I may have posted this before, but here's a quote from the Kukkiwon website that fits:
"From the technical viewpoint, the poomsae itself is Taekwondo, and the basic movements are no more than the preliminary actions to reach the poomsae. The Kyorugi is a practical application of the poomsae and the Taekwondo spirit is manifested not in an abstract mental philosophy expressed in the documents but in the actions of poomsae."
For fun, here are a couple of videos of early TKD circa 1956 /57 (before the creation of the Taegeuk poomsae). The sparring shown here is not just kicking, but instead also features all kinds of hand techniques. It's also fairly clear to see at least some Shotokan influence. The step sparring remains as part of the Kukkiwon syllabus, but the freestyle sparring with hand techniques is in my experience not commonly practiced and I would guess is probably limited to only a few schools who choose to include it. With this kind of freestyle sparring it's easier to see how Kyorugi could have been considered the application of the poomsae.
"From the technical viewpoint, the poomsae itself is Taekwondo, and the basic movements are no more than the preliminary actions to reach the poomsae. The Kyorugi is a practical application of the poomsae and the Taekwondo spirit is manifested not in an abstract mental philosophy expressed in the documents but in the actions of poomsae."
For fun, here are a couple of videos of early TKD circa 1956 /57 (before the creation of the Taegeuk poomsae). The sparring shown here is not just kicking, but instead also features all kinds of hand techniques. It's also fairly clear to see at least some Shotokan influence. The step sparring remains as part of the Kukkiwon syllabus, but the freestyle sparring with hand techniques is in my experience not commonly practiced and I would guess is probably limited to only a few schools who choose to include it. With this kind of freestyle sparring it's easier to see how Kyorugi could have been considered the application of the poomsae.
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