Black Belt Tae Kwon Do

Note: I wouldn't suggest that anyone try using this book (or its companion for the first eight forms) without an instructor. Learn your forms at the Do Jang. I find, though, that my Master shows me a form, but when I get home I find myself stuck on a detail. These books are excellent for refreshing my memory. When I got the books I took them to show my 7th dan WTF Master. Not only did he say they were great books, but he was friends with two of the authors. That reassured me that the books must be accurate. He wouldn't recommend one if he thought I'd learn something incorrectly!

Mr. Park has created a great set of books for any Tae Kwon Do student. It has really helped me when learning or reviewing forms.

First, you should know this book is for the WTF style and forms, not the ITF, which is different. But whatever style you practice, all told, about 40 million people in 167 countries do TKD, making it probably the world's most popular martial art. I am mainly a karate, kung fu, and escrima practitioner and teacher these days, but I also have a black belt in TKD, and learned many of my most important lessons and basics from first studying TKD. My teacher was the great Ju Hwarn Kwark, who very few people know of, but he was possibly the greatest kicker and puncher I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. The book starts with a brief history of TKD, the presents two brief chapters on basic techniques, prearranged sparring, and advanced techniques. The author discusses its popularity as a sport and much of the book seems aimed at helping a prospective instructor become competent enough to open his own school. Most of the book, however, is devoted to the forms. In fact, 142 pages of the book is just on that. So if you're looking for a book mainly on sparring and practical techniques this might not be for you, although there's a good chapter on that after the forms. There is also a section on self-defense, and several useful appendices, including rules of competition, weight divisions, referee signs, and a glossary of terms. One little piece of trivia. You may notice that the stepping pattern of the last form, Il Yo, follows a Swast_ka pattern--except the Oriental version of this is the reverse of the N_zi one. In fact, this symbol on maps in Japan denotes a Buddhist temple, and is a common Buddhist symbol.

dear sir please state which taekwon do form this book is there are 2 styles. international federation and world federation as they are as difrent as cheese and chalk inter being selfdefence and world a sport thanks

I am giving my soft cover copy to a friend, and buying the hard cover. There are plenty of Tae Kwon Do texts for the color belts, but this is the first book I've seen that covers all the black belt forms. Excellent illustration, excellent glossary describing the various kicks and strikes in both English and Korean terms.