We do the three Kichos, then Palgwes 1 through 8, Koryo and several other BB poomsae for Dan, and as a special treat, my instructor will teach you the Pinans if you ask nicely :wink1:.
My own feeling is, I'd rather learn a very few hyungs really well (i.e., understand the bunkai/oyo in depth, training those apps in combat-based sparring). It's well known that the old Okinawan karateka used to train only a few katawhich were regarded not as part of a single MA, but as actual MA styles themselves; so the Pinans constituted a martial art unto themselves, Naihanchi (which Gichin Funakoshi studied for nine years as his main training in karate) a different art, and so on). I think there's enough depth in many of the TKD hyungs that one could do the same thing with two or three well chosen ones. The relatively huge number that people currently learn is probably more connected to the multiplication of belt ranks and the need to have a separate criterion for advancement to each of the belt levelsso hyung performance is recruited to fulfil this role...
My own feeling is, I'd rather learn a very few hyungs really well (i.e., understand the bunkai/oyo in depth, training those apps in combat-based sparring). It's well known that the old Okinawan karateka used to train only a few katawhich were regarded not as part of a single MA, but as actual MA styles themselves; so the Pinans constituted a martial art unto themselves, Naihanchi (which Gichin Funakoshi studied for nine years as his main training in karate) a different art, and so on). I think there's enough depth in many of the TKD hyungs that one could do the same thing with two or three well chosen ones. The relatively huge number that people currently learn is probably more connected to the multiplication of belt ranks and the need to have a separate criterion for advancement to each of the belt levelsso hyung performance is recruited to fulfil this role...
