Circumstances and my handling of English language let me to be a mediator between the desire of those of us who were the majority of the Argentine Instructors and the Founder of the discipline.

The separation of the Korean Instructors (from the original Federation created by General Choi in South Korea in 1966 to distribute their art in the world) leaded to this fact.

The telephone call late at night in Buenos Aires, Argentina (early in the morning in Canada) in a non precise date of 1978, to inform him that the national Black Belts pioneers of that country had decided to continue supporting him unconditionally, allowed me to establish a very special relationship that would last until his death (June 2002).

By those times, the convulsed state of the art produced the inevitable arrival of other Korean Instructors (some sent by the General himself to assist him in his expansionist task) and others who considered it a propitious moment to make their August. The speeches were diverse and without precision and not coincident in the biomechanics of the movements. This fact was repeated in other countries, to such an extent that it forced General Choi himself to take the bull by the horns and personally dictate seminars around the world. A single speech and a single biomechanics for all with pedagogical clarity, allowed a global progress not seen until then.

I was his translator into Spanish of his condensed Encyclopedia (1995 version) and in all interview he gave (notes in martial arts’ magazines, television interviews, meetings with national authorities, etc.) and in more than 10 International Instructors’ seminars.  In none of these seminars was discussed any topic related to the sports facet, since he considered that these aspects should be dealt with by the body of masters and instructors of each country. He merely laid down the rules by which competition was to be governed. He emphasized the touch’s control due to the lethal result in all full contact of the art he had created and highlighted the necessity of granting points to defenses and blocks that would be considered effective if these produced imbalance in the attacker. On every occasion he could, he made it clear that what is used in the Olympic area has nothing in common with his creation and it’s only a usurped name, considering it a comic form of karate (a funny karate as he used to say).

He explained each movement in detail and repeated them tirelessly so the attendees of these seminars would fully understand the meaning and the biomechanics to be executed.  He insisted on the need to perform the movements relaxed and without stiffness so as not to detract from their naturalness.

This contrast with the dictates of some of the entities that claims to follow their legacy but making contracture as the paradigm to be sought, removing all naturalness and effectiveness from the movements.

The curious thing about this discursive dichotomy is the staunch insistence on achieving the opposite of what was dictated by the founder of the discipline. It is also curious because there are plenty of examples in his literature and in the videos that have been filmed in his seminars, demolishing what is erroneously proposed today. Of course, there are reasons for this.

I have met people who denied the Founder even when the General was alive. On one occasion a person who is a GM now, was able to tell me in response to my observation about the erroneous execution of a punch with the front fist made by a competitor in patterns (Tul):…»Well, the General hits rotating his fist at the end????? ..as saying that the General doesn’t always do the right thing and taking as good the competitor’s mistake”. What the competitor was doing, and which prompted my comment, was just the opposite of the General’s indications. On another occasion, the same person was able to answer a question from an attendee of one of his “classes”: «That execution is not the right one he said, adjusting the attendee movement (and when the questioner replied that was General Choi in self who had told him to do so»), he replied: «The General is no longer here and now you must to do what I say.»

Beyond being strictly true what has been described, this give us a little understanding of what is happening in the current atomization of the art we belong.

Excessive pride or arrogance is considered one of the seven capital sins and in our case it reminds me the stanza of a verse from a famous book that contains gaucho’s sayings: «the snake wiggles and shows off its dowry» (Sic)

The biomechanics in the movements of the art created by General Choi Hong HI is unique in the martial arts’ spectrum. The execution of this allows the human being to obtain the maximum power in all and every one of the techniques. In this regard, it can be said that there is only one possible interpretation that makes a single execution possible. The only person who knew how to convey that reality was General Choi, its creator, who in person and with his body in motion gave an example of what he intended to pass on.

He never made any reference to kicks and punches in sequences of sports uses because he considered it a lack of experience to talk about this subject in a seminar with characteristics and fundamentals for self-defense.

I can safely say that General Choi Hong Hi was his Encyclopedia in action in all its aspects. His seminars, like his literature, began with the basics and then progressively continued with the most advanced.

Every time I re-watch the videos of his seminars, I corroborate the enormous didactic difference with what is disseminated today. 

SGM Ricardo Desimone

To be aware read again the previous notes