kwans had emerged. Syngman Rhee ordered that the various schools unify under a single system. The name "taekwondo" was either submitted by Choi Hong Hi, or Song Duk Son of Chung Do Kwan and was accepted on April 11, 1955. As it stands today, the 9 kwans are the founders of taekwondo.

Hapkido:

Hapkido is a dynamic and eclectic Korean martial art. It is a form of self-defence that employs joint locks, pressure points, throws, kicks, and other strikes. Hapkido practitioners train to counter the techniques of other martial arts as well as common unskilled attacks. There are also traditional weapons including short stick, cane, rope, nunchucks, sword and staff which vary in emphasis depending on the particular tradition examined.

Hapkido contains both long and close range fighting techniques, utilizing dynamic kicking and percussive hand strikes at longer ranges and pressure point strikes, joint locks, or throws at closer fighting distances. Hapkido emphasizes circular motion, non-resisting movements, and control of the opponent. Practitioners seek to gain advantage through footwork and body positioning to employ leverage, avoiding the use of strength against strength.

The art evolved from Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu or a closely related jujutsu system taught by Choi Yong Sul who returned to Korea after WWII, having lived in Japan for 30 years. This system was later combined with kicking and striking techniques of indigenous and contemporary arts such as taek kyun and tang soo do. Its history is obscured by the historical animosity between the Korean and Japanese peoples following the Second World War.

Gongkwon Yusul:

Gongkwon Yusul is a modern Korean martial art system founded by the Korean Master Kang Jun in 1996. Its main influences include the martial arts of Hapkido (Yoo Sool Kwan and Hwarangdo), Hakko-ryu jiujutsu, Judo and Kyuktooki (Korean style Thai-boxing). Gongkwon Yusul is a system which emphasises the application of striking, locking and throwing techniques in practical, free-flowing fighting situations, rather than the static applications, more in common in traditional styles of Hapkido.

It also varies from Hapkido in that many of its hand techniques are strongly influenced by Western boxing and that a significant part of Gongkwon Yusul training is in groundwork applying techniques more akin to Judo or Brazilian Jujitu, than most Hapkido styles. In a sense Gongkwon Yusul in an attempt to combine the practical, free-flowing technique application, often seen in mixed martial arts, whilst still retaining many traditional martial art attributes, such as uniforms, terminology and ranking structure.

Since its foundation the art has grown rapidly in its home country of Korea with many gyms around Seoul and also some regional areas of South Korea. Very few places outside of Korea exist where this art is taught. The first was established in Brazil in 2006, the second in Melbourne in 2007 and the third in Launceston, Australia in 2008.

Kali/Escrima/Panantukan:

Kali/Escrima/Panantukan

are names by which many of the tribal combat methods of the Philippines are known today. The word Kaliradman comes from the Malay, the original inhabitants of the archipelago. The Spanish colonials used the terms "Esgrima" to name their fencing arts and the Filipinos adapted it as "Escrima". Other common name is Arnis.

These styles of fighting were tested over centuries of tribal warfare and against Western colonial forces like the Portuguese and Spanish who forbade the use of steel weapons to the "Filipinos" in order to extinguish their ancestral skills. However they survived and in fact continued to flourish with the use of wooden sticks and hidden in traditional dance moves, which were used against the Americans with massive effect. While steel seeks the flesh, wood seeks the bone, thus even though the movements are the same, they can both be used with devastating effect in different contexts. In Pucará CMS we seek to continue this tradition with use of wood and steel weapons.

The skills one learns from the use of sticks in Kali/Escrima, naturally evolve into a form of boxing which is one of the most lethal non sport techniques for close quarter combat. The continous training with weapons and sticks turn the moves as natural dynamics of one's own muscle memory. It is then, that ideally, if you are unarmed and under attack the same moves you would use with a blade (e.g. a knife), become alive with your empty hands just by instinctive reaction.

This system uses to greater effect your natural tools like: elbows, head butts, fists, forearms, shoulders and knees. Your whole body will turn into a weapon once you learn this beautiful yet brutal and devastating combat methodology. In the Philippines is mainly called Mano Mano meaning "hand to hand". Mano is the Spanish word for hand. In America and Europe is widely known as "Panantukan". Another name used in the Philippines is Suntukan meaning "fist fight" which derives from the Filipino Tagalog word "magsuntukan" meaning "to fight one another with the fists".

Pucará CMS training incorporates these close quarter arts to its training to compensate the over reliance of Taekwondo and Hapkido techniques in wide spaces and kicking techniques. Most real life situations occur in confined spaces and require rapid hand reactions and an stress on remaining standing in order to deal with multiple attackers.