Blocking Standards
Below you will find a chart comparing the Blocking material of the World Hapkido Federation, Dr. He-young Kimm's book, "HAPKIDO" the HWARANGDO and the KUKSOOLWON. As before the
1st group of Blocks are those shared by 5 out of five of the groups researched and
are coded in Red.
The 2nd group are Blocks shared by 4 out of the five groups and these are coded
Blue.
The 3rd group are Blocks shared by 3 out of five and these are coded Green.
The 4th group are Blocks shared by 2 out of 5-- Violet.
The 5th group are for Blocks that are unique to only one out of the five. They
are Auburn and represent the least likely to be retained in the basic material
identifying a standard Hapkido curriculum.
Apparently there are more than a few small issues to be resolved when it comes
to the art of Blocking--- in the Hapkido arts. Here are some things I have run
into.
a.) More so than in the first two cases --- kicking and striking--- the blocks
have a huge range of terms. An additional problem is the one person's
"inside" can occasionally be another persons' "outside", so
right off there is a matter of direction to address.
b.) Another issue is than not everyone prioritizes the same areas worthy of
protection in the same way. For instance, in its most basic applications an Up
Block defends the face, Inside and Outside Blocks defend the Chest and a Down
Block defends the Groin. This, however does not stop someone from having an Up
Block as well as High, Middle and Lower Inside and Outside Blocks to defend
head, chest and groin respectively.
c.) And while we are at it there is the matter of all of these blocks being
duplicated as a separate group of blocks merely by performing the same block
with the hand either open or closed.
d.) Finally there is the matter of just how far one goes in including the role
of snaring the identified weapon at the same time one blocks. The result is yet
another class of blocks called "hooks".
From what little I have seen the all-time champs for providing the greatest
range of blocking options are the KUK SOOL people followed closely by the
Hapkido of Kimm He-young. No big surprise there when you consider how much time
Kimm spent with the Seo brothers in developing things here in the States.
At any rate I have identified 12 blocks for the most basic applications though
the green area identifying the blocks shared by at least two Hapkido arts is
split. The first section is numbers and the items seem reasonable for the
fundamentals of most Hapkido arts. The second section contains those blocks one
would reasonably expect to be part of a more advanced curriculum. Thoughts?
Yon Mu Kwan / WHF | He-Young Kimm (Hapkido) | Hwa Rang Do | Kuk Sool Won | |
1. High Level Block | High Rising Block | Top Block | Upward Block | |
2. Outside Block | High Inside Block | Middle Body Block | Outside Chest Block | |
3. Low Level Block | Descending Block | Low Block | Downward Block | |
4. Double Outside Block | Double-Palm Block | Double Outside Block | ||
5. Inside Block | Forearm Block | Middle Forearm Block | ||
6. Rising X-Block | X-Block | Upward X-Block | ||
7. Downwards X-Block | X-Block | Downward X-Block | ||
8. High-Low Block | Double High-Low Block | |||
9. Double Inside Block | Double Inside Block | |||
10. Inside Circle Block | Inside Circular Block | |||
11. Outside Circle Block | Outside Circular Block | |||
12. Knifehand Block | Inside Knifehand Block | |||
Low Outside Block | Outside Low Block | |||
Low Inside Block | Inside Low Block | |||
High Outside Block | Outside Face Block | |||
High Inside Block | Inside Face Block | |||
Downward Palm Block | Low Palm Block | |||
High Open-hand Block | Double Open-hand Inside Block | |||
Outside Wrapping Chest Block | Outside Wrapping Chest Block | |||
Inside Wrapping Chest Block | Inside Wrapping Chest Block | |||
Wrapping Block | Inside Wrapping Low Block | |||
Outside Wrapping Block | Wrapping Right Head Block | |||
Inside Praying Mantis Block | Praying Mantis Block | |||
Outside Wrapping Low Block | ||||
Rising Open-hand Block | ||||
Wrist Block | ||||
Inside Chest Block | ||||
High Open-Hand X-Block | ||||
Low Open-Hand X-Block | ||||
Double-Open-hand: High/Low Block | ||||
Outside Wrapping Head Block | ||||
Upward Palm Block | ||||
Cross-Block | ||||
Heel Palm/Looping Hook | ||||
Middle Block | ||||
Standing Grab | ||||
Looping Hook | ||||
Outside Praying Mantis Block | ||||
Spinning Forearm | ||||
Outside Spinning Forearm | ||||
Inside Open-hand Block | ||||
Outside Open-hand Block | ||||
Inside Wrapping Block | ||||
Backhand Block | ||||
Lateral X-Block | ||||