Cho Geup Hyung

Quick Facts

About the kata

Cho Geup Hyung (초급형) is a form taught to the yellow belt in Kuk Sool Won. The official curriculum of the Korean Kuksoolwon places it at rank 노란띠 (초급반) alongside 11 techniques against a wrist grab (Sohn Mohk Soo) and 13 techniques against a clothing grab (Eue Bohk Soo). According to the curriculum of the Korean Martial Arts Center in Galesburg, it is the second Kuk Sool Won form; a practitioner advancing to blue belt has two forms and 39 techniques behind them. It follows directly on the first form, Ki Cho Hyung, but differs in structure. Ki Cho Hyung moves back and forth in each of its six sections, while Cho Geup Hyung runs from start to finish along a single straight line. It adds new stepping, such as the twisted stance, and new combinations, like a circular block with a punch. The Kuk Sool Won community wiki also lists the yuhp chaki technique among the additions. The site mykuksool.com describes it as a tiger-style form, focused on low forward movement. We have not been able to confirm in our sources how many movements it has or who composed it.

Meaning of the name

In Hangul the name is written 초급형. The Korean Martial Arts Center curriculum translates it as "elementary level form." The word 초급 also appears in Kuksoolwon's official curriculum in the name of the yellow belt, 초급반, and the form names for the colored belts form a graded series: 기초형 for white belt, 초급형 for yellow, 중급형 for blue (청띠), 고급형 for red (홍띠), and 대급형 for the 자띠 belt.

Rhythm and dynamics

The Kuk Sool Won community wiki divides the form into two halves by time, not by the number of movements. In the first half the practitioner stands in place and holds each stance briefly; the wiki calls this Ja·Se So·Ge (姿勢少憩), "a small rest in each stance." In the second half the stances carry it forward along a straight line without a stop.