Taegeuk Il Jang

Quick Facts

About the kata

Taegeuk Il Jang opens the eight poomsae of the Taegeuk series practiced by Kukkiwon taekwondo. It is assigned the trigram Geon (건, ☰) – heaven and light; the Taekwondo Compendium (nbtkda.com) reads in it birth and beginning. The English Wikipedia places it at 8th geup as the form for promotion to 7th geup; phoenixtaekwondo.net requires it for yellow belt 8th–7th kup, while taekwondopreschool.com already places it at 9th geup. The practitioner moves along three parallel lines and turns 180 degrees by bringing the front foot back; phoenixtaekwondo.net compares the diagram to the character 王 (king). In the side sections the stance is the short ap seogi, while forward and back movement uses the long ap kubi. Techniques include the blocks arae makgi, momtong an makgi and eolgul makgi, the strikes momtong jireugi and baro jireugi, and the kick ap chagi. Phoenixtaekwondo.net counts 18 movements (20 techniques), taekwondopreschool.com 20 movements – the difference is in how they count. The single kihap shout belongs to the last strike. According to the Taekwondo Compendium, ap chagi should reach at least collarbone height, and the strike lands as the leg is being withdrawn.

The kata in different styles

Meaning of the name

The Taekwondo Compendium (nbtkda.com) explains the word taegeuk as the source of everything in the universe and the law by which everything constantly cycles through creation and decay; the English Wikipedia uses it to denote the universe from which all things and values are derived. Each of the series' eight forms carries one of the eight trigrams of the Book of Changes, and Il Jang is assigned the trigram Geon of three unbroken lines, which Wikipedia links to the characters 天 and 건. The Taekwondo Compendium sees in it the yang principle within the eum-yang pair and the beginning, the root of all things; phoenixtaekwondo.net advises practicing the form "with powerful freshness and a feeling of beginning." The same site, however, calls Geon pure yin (eum), while the other sources we read speak of yang – we believe the word has been swapped.

Creator and history

Between 1967 and 1971, Kukkiwon-style taekwondo practiced the earlier Palgwae series, which the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) compiled with the contribution of several of the original kwans. According to the English Wikipedia, more kwans joined the KTA by 1970, and so the new Taegeuk series was created to reflect the contribution of all of them; by 1971 Palgwae was already considered outdated. The Taekwondo Compendium (nbtkda.com) names nine authors from the main kwans – among them Kwak Gun-sik and Park Man-hae of Chung Do Kwan, Kim Soon-bae of Chang Moo Kwan and Lee Chong-woo of Jidokwan – and states that the new forms became mandatory for promotion in 1974, at first alongside Palgwae, and fully replaced it in 1988. According to Wikipedia, some schools still teach Palgwae today.

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 SeogiMomtong Jireugi
3. #3
   Ap SeogiArae Makgi
4. #4
   Ap SeogiMomtong Jireugi
5. #5
   Ap KubiArae Makgi
6. #6
   Ap KubiBaro Jireugi
7. #7
   Ap SeogiAn Makgi
8. #8
   Ap SeogiBaro Jireugi
9. #9
   Ap SeogiAn Makgi
10. #10
    Ap SeogiBaro Jireugi
11. #11
    Ap KubiArae Makgi
12. #12
    Ap KubiBaro Jireugi
13. #13
    Ap SeogiEolgul Makgi
14. #14
    Ap SeogiAp Chagi
15. #15
    Ap SeogiMomtong Jireugi
16. #16
    Ap SeogiEolgul Makgi
17. #17
    Ap SeogiAp Chagi
18. #18
    Ap SeogiMomtong Jireugi
19. #19
    Ap KubiArae Makgi
20. #20
    Ap KubiMomtong Jireugi
    kiai