Chil Sung Il Ro
Chil Sung Il Ro
Literally: „Seven stars, first form“
Also known as: Chil Sung Form 1, Chil Sung Il Ro Hyung
The first of the seven Chil Sung forms Hwang Kee created for Moo Duk Kwan. It moves from slow, internal techniques to fast, powerful ones and opens like the Tae Kuk Kwon form.
Quick Facts
About the kata
Chil Sung Il Ro is the first of the seven forms in the Chil Sung series, created by Hwang Kee, founder of Moo Duk Kwan. According to wasatchmartialarts.com, it features Neh Gong techniques taken from the tai chi form, and the practitioner focuses on linking breath with how the body drives movement. The same source says the earth energy Ji Ki plays an important role in it. The influence of tai chi shows right at the start. According to Brian Corrales (wasatchmartialarts.com), the preparation for the first technique is identical to the opening move of the Tae Kuk Kwon form, called Pong, in English ward off. The same author considers Il Ro a textbook example of the shift from slow, internal techniques to fast, powerful ones, that is, the alternation of um and yang. The series' second form, Chil Sung E Ro, he says, is closest of all to traditional Tang Soo Do forms. When Il Ro is taught differs by school. The Digital Dojang course places it among the forms for the first dan (Cho Dan); which grade the individual Tang Soo Do federations test it at, we have not been able to confirm. Likewise, we have not found the number of movements or a full step breakdown in reliable sources.
The kata in different styles
| Style | Name in the style | Movements | Kiai |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soo Bahk Do (Moo Duk Kwan) | Chil Sung Il Ro | — | — |
Meaning of the name
Chil Sung means seven stars in Korean (칠성). Wasatchmartialarts.com links it to the Little Dipper, whose seventh star is the Pole Star, long used for navigation; the forms are meant to show the way through Soo Bahk Do training just the same. The Korean site mookas.com, however, says the series' name refers to the Big Dipper (북두칠성). Il Ro denotes the series' first form; the Soo Bahk Do Institute lists it as Chil Sung Form 1.
Creator and history
According to wasatchmartialarts.com, Hwang Kee began creating the Chil Sung forms in 1952, combining all he had studied so far: Taekyun, Tan Tui, Shaolin Long Fist, tai chi, and Tang Soo Do. A smaller part of the techniques, for instance Ta Ko Shik (the drumming method) and Yo Shik, comes from the Kwon Bup section of the book Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji, which Hwang Kee discovered in 1957; per mookas.com, he translated it at the request of Professor Na Hyun-sung of Seoul National University. The wasatchmartialarts.com blog's author adds, on this date discrepancy, that the seven forms did not arise at once: they were shown to Moo Duk Kwan gradually from 1952 into the years after 2000, and no form with elements of Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji predates 1957. Exactly when Chil Sung Il Ro was created, we have not been able to confirm.