540 Dolgae Chagi
540도 돌개차기
Literally: 540-degree whirl kick
Also known as: 540 kick, 540 whirl kick, Tornado kick, 540 Dwi Huryeo Chagi
A spinning kick with a 540-degree turn, in which the same leg pushes off, kicks and lands; a typical black-belt demonstration technique.
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540 dolgae chagi (540도 돌개차기), a spinning kick of 540 degrees, is a jumping kick with one and a half body rotations. The same leg pushes off, kicks and lands on the ground; the other leg helps the jump and is pulled in before landing. The general Korean name dolgae chagi means spinning kick; in Japanese a similar kick is called kuchu mawashi geri, and in Chinese xuanfeng jiao. According to Wikipedia, the kick was popularized in the mid-1980s by George Chung and Steven Ho at open martial arts tournaments. It is usually performed as a reverse spinning hook kick, but variants finished with a roundhouse, crescent or hook kick also exist. The NBTKDA kick overview lists it as a variant of the kick dwi huryeo chagi, not as a separate basic technique. The kick is a black-belt requirement and one of the most demanding kicks of all; it is used mainly in board-breaking demonstrations, only rarely in sparring.