I believe that by denying the infuence or any part of a history of a martial art or system is wrong. Because by acknowledging the connection you can go back and research what the art was like when the founders of the systems were studying and what their influences might have been. For instance several founders of the early kwans studied Japanse karate, knowing this you can then read about the training that was going on during the years they trained, about the teachers of that time period and so on and so on, in the end I believe having a wider prespective instead of having the narrow party line view. Even trying to understand what the political situation was like back then helps shed light on how things were developed.
Absolutely, MarkI couldn't agree more.
A friend sent me this site that shows a comparasion of the TKD forms. If you look at the forms on the right side (I forget the names) they are clearly versions of the Japanese karate katas (Heians/Pinans). If you look at the ITF forms you can see the influences of these katas.
http://www.natkd.com/tkd_forums.htm
with respect
Mark
Thanks for posting this link, Markbut it doesn't seem to connect to anything now (at least when I'm trying it). Is it possible it was moved or something?
My TKD instructor learned the Pinan katas as part of his own (Song Moo Kwan) TKD training; once upon a time they were part of the TKD canon, but were dropped several decades ago. If you're iterested in combat applications of the Pinans, Iain Abernethy has a terrific video that covers all of the Pinan kata and uncovers some very direct and effective apps, at different fighting ranges (but mostly focusing on the typical very close quarters you get to quite quickly in a street attack) underlying the movement recorded in the Pinan forms.