History of Korean Breaking before Karate started Breaking

Steven Lee

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I'm a bit hostile to Japan, but I'm not a troll. I'm not doing this for the fun of causing anxiety. I'm just spreading the truth and the facts. I feel obligation to it. I don't want my country Korea to lose nor share any of its traditional wealth, which is why it's important to clearly understand what culture & techniques belong to whom. Reddit is easier to check image files. For some reason, some websites are not friendly to image file links.

History of Korean Breaking before Karate started Breaking : kyokushin

I'm just trying to spread the facts in the related topics in some subreddits. Shoulder-push means turning (pushing, rotating) shoulder forward when punching instead of the shoulders being stationary & square.

It's "OK" that Karate copied the idea of Breaking/Tameshiwari from a power circus that predates Karate. It certainly doesn't bother me who is not a Japanese. It hurts Japanese's ego that their "proud" Breaking/Tameshiwari is not a Japanese invention but a Korean sport, but facts should be facts regardless of ego & greed. Also, it's not just the idea of Breaking Game that Mas Oyama copied into Karate. Mas Oyama also taught Korean hand strikes to Karate, with specific characteristics like shoulder-push & stacking speed (& power) for hand strike.

Even China had Breaking/Tameshiwari, but Japan was exposed to Korean Kiaijutsu/Kihapsul, not the Chinese Breaking. Also, Mas Oyama (Korean, Choi) taught Karate Korean hand strike, not Chinese hand strike. (1927's Flag Fight, Gitssaum, pictures have shoulder-push for punching chest. 300 years old Ikmyung Yang's Hand Breaking record in Korea mentions using Yongryuk which means stacking speed & power. 300 years old Muyedobotongji Gwonbeop in Korea had a punching technique pushing shoulder.)

==Korean Breaking predating Karate's Breaking==

In today's Korea, Breaking/Tameshiwari is often done by Taekwondo, Kooksundo (Korean Taoist Qigong), Charyuk/Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu, Taekkyeon, Gyeoksul, etc. Charyuk/Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu is a power circus, power performance art, power magic show, sidewalk performance art which had Breaking/Tameshiwari before Karate, predating Karate & Karate's Breaking. It is correlated with Chinese Qigong & Korean Kooksundo, Seonsul. Chinese Iron Palm is also known to have shown breaking layers of cinder blocks with a straight palm slap 100 years ago (photographed) as well as driving a car across a human belly lying on the ground (Charyuk shows such feats of strength as well, not just Breaking). Shoulder-push means turning (pushing, rotating) shoulder forward when punching instead of the shoulders being stationary & square. Yong means stacking speed, power, mass in an accelerating manner instead of explosion & implosion.

In 1934's reputable Korean newspaper, there's a sport called Yuk-ki breaking soft shingles (roof tiles) with fist strike.

https://i.imgur.com/UqPLaLW.png

There are many reputable & old Korean newspaper records that show the derivations of the name Charyuk (like Yuk-ki) as well as the explicit name Kihapsul together.

https://i.imgur.com/GqgCXfa.png

In 1692, Korean Ikmyung Yang broke a stone with hand strike using Yongryuk (stacking speed, power, mass in the entire body

https://i.imgur.com/yJFsJWN.png

400 years ago, there were many Korean history books all recording the same event of Korean Hand Breaking a large stone as big as a Soban table.

https://i.imgur.com/d3vM6SR.png

Korean had martial arts (or Fight Game, pseudo-martial arts) like Subak which had frontal slap & punch like Taekkyeon (including Yetbub), Gwonbeop, Gitssaum (Flag Fight), Pyunssaum, Sibak. However, Breaking's strikes were created in the power circus Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu by trial & error trying with common sense strikes from everyday-life. The strikes improved; they started teaching what's already been created & improved (from common sense hitting, techniques are developed & more variety is added) including various hand shapes like Knife Hand. They teach the power circus (including Breaking's strikes) already created & improved without starting over the creation process at each generation. Strikes are learned by learning power circus including Breaking; martial arts were not involved. This is how Charyuk/Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu have worked in Korean society anyway regardless of how it was for some other sport which copied Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu.

As for the difficulty of this creation process which some people object (they claim Breaking must have gotten its strikes from martial arts), the difficulty level is about the same whether people invent powerful strikes in martial arts then adopt them in Breaking or whether people invent powerful strikes in Breaking/Tameshiwari power circus. The process & the difficulty of creating powerful strikes are the same whether it's done for martial arts or for circus. In the early 20th century, Korean Kiaijutsu/Kihapsul was popular in Japan. Later in the middle 20th century, this Korean Breaking was formally adopted by Karate through Korean Mas Oyama including specific Korean traits like Yongryuk stacking speed, power, mass for strikes & pushing shoulder for hand strike. "Among Mas Oyama’s many accomplishments, he is perhaps best known for introducing tameshiwari or “stone breaking” into the practice of modern karate."

Sosai Masutatsu Oyama, The Founder of Kyokushin Karate - Kyokushin-kan International Honbu

Mas Oyama is also famous for using dogs & cows as a target of Breaking/Tameshiwari, which doesn't necessarily involve Karate for hitting or fighting animals.

Absence of evidence is evidence of absence about existence in logic & academia. (Burden of Proof fallacy. Proving Non-Existence fallacy.) There are explicit references that Mas Oyama introduced Tameshiwari to Karate, including Kyokushin Karate's official words. Also, there are explicit words that Japan's Breaking/Tameshiwari was Korean Kiaijutsu/Kihapsul 100 years ago. Also, Mas Oyama added a hand strike to Karate that wasn't Karate techniques. Pushing (rotating, turning) shoulder in hand strike is from Korea, not from Karate. Stacking speed & power instead of explosion & implosion is from Korea, not from Karate. Mas Oyama taught these Korean techniques to Karate's hand strike for Tameshiwari/Breaking. Mas Oyama was a Korean.

As far as the academia goes, Japan didn't have Breaking/Tameshiwari. Korea didn't invent Breaking, but Japan copied Breaking from Korean Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu which existed before Karate's Breaking and was well known in Japan. Also, Mas Oyama introduced a new hand strike to Karate which pushes (rotating, turning) shoulder and stacks speed & power unlike Karate's implosion & explosion. That technique is from Korea; there are many Korean historical records describing such techniques with pictures & writings. Also, Breaking/Tameshiwari has nothing to do with striking martial arts including Taekwondo & Karate. Trial & error with history created Breaking including its powerful strikes. After the strikes were created, they were taught without starting over at each generation; the techniques were practiced by directly practicing Breaking, not by practicing martial arts. As a bonus fact, Korean martial arts including Sibak & Subak & Gwonbeop had powerful frontal strikes.


It is undeniable that Karate didn't invent Breaking. Karate didn't even copy from Chinese Breaking. Korean Breaking Game (power circus) Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu (Kihap/Kiai Techniques) existed in Japan back then; it was well known. So, Japan got the idea of Breaking/Tameshiwari from the well known Korean sport, not from China. Also, aside from the idea of Breaking/Tameshiwari, Japanese Karate does not rotate shoulder in hand strike. Japanese Karate does not even stack speed & power from slow to fast; they use implosion & explosion. There are Korean historical records that Korean had those techniques. (1927's Flag Fight, Gitssaum, pictures have shoulder-rotation for punching chest. 300 years old Ikmyung Yang's Hand Breaking record in Korea mentions using Yongryuk which means stacking speed & power. 300 years old Muyedobotongji Gwonbeop in Korea had a punching technique rotating shoulder.) Mas Oyama was a Korean (Choi). When Mas Oyama taught these techniques to Karate's Tameshiwari, he was copying Korean techniques into Japanese Karate. Also, even the idea of Breaking/Tameshiwari was not copied from China but the well known Korean sport Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu.

==Karate Breaking's history before Mas Oyama==

Breaking/Tameshiwari was not a part of Karate culture & curriculum no more than it's not a Kung Fu's culture & curriculum. It was from power circus, sidewalk performance art, feats of strength which were sometimes dabbled by martial artists including Judo blackbelt Masato Tamura who performed stone Breaking in 1940 then testified it was not Karate but Kiaijutsu/Kihapsul (Kihap/Kihal Techniques). The concept of Breaking is not from martial arts but from the traditional feats of strength in East Asia common in China & Korea 100 years ago, which Japan was exposed to via Korean Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu/Breaking. Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu can be self-taught or taught by a Kihapsul performer; powerful strikes were created by trial & error with common sense strikes; these strikes were practiced by practicing Breaking, not by practicing martial arts.

Similar to how Japanese Jiujitsu and Judo have done Breaking/Tameshiwari via Korean Kihapsul/Kiaijutsu/Charyuk (Kihap/Kiai Techniques), Karate has also imitated the Power Circus's Breaking in 1933. It was not a part of Karate culture back then, but the Karate performer dabbled in that power circus to perform Breaking/Tameshiwari. Kamesuke Higashioona was photographed in 1933 for Hand Breaking. Because this was before the time when Mas Oyama taught Korean striking techniques, his shoulders are square and stationary instead of the striking side's shoulder being pushed (turned, rotated) forward. This was also before the time that Mas Oyama introduced Tameshiwari/Breaking to be a modern Karate's culture and curriculum. Shoulder-push means turning (pushing, rotating) shoulder forward when punching instead of the shoulders being stationary & square. There are Korean records how Korean rotated shoulder for hand strike and stacked speed & power for hand Breaking 100 years ago in Gitssaum (Flag Fight, fist fighting game), 300 years ago in Muyedobotongji Gwonbeop, 300 years ago in Ikmyung Yang's Yongryeok (stacking speed & power) breaking a stone with a hand strike. Kokyushin Karate & Mas Oyama (Choi, Korean) spread these Korea techniques into modern Karate's Tameshiwari/Breaking; Kyokushin is known as the strongest Karate even today.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe..._1933_Hand_Breaking_without_shoulder-push.jpg
 

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Steven Lee

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Don't discredit my sources nor the conclusions directly following from the sources. Either provide counter-logic and counter-evidence, or just skip it if you don't like it. My sources are scholarly sources or news organization sources that haven't been damaged in reputation. Such sources are reputable reliable sources by the academic standard & also by Wikipedia standard.
 

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