Moon-Moo - the Ultimate Taekwon-Do Form

If there was a form that captured the essence of what Taekwon-Do really is, that form would be Moon-Moo.  Although I do not yet know Tong-Il, I have seen it enough to award Moon-Moo the title.  I will qualify this statement by saying that my school still does Ko-Dang, and never formally adopted Juche.  Once upon a time, when Youtube was new and I was a more rebellious black belt I taught myself Juche.  Although I have not continued to practice and have subsequently forgotten Juche, I remember it well and stand by my assertion that Moon-Moo is the quintessential TKD form.  I'm not trying to diminish Juche, I simply don't have a strong background with it because in my TKD universe - it really doesn't exist. 

Moon-Moo is the third longest form coming in only behind So-San and Yoo-Sin at 61 moves.  It is named after King Moon-Moo, the 30th king of the Silla dynasty.  

It would be easy to look at Moon-Moo as the quintessential TKD form from the kicking requirements alone however there's a lot more going on in Moon-Moo than tension side kicks and tension spinning kicks.  Moon-Moo is a powerful form.  There are no soft moves in the form.  Every technique you execute is like a stormwave crashing relentlessly on the beach that is your imaginary opponents.  Taekwondo is an art that finds its gracefulness in the beauty of raw power; Moon-Moo embodies that grace. 

I'm not going to break down the form move by move - there are a lot of moves but thankfully this form has three "acts" that I can look at.  Act 1 sees the practitioner do the most demanding moves.  Here you have tension side kicks, tension spinning hook kicks (some schools do the side kicks moving backwards from the one legged stance tense as well - we do not).  The entire first act of the form is a monument to the need for perfect body control, and with perfect body control comes enormous power.

Act two starts with the downward palm block, front leg front kick into side hammer fist strike, quick scoop/slide, knife hand down block into step in side kick spinning hook kick.  The change from act 1's graceful power to act 2's pure power is a stark contrast, which only makes both acts stand out as the varying contrasts play off of each other.  When a tense move proceeds a very fast move - the fast move often looks even faster and stronger.  In Moon-Moo this is demonstrated in the contrast between the tension kicks in the beginning and the hard fast kicks in the middle.  

The final act builds with more kicks in a short time than any other Chang-Hon form and ends with a jumping crescendo.  Act 3 begins with twisting kicks and forearm blocks.  Following these techniques come a low waving kick, into a checking side kick high side kick.  This is repeated, and then after turning reverse punch comes the coup de grace: two jumping downward punches, landing in X stances and finishing with a jump back kick from an X stance.  The form ends after this jump kick with a stepping back rising reverse arc hand block with a straight punch. 

There is nothing soft, and there is nothing ambiguous in the 61 movements of Moon-Moo.  The form is a perfect demonstration of the power TKD should give its practitioner and of the power that is inherent in the art itself.  My only complaint about this form is that it features so late in order of forms.  I'd have killed to know this form in my 20s instead of learning it in my mid 30s.  I wonder if the architecture of Juche was in regard to the challenges Moon-Moo coming so late in the curriculum.  Maybe some of you have the answer to that? 

  

Ge-Baek - The Great Form

Ge-Baek was named after a great (or not so great) general of the Baek-Je dynasty.  Legend has it then when facing what would be the battle of his lifetime he killed his wife and son, to not be distracted by thoughts of them in the coming battle.  He faced overwhelming odds, fought courageously in spite of that and caused heavy casualties to the Silla and Tang force he faced. In the end however Ge-Baek lost when he executed a prisoner which raised the morale of the Silla army, strengthening their resolve.  

Ge-Baek is a super dynamic form.  In our system, it is the first second degree black belt form, but for many systems and schools it is the last first degree black belt forms.  I think this is important because there is a bit of inconsistency between where some schools place certain forms.  As I move the blog forward, some of the context that I use to look at these forms is going to depend where the form falls in the overall student’s progression.  This time at least, I get to write about a form that isn’t very complicated in that point of view because Ge-Baek generally falls into the end of the first, start of the second degree black belt level.  

Ge-Baek is an awesome form for a lot of reasons.  On a technical level, it is pretty diverse.  There are a few sequences that repeat, but for the most part, the form consists of unique movements.  Ge-Baek is a gateway form to what I consider “the technique that is not a technique” or namely the turn in place.  If you know the form, you know that I am talking about turning your entire body as a sequence in the form, without advancing or retreating and in the process throwing a new technique.  Although you do this “technique” twice in the end of Kwang-Gae, turning in place features prominently and as the centermost theme in Ge-Baek.  The diagram of Ge-Baek is a straight line and a form that simply moved backwards and forward facing the same direction would not be very challenging.  Turning in place is, to use a tired cliché, challenging on steroids.  Many a fast forms learner has stumbled when learning this form.  

Ge-Baek, is a proving ground.  Learning the turns and remembering them is hard, mastering them and hitting great stances with good timing is even harder.  Further, it prepares you for some of the more challenging forms that also feature turning in place.  In addition to turning in place, Ge-Baek features a slew of notable new techniques.  Twisting kick – a kick designed to kick someone standing directly behind you, without the kicker turning to face is introduced.  A block we call the nine shaped block is also introduced.  This block is meant to break away a grab and possibly break the arms of a person grabbing you.  The form also features several sequences of techniques that build on the strengths acquired in earlier forms.  That being said, when I think of Ge-Baek I think of how much I struggled to grasp the turn in place.  Choong-Jang, Sam-Il, Choi-Yong, Eui-Am, Yon-Gae, So-san, and Tong-Il all feature various amounts of turning in place.  It is my belief that success in these later forms will rely a bit on having a very strong Ge-Baek.  

The flow of the form is dynamic, which really makes the form so appealing.  Unlike a lot of forms which look more like marching exercises, Ge-Baek looks like a fight against imaginary opponents.  Because of this it is an excellent tournament piece for competitors. Our school and the local Tang Soo Do schools have had legendary competitions between Ge-Baek and Jin-Do practitioners.  Personally I think Ge-Baek is the better form, however I think Jin-Do has a slightly higher degree of difficulty.  Regardless, for low dans there is nothing like judging a good Ge-Baek vs a good Jin-Do.  

I think of Ge-Baek as the first real black belt form.  It is a form with a difficulty far above the black belt forms that come before it.  When performed by a proficient black belt, I believe it to be one of the most beautiful forms of the 24 because it so simply captures what is unique and beautiful about the art of Taekwon-do.