Taegeuk Ee Jang

Quick Facts

About the kata

Taegeuk Ee Jang is the second of the eight color-belt forms practiced by the Kukkiwon and World Taekwondo. Its trigram Tae (☱) means lake; per the English Wikipedia, the Kukkiwon teaches it with a mind as calm and clear as a water's surface. Both Wikipedia and the Taekwondo Compendium place it at 7th gup. Compared with the first form, it adds three elements noted by Wikipedia: a face-height punch eolgul jireugi, a transition from the short stance ap seogi to the long ap kubi, and a front kick ap chagi combined with a punch. The Compendium sees this as the form's core idea: Taegeuk Il Jang keeps height in ap seogi, while the second form shows how power comes from lowering the center of gravity into ap kubi. Phoenixtaekwondo.net counts 18 movements made of 23 techniques, with a single kihap on the final punch. The floor pattern forms three parallel lines with 180-degree turns. Stepping forward makes a full line; turning in place makes a broken one — per Wikipedia, this is how the Tae trigram's image emerges. Phoenixtaekwondo.net advises training relaxed and flowing yet firm and precise; with more stance transitions than the first form, it demands more balance.

The kata in different styles

Meaning of the name

According to the Taekwondo Compendium, Tae here has nothing to do with the 'tae' in taekwondo, which refers to the foot; it means a pond or lake with a calm surface, and in the human body, control of breath and, through it, emotion. The practitioner should concentrate power in the lower abdomen danjeon while staying calm on the outside — the Compendium sums this up in the image of an iron fist in a velvet glove. The Korean site Mookas, drawing on the Kukkiwon's digital encyclopedia, interprets the character 兌 similarly: firm inside, soft outside. Phoenixtaekwondo.net links the trigram with joy.

The hardest part

The Taekwondo Compendium highlights two things about this form. The pauses between movements are not equal in length — they depend on whether an attack or a defense follows. And with every transition from one stance to another, the rear leg should press firmly into the floor.

Prerequisites

The form builds on Taegeuk Il Jang. According to the English Wikipedia, it further practices ap seogi and ap kubi, the low block arae makgi, the inner block momtong an makgi, the high block eolgul makgi, the punch momtong jireugi, and the front kick ap chagi. The British Student Taekwondo Federation BSTF lists it among the forms for color-belt gradings.

In grading syllabi

• Kukkiwon system (poom and dan): 1st poom
• Kukkiwon system (poom and dan): 2nd poom
• Kukkiwon system (poom and dan): 3rd poom
• Kukkiwon system (poom and dan): 4th poom
• Kukkiwon system (poom and dan): 1st dan
• Kukkiwon system (poom and dan): 2nd dan
• Kukkiwon system (poom and dan): 3rd dan
• Kukkiwon system (poom and dan): 4th dan
• Kukkiwon system (poom and dan): 5th dan

Technique Sequence — WT Taekwondo

Breakdown source: phoenixtaekwondo.net

1. #1
   Ap SeogiArae Makgi
2. #2
   Ap KubiMomtong Jireugi
3. #3
   Ap SeogiArae Makgi
4. #4
   Ap KubiMomtong Jireugi
5. #5
   Ap SeogiAn Makgi
6. #6
   Ap SeogiAn Makgi
7. #7
   Ap SeogiArae Makgi
8. #8
   Ap SeogiAp Chagi
9. #9
   Ap Kubi
10. #10
    Ap SeogiArae Makgi
11. #11
    Ap SeogiAp Chagi
12. #12
    Ap Kubi
13. #13
    Ap SeogiEolgul Makgi
14. #14
    Ap SeogiEolgul Makgi
15. #15
    Ap SeogiAn Makgi
16. #16
    Ap SeogiAn Makgi
17. #17
    Ap SeogiArae Makgi
18. #18
    Ap SeogiAp Chagi
19. #19
    Ap SeogiMomtong Jireugi
20. #20
    Ap SeogiAp Chagi
21. #21
    Ap SeogiMomtong Jireugi
22. #22
    Ap SeogiAp Chagi
23. #23
    Ap SeogiMomtong Jireugi
    kiai