Chon-Ji

Quick Facts

About the kata

Chon-Ji is the tul with which every ITF Taekwon-Do student begins. Per the tkdbristol.com and tkdcoaching.com syllabuses, it is practised for the 9th kup grading. It has 19 movements, starts in a parallel stance and ends by drawing the left foot back to the starting stance. Per itkdc.com, its stances and techniques hold the basic movements underlying all 24 tuls of the series. The tul has two similar parts. In the first, the practitioner turns to four directions in turn and, in gunnun sogi, alternates a low block with the outer forearm najunde bakat palmok makgi with a middle punch kaunde jirugi. In the second part the same cross is walked again, but the middle block uses the inner forearm kaunde an palmok makgi in niunja sogi, and only then does the punch come by stepping into gunnun sogi. It ends with three middle punches forward in a row. Grandmaster Paul McPhail, of the ITF technical committee, notes four points on tkdcoaching.com: the low block ends level with the chest, the shoulders stay level during the punch with the index-finger knuckle aimed at the solar plexus, the inner block's elbow bends about 45 degrees, and turns are done on the ball of the foot.

The kata in different styles

Meaning of the name

The hangul 천지 corresponds to the characters 天地. Per kidokwan.org, 天 originally denoted the sky above a person and later heaven, nature and the natural order, while 地 denoted potter's clay and earth, later soil and territory. In the East the union of heaven and earth is read as the creation of the world or the start of human history, which is why Chon-Ji is the beginner's first tul; its two similar parts represent heaven and earth. The tul's diagram is a vertical stroke crossed by a horizontal one. Brendan Doogan reads it as yin-yang, in Korean um-yang, the clash and balance of opposites, and notes that 十 also means ten or perfection in Chinese. He says Sam-Il, Choi-Yong, Yon-Gae, Moon-Moo, So-San and Choong-Moo share the same diagram. Itkdc.com also links the name to the crater lake on Mount Paektu, legend's first seat of Dangun, the founder of Korea.

Creator and history

The Chang-Hon series bears the pseudonym of General Choi Hong-hi, who compiled it; its 24 tuls correspond to the 24 hours of a day, because human life, perhaps a hundred years, is according to the general like a single day compared with eternity (chk-taekwondo.com). The tuls were created, according to Doug Cook (ymaa.com), between 1955 and 1988. Nam Tae-hi took part in some of them; the English Wikipedia credits him with Hwa-Rang, Chung-Mu and Ul-Ji. According to itftkd.sport, Choi's first book from 1959 contained five forms, then called hyung: Hwa-Rang, Chung-Mu, Ul-Ji, U-Nam and Sam-Il; U-Nam dropped out of the 1960 edition. The 1965 English book had twenty of them, and the 1972 book added Eui-Am, Yon-Gae, Moon-Moo and So-San to reach the final 24. Chon-Ji is neither among the first five nor among the 1972 additions, so we believe it was created between 1959 and 1965. We have not been able to establish the exact year.

Technique Sequence — ITF Taekwondo

Breakdown source: kildaretaekwondo.com

1. #1
   Gunnun SogiNajunde Bakat Palmok Makgi(L)
2. #2
   Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(R)
3. #3
   Gunnun SogiNajunde Bakat Palmok Makgi(R)
4. #4
   Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(L)
5. #5
   Gunnun SogiNajunde Bakat Palmok Makgi(L)
6. #6
   Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(R)
7. #7
   Gunnun SogiNajunde Bakat Palmok Makgi(R)
8. #8
   Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(L)
9. #9
   Niunja SogiKaunde An Palmok Makgi(L)
10. #10
    Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(R)
11. #11
    Niunja SogiKaunde An Palmok Makgi(R)
12. #12
    Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(L)
13. #13
    Niunja SogiKaunde An Palmok Makgi(L)
14. #14
    Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(R)
15. #15
    Niunja SogiKaunde An Palmok Makgi(R)
16. #16
    Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(L)
17. #17
    Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(R)
18. #18
    Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(L)
19. #19
    Gunnun SogiKaunde Jirugi(R)