Chil Sung Sam Ro

Quick Facts

About the kata

Chil Sung Sam Ro is the third of the seven forms of the Chil Sung series. According to the English Wikipedia (entry Hyeong), the series was created by Hwang Kee, founder of Moo Duk Kwan. The soobahkdo.is form overview credits it with 57 movements, more than the series' first two forms (38 and 31) and fewer than the fourth (82). The Soo Bahk Do Institute lists it as a requirement for the 1st dan (Cho Dan) exam. Brian Corrales's essay on wasatchmartialarts.com describes it as a very active form, energetically close to Bassai, practicing several Soo Bahk Ki Cho techniques: Do Mal Shik, Ta Ko Shik and Yo Shik. Ta Ko Shik, a drumming method, and Yo Shik, per the same site, come from the Kwon Bup section of the book Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji, which Hwang Kee discovered in 1957, and belong to elements unique to Soo Bahk Do, distinct from Chinese and Okinawan influences. What Do Mal Shik involves, we have not been able to establish. When exactly the third form arose, we have not been able to establish. Per the same essay, Hwang Kee introduced the Chil Sung forms to Moo Duk Kwan gradually, from 1952 until years after 2000. Neither the number and placement of the kihap shouts nor the form's floor pattern have we found in sources.

The kata in different styles

Meaning of the name

According to the form overview on soobahkdo.is, the name means "Chil Sung three", the third form of the Seven Stars series. The Soo Bahk Do Institute also lists it as Chil Sung Form 3.

Creator and history

Brian Corrales's essay Background of Chil Sung Hyung (wasatchmartialarts.com, 2013, also reprinted in the document Seven Star Forms) cites Chil Sung Sam Ro as an example of Tang Soo Do (Kara Te Do) influence in Chil Sung: it is a passage in which the practitioner turns back up along the form's front line and performs Sang Dan Mahkee with Teul Oh Soo Do, the Ahp Cha Gi kick and a lunging Kap Kwon strike in Kyo Cha Rip Jaseh stance. The same sequence, per the essay, also occurs in the form Pyong Ahn Sa Dan, which was influenced by Kong Sang Koon; the author classes both as Tang Soo Do forms.

Differences between styles

The form overview on soobahkdo.is places Chil Sung Sam Ro, like the other forms in the series, in the Joong Gan Ryu direction, the middle way, which the essay on wasatchmartialarts.com interprets as a union of the external (Weh Ga) and internal (Neh Ga) schools. The form is taught both by Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan schools and by the Tang Soo Do form list on tangsoodoworld.com. How its performance differs between Tang Soo Do and Soo Bahk Do, we have not been able to establish.