Analysis of the 2009 CTF National Test

          We had a very successful and enjoyable event, the seminars, the team competition, the test, the facilities, the banquet, and the people of Danville made it so. Congratulations to everyone who attended the event, especially those who where promoted to new rank. It was easy to see the quality and togetherness of CTF.

The primary reason we have the every other year CTF National Tests is to provide our Black Belt members the opportunity for advancement in their Degrees in front of a test board of Senior Masters and our Grandmaster. An underlying test has also been taking place for the past 25 years and that  is Grandmasters evaluation of the over all standards. The standards are defined as our movements, the action, the fold, the techniques, the level of knowledge, are we presenting students to test who are ready, are we truly following the CTF Tenets and Oath, everything we do is the standards. For many years Master DeStolfo and I took plenty of notes of things we need to improve from a frowning Grandmaster and over the years the standards have steadily improved. This year after the test was completed Grandmaster looked at us with a smile and said the over all standards are "good", he is pleased. This is a major factor as to why Grandmaster promoted Master DeStolfo and myself to 8^th Dan, so we thank all the instructors for stepping up your standards and your student's standards allowing us to pass our test. Of course more notes have been taken and the next step is for our standards to be graded as "very good".

The team competitions were very enjoyable to watch and quite competitive with the best teams winning. An area where we can improve is the judging of the team forms and fighting. We must treat/judge all CTF members as our family, as members of your own school and points must be called according to the rules. Sounds like a future seminar!

Those who have hosted National Tests know the amount of preparation involved is immense and were pleased to say the "standards" of hosting are now very high. What a great job the Danville team did, the only thing Lori didn't have control of was the weather on Saturday, but she's working on that.

The 2011 National Test will be in Corpus Christi TX, the CC team is promising a tropical theme on the beach and are already busy planning the event. See pictures.

Master Plichta would like to know who is interested in a fun CTF Cruise in 2010, no testing just fun. Please let Master Plichta know if you are interested so we can see if it is feasible.

Yours in CTF Taekwon-Do,

Master Steve Davis

HANJA

Interpretation of Chinese Writing and Characters For a Better Understanding of Our Art

The guest master instructor for this article is Master Kuniko Hatabe 4^th dan. Master Hatabe was born in Tokyo then moved to Kyushu Japan and then returned back to Tokyo. Master Hatabe is from an old samurai family and can trace her linage to 900 AD. Her grandmother and mother were both princesses. Yes she is a princess, too. Her family was one of the first Japanese Christian families in Japan. Master Hatabe graduated from University in Japan with a degree in English Literature. She is fluent in Japanese and is very well versed and reads Kanji (Korean: Hanja) meaning Chinese writing. She moved to New York after graduating and then found herself in Pennsylvania where she started Taekwon-Do in 1991. She still has family members in Japan. 

Master Hatabe was diagnosed with ALS Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Lou Gehrig's Disease in which there is no cure for. There is no known cause for it, 1 in 100,000 people are diagnosed with ALS. It is a death sentence. The average life expectancy after diagnosis is 18 months; the "Chisai Tora" "hidori" Little Tiger is now in her seventh year after diagnosis. Even though she is unable to physically do form she has the ability to remember all the forms and quickly corrects any mistake. Master Hatabe continues to teach on a limited basis at Eastern University with the intermediate and advanced students, where she still can torture and intimidate them demanding perfection. Limited in her physical capabilities her mind is sharp as a sword. Over the course of time she will write articles defining Hanja, opening up secrets to martial arts that we as westerners have no concept of. She has influenced my perspective and thought process and as her instructor realized the students really teach us and we can learn from them. She is an inspiration to me and all her students. She is a true Taekwon-Do fighter

Introduction

The Chinese characters are pictures which make up the meaning of a word. In the west letters make up sounds which form words which then have meaning. In China, Korea and Japan they form pictures which form ideas which form the sound. The Chinese characters or writing is universally read by the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese. Even though Korea and Japan have and use their own alphabet, they do incorporate the Chinese characters in their writing. Each Character will be pronounced different in each language but the meaning is the same. The Korean alphabet is called hangul, the use of phonetic symbols created by King Sejung, the 4^th king of the Joseun Dynasty. The use of Han here is not in reference to the Chinese Han people, but the Korean Han people. The Hanja it written different, but has the same sound 大 韓 民 國 (hanja) Republic of Korea or State of the Great Han People 대한민국 (hangul). Taekwon-Do hanja 跆拳道 and Taekwon-Do in hangul 태권도.

The term for Chinese characters

English          Chinese (Han) writing or characters

Korea              Hanja  

Japan             Kanji

Mandarin      Hanzi

   眞  武  館　

            What better way to start off this series but with our own hanja which belongs to us, Chin Mu Kwan. Doing these investigations opens my eyes every time. I have been asking Master Hatabe for years to interpret hanja for me, as we use it in our schools to make critical observations. If I catch her in a good mood, I got an eye opening experience, if I asked at the wrong time I got an ear full. We have a small collection already done, but we both decided to do Chin Mu Kwan first. It was fun and took about a week of research and picking her mind to get it done. When it was finished we were once again amazed at the genius of Grandmaster Kang in picking the name. He is the only other person in CTF I know who is fluent in reading hanja. We hope you get a whole new meaning, understanding and respect of CTF.

English                        True     Martial Art     Home

Korean                         Chin     Mu               Kwan

Japanese                      Shin     Bu/Mu           Kan

Mandarin                      Zhen    Wu               Guan

Cantonese                    Jan       Mou              Gun

眞 CHIN can mean, True, Pure or Real. Chin is made up of two words, the top part of the brush strokes means spoon 匙. The bottom is a three footed bowl 鼎. The Korean pronunciation is jeong. A jeong was usually used to make medicine but because of it's association with high statutes in society it also became a symbol of royalty. The unified characters translate literally "spooning into the jeong". It is an action to make sure what is made is made pure and proper no deviations or contaminates added.

 武         MU means martial discipline or martial arts, it is made up of two characters 止 (stop) and  戈 (‘spear or halberd’). While the character 止 means " to stop" in modern times, it originally meant "foot". The character 武 may therefore have originally referred to "one who takes  a spear or halberd on foot to go to fight". Due to the modern meaning of 止,  it is believed to denote "to stop a weapon" or "to stop violence" The meaning "stop" did not originally exist. It may have been added to please young people who are not familiar with the Korean word "kwa" which is spear or halberd.

館 KWAN means "home of an association" or "public building". It is made up of two characters the first one on the left means "Food" 食　and the second means "Official" 官.  Originally it was a place where officials gathered and were served meals and then it became used for and morphed into a large public building used for a special purpose.

Chin Mu Kwan Taekwon-Do, "True Martial Art Home" then can translate; a public institution for the gathering of those who are like minded in developing and teaching the true and pure style of martial arts (Taekwon-Do) for self defense and in a non violent pursuit of discipline and perfection of the mind, body and spirit.

Related words you have heard:

Japanese BU  and Kan

Bushido:  Warriors code, somewhat like chivalry in the west

Budo:  The way of the warrior

Kobudo: "The old martial art way of Okinawa" usually referring to classical weapon training.

Budokan:  Originally was built for judo competition in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, "Martial Arts Hall", now it is used for major concert venues

Kokugikan: National sport training center in Japan where the grand champion sumo tournaments are held.

Kodokan: Judo's formal training hall

Chinese Wu

Wushu The literal name meaning martial discipline or martial arts. This word is used in china and around the world to refer to Chinese martial arts as opposed to Kung fu which really has no martial context at all.

Questions comments can be addressed to ctfwebsite@aol.com

TAEKWON-D0

跆 拳 道

                     This article takes a closer look at our art. CTF spells TKD with "-Do" at the end instead of combining the word into one. The reason we do it this way is 1) it was the original way it was spelled and translated, 2) it emphasis's DO as a distinct and important aspect of TKD. All countries pronounce Taekwon-Do the same since it is a Korean word, exported to the world. The individual words are pronounced as follows:

                     To strike or smash with the foot      To strike or smash with the hand     As a way of life

English          Tae                                                        Kwon                                                 Do

Korean          Tae                                                      Kwon                                                  Do

Japan             Dai                                                       Ken                                                     Do

Mandarin       Tai                                                       Chuan                                                  Tao

Cantonese     Toi                                                       Kyun                                                    Dou

An interesting aspect of this word is that usually  Korea and Japan took the Chinese writing for words they already had, so the Chinese character already fit into their language. The word Tae is a made up Korean word that had no Hanja for it. It is not familiar in use with Japan or China. With this word, the Korean word was first and then they had to go back to the Chinese writing to find the character that matched Tae.

跆  TAE:  To trample: To strike or smash with the foot, is derived from 2 characters , the left character means foot 足 and the right brush stroke is台 board or geographical plain. Together the foot is stepping through the board.

拳     KWON: Fist: To strike with the fist. The top character is "fold fingers to make circle" The bottom character 手  is "hand", together they mean fist.

道      DO:  Path, road, method, way. Do is made up of 2 characters. The first character is made up of 辵 walk, walking, or follow the majority. The right character, 首 is "head", "neck", "part of the body connecting head and torso", "leader", "ones life". In ancient times especially in China they displayed the necks or heads of those sacrificed or executed along the path. Thus the character for neck eventually turned synonymous with road. Through this character it has developed to mean, the connecting of the mind and body in a disciplined fashion to venture forth and travel a path of the spiritual pursuit.

            Taekwon-Do therefore can translate; The Way of striking or smashing with the foot and hand.  Through the vigorous discipline of the body using the hand and foot as a martial art training method, ones journey if guided correctly in a proper and strict fashion on the proper path will lead to a spiritual awakening of unifying the mind, body and spirit.