Division
6. How to Weapon
Chapter
47
Stabbing
the Opponent with the Kihap Sound
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“Why are there so
many who practice Taekwondo yet so few of superior ability?”
“Because so few conquer themselves.”
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When you fight with your opponent you should raise your tide
and oppress his, not only with direct attack and defense but
with explosive Kihap . The importance of Kihap sound can be
ignored in many cases, but it too has its correct Do. The Kihap
sound in Taekwondo should not be merely the vibration of the
vocal chords. It should be as an explosion of your spirit giving
expression to your tide. It should be able to ring heaven and
earth and to penetrate deep into the opponent’s mind shaking
and scattering the root of his spirit.
The Kihap sound should not stand alone, separated from your
Taekwondo motion. It ought to be an element harmonized with
your movements with simplicity. This is why the sound should
also not merely be a sound arising from the vibration of your
vocal chords but an explosion of accumulated spirit from the
vibration of your entirety. For this reason, there can be no
good Kihap sound without good spirit. And the spirit cannot
lack the self-confidence of victory over your opponent nor lack
the training to attain it. A tiger’s roar can drown a
wolf’s howl because the tiger’s life, which preys
on large animals, differs from that of a wolf, which preys on
only small ones.
Kihap is simple yet varied, so it is somewhat difficult to
distinctively comprehend its unseen functions. However, we can
categorize the sounds into three types: that which precedes
a movement, that which proceeds with a movement, and that which
follows a movement. There also exist differences among a single
sound according to whether the vibration comes from the stomach,
the throat, or the entire body. In addition to these distinctions,
one can also distinguish the cut sound from the lasting one.
With this in mind, we must also remember that even the Kihap
sound is not separated and distinct yet interrelated with the
entire process of Taekwondo in a change.
As mentioned above, the change of Kihap sound is complex without
substance, yet it is simple to the Taekwondo-Een. The Kihap
sound that follows TAEKWONDO is simply a properly made sound
to help subdue the opponent; i.e. one which makes up for your
own deficiencies. It therefore should explode spontaneously
from within you, bursting forth without conscious control. Enlightened
Taekwondo can capably subdue the opponent only with the Kihap
sound before each attack and defense.
Your will changes the world. Essentially, the subject is not
separated from its object. At times the possibility of object
can fill up some defect of the subject, which is the entirety.
The Kihap sound is neither the entirety nor a part of Taekwondo.
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