Customer Reviews (1)

Continuation of an Excellent series
This is the second book in a 4-volume instructional series published by the United States Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation (USSBDMDKF), the official organization of Moo Duk Kwan founder Hwang Kee, now led by his son H.C. Hwang.

This volume includes all of the materials required for promotion by the USSBDMDK to orange belt 6th and 7th gup.Explanations are given for hip rotation and turning through the rear properly, hand and foot techniques, and the following Hyung (forms): Ki Cho Hyung Sam Bu (#3), Pyung Ahn Cho Dan (#1), Pyung Ahn Ee Dan (#2), and the second Chil Sung Hyung (which is learned first), Chil Sung Ee Ro Hyung.The Chil Sung Hyung were created by Hwang Kee after his study of the Chinese-influenced Korean military text Mooyea Dobo Tongji.All hyung include foot/stance diagrams so that the reader can be clear about direction, stance, etc.

Also presented completely are the required One Step Sparring sequences (Ill Soo Sik) #3-8, self-defense (Ho Sin Sool) same side wrist grabs #1-4 and Two-handed wrist grabs #1-3.Sparring combinations 1-5 are also included, but generally aren't part of the required USSBDMDK test.Also sections on breaking, culture and ettiquette and terminology.

A high quality manual with a flexible cover hard enough to be durable, yet soft enough to be placed open on the floor without having to worry about creasing the spine of the book.Glossy laminated sweat-resistant cover keeps this book from wearing out from use. ... Read more

Book Description
Nearly 200 illustrations delineate the first three forms required for brown belt as practiced by the Korean Taekwondo Association. Kim (10th dan) also provides a history, tournament match rules, and a glossary. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

One of the first books I ever owned and a very basic look at this series of katas or hyungs!
I just finished rereading "Palgue 1-2-3" by Kim Pyung Soo for the first time in quite a few years and was reminded of the firs time I had purchased this and the other two books in the series when I was first starting out upon my martial arts journey whose primary focus in those early days was Karate and Tae Kwon Do. These books were some of the first ones I owned concerning the martial arts and kata or forms in particular.

After the customary introduction, the author includes a very brief section on the history of Korea and Tae Kwon Do in particular. Since the primary focus of this book is to be on the katas or forms, I was too bothered by the briefness of most of the fringe subjects that the author discusses throughout the book. Subjects such as; target areas, various hand and foot positions used when striking, basic warm-up and stretching exercises, stances and blocks, etc.

I was however surprised to find no real references to kicks with the exception of the three foot positions shown, surprisingly the instep and the back of the heel weren't even mentioned, and the Front Kicks shown in Palgue #2. In addition to that, there were only two strikes shown, those being the Out-to-In Knifehand Strike to the temple and the midsection Lunge Punch. I really don't know why the author included these and the other brief sections in this book other than perhaps as reference material since it doesn't really add to the focus of the book.

Now this is just my personal and professional opinion, but I feel that any book dealing with katas or forms, should focus solely on the movements in the particular kata being discussed and the applications of each movement. There truly is no need to go into striking surfaces, hand and foot positions, stretching, etc., since these techniques should all be learned prior to learning katas anyhow. It is redundant and a waste of the authors talent and the readers time. Now having said that, this book, and the other two in the series, are still cherished and close to my heart as they were instrumental in helping me learn this particular series of katas.

Next comes the "meat and potatoes" section of this book, the demonstrations of Palgue #1, #2, and #3.

The layout is very basic and is the same for all three katas. All of the photographs are taken from the "top of the shaft" position, although there are a couple side views shown for a few on the different techniques. The photographs are all of the starting and finishing positions for each of the techniques. There are no photographs to show body position as you move from one technique to another. A definite drawback! What little explanation there is for each move is very basic and quite brief. Not nearly as detailed as it should be. The foot position diagrams are pretty good and they do help somewhat with how your feet should move when moving from one technique to another. However, it could have been done a lot better.

You can tell that this book was written in the early 70's as the author refers to the ruling body of Tae Kwon Do as the Korea Taekwondo Association, which as you may or may not know, was the predecessor of today's World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).

The author also includes some obviously dated rules concerning free-style sparring in Tae Kwon Do and a few photographs of non-kata related applications of a few various techniques. This volume finishes up with some common Tae Kwon Do terms in both English and Korean.

If you are just starting out and want some really basic reference material for the Palgue series of forms, then this would be a fairly good book to own on this particular series of katas. However, there are some better ones out there. Two of which are Richard Chung's, "Tae Kwon Do" and "Advancing in Tae Kwon Do."

Shawn Kovacich, martial artist,author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series.

Basic info and details of first three palgue forms
This was written by Grandmaster Kim Soo, currently the youngest 10th dan Tae Kwon Do black belt in the world and founder of the Cha Yon Ryu ("Natural Way") system.This book starts with a brief historicalbackgrodun of Tae Kwon Do and then goes on to basic sections on strikingpoints, warm-up exercises, stance, blocks, and strikes.The majority ofthe book is dedicated to detailed step-by-step instruction in the firstthree palgue forms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good basic book to own for this kata series.
I just finished rereading "Palgue 4-5-6" by Kim Pyung Soo for the first time in quite a few years and was reminded of the firs time I had purchased this and the other two books in the series when I was first starting out upon my martial arts journey whose primary focus in those early days was Karate and Tae Kwon Do. These books were some of the first ones I owned concerning the martial arts and kata or forms in particular.

After the customary introduction, the author includes a very brief section on the history of Korea and Tae Kwon Do in particular. Since the primary focus of this book is to be on the katas or forms, I was too bothered by the briefness of most of the fringe subjects that the author discusses throughout the book. Subjects such as; target areas, basic bowing procedure, basic warm-up and stretching exercises, etc.

I was however surprised to find numerous pages devoted to pre-arranged self-defense techniques, offensive hand strikes, one-step sparring, and free sparring hand strikes. I really don't know why the author included these sections in this book other than perhaps as reference material since it doesn't really add to the focus of the book.

Now this is just my personal and professional opinion, but I feel that any book dealing with katas or forms, should focus solely on the movements in the particular kata being discussed and the applications of each movement. There truly is no need to go into pre-arranged self-defense techniques, offensive hand strikes, one-step sparring, and free sparring hand strikes, etc., since these techniques should all be learned separately from learning kata. Although the principles learned in kata can and do translate into the other areas. It is redundant and a waste of the authors talent and the readers time. Now having said that, this book, and the other two in the series, are still cherished and close to my heart as they were instrumental in helping me learn this particular series of katas.

Next comes the "meat and potatoes" section of this book, the demonstrations of Palgue #4, #5, and #6.

The layout is very basic and is the same for all three katas. All of the photographs are taken from the "top of the shaft" position, although there are a couple side views shown for a few on the different techniques. The photographs are all of the starting and finishing positions for each of the techniques. There are no photographs to show body position as you move from one technique to another. A definite drawback! What little explanation there is for each move is very basic and quite brief. Not nearly as detailed as it should be. The foot position diagrams are pretty good and they do help somewhat with how your feet should move when moving from one technique to another. However, it could have been done a lot better.

You can tell that this book was written in the early 70's as the author refers to the ruling body of Tae Kwon Do as the Korea Taekwondo Association, which as you may or may not know, was the predecessor of today's World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).

The author also includes some obviously dated rules concerning free-style sparring in Tae Kwon Do and a few photographs of non-kata related applications of a few various techniques. This volume finishes up with some common Tae Kwon Do terms in both English and Korean.

If you are just starting out and want some really basic reference material for the Palgue series of forms, then this would be a fairly good book to own on this particular series of katas. However, there are some better ones out there. Two of which are Richard Chung's, "Tae Kwon Do" and "Advancing in Tae Kwon Do."

Shawn Kovacich, martial artist/author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the first books I ever owned on kata and a good basic book to start with.
I just finished rereading "Palgue 1-2-3" by Kim Pyung Soo for the first time in quite a few years and was reminded of the firs time I had purchased this and the other two books in the series when I was first starting out upon my martial arts journey whose primary focus in those early days was Karate and Tae Kwon Do. These books were some of the first ones I owned concerning the martial arts and kata or forms in particular.

After the customary introduction, the author includes a very brief section on the history of Korea and Tae Kwon Do in particular. Since the primary focus of this book is to be on the katas or forms, I was too bothered by the briefness of most of the fringe subjects that the author discusses throughout the book. Subjects such as; target areas, various hand and foot positions used when striking, basic warm-up and stretching exercises, stances and blocks, etc.

I was however surprised to find no real references to kicks with the exception of the three foot positions shown, surprisingly the instep and the back of the heel weren't even mentioned, and the Front Kicks shown in Palgue #2. In addition to that, there were only two strikes shown, those being the Out-to-In Knifehand Strike to the temple and the midsection Lunge Punch. I really don't know why the author included these and the other brief sections in this book other than perhaps as reference material since it doesn't really add to the focus of the book.

Now this is just my personal and professional opinion, but I feel that any book dealing with katas or forms, should focus solely on the movements in the particular kata being discussed and the applications of each movement. There truly is no need to go into striking surfaces, hand and foot positions, stretching, etc., since these techniques should all be learned prior to learning katas anyhow. It is redundant and a waste of the authors talent and the readers time. Now having said that, this book, and the other two in the series, are still cherished and close to my heart as they were instrumental in helping me learn this particular series of katas.

Next comes the "meat and potatoes" section of this book, the demonstrations of Palgue #1, #2, and #3.

The layout is very basic and is the same for all three katas. All of the photographs are taken from the "top of the shaft" position, although there are a couple side views shown for a few on the different techniques. The photographs are all of the starting and finishing positions for each of the techniques. There are no photographs to show body position as you move from one technique to another. A definite drawback! What little explanation there is for each move is very basic and quite brief. Not nearly as detailed as it should be. The foot position diagrams are pretty good and they do help somewhat with how your feet should move when moving from one technique to another. However, it could have been done a lot better.

You can tell that this book was written in the early 70's as the author refers to the ruling body of Tae Kwon Do as the Korea Taekwondo Association, which as you may or may not know, was the predecessor of today's World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).

The author also includes some obviously dated rules concerning free-style sparring in Tae Kwon Do and a few photographs of non-kata related applications of a few various techniques. This volume finishes up with some common Tae Kwon Do terms in both English and Korean.

If you are just starting out and want some really basic reference material for the Palgue series of forms, then this would be a fairly good book to own on this particular series of katas. However, there are some better ones out there. Two of which are Richard Chung's, "Tae Kwon Do" and "Advancing in Tae Kwon Do."

Shawn Kovacich, martial artist/author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

One of the best basic books to own for this kata series.
I just finished rereading "Palgue 1-2-3" by Kim Pyung Soo for the first time in quite a few years and was reminded of the firs time I had purchased this and the other two books in the series when I was first starting out upon my martial arts journey whose primary focus in those early days was Karate and Tae Kwon Do. These books were some of the first ones I owned concerning the martial arts and kata or forms in particular.

After the customary introduction, the author includes a very brief section on the history of Korea and Tae Kwon Do in particular. Since the primary focus of this book is to be on the katas or forms, I was too bothered by the briefness of most of the fringe subjects that the author discusses throughout the book. Subjects such as; target areas, various hand and foot positions used when striking, basic warm-up and stretching exercises, stances and blocks, etc.

I was however surprised to find no real references to kicks with the exception of the three foot positions shown, surprisingly the instep and the back of the heel weren't even mentioned, and the Front Kicks shown in Palgue #2. In addition to that, there were only two strikes shown, those being the Out-to-In Knifehand Strike to the temple and the midsection Lunge Punch. I really don't know why the author included these and the other brief sections in this book other than perhaps as reference material since it doesn't really add to the focus of the book.

Now this is just my personal and professional opinion, but I feel that any book dealing with katas or forms, should focus solely on the movements in the particular kata being discussed and the applications of each movement. There truly is no need to go into striking surfaces, hand and foot positions, stretching, etc., since these techniques should all be learned prior to learning katas anyhow. It is redundant and a waste of the authors talent and the readers time. Now having said that, this book, and the other two in the series, are still cherished and close to my heart as they were instrumental in helping me learn this particular series of katas.

Next comes the "meat and potatoes" section of this book, the demonstrations of Palgue #1, #2, and #3.

The layout is very basic and is the same for all three katas. All of the photographs are taken from the "top of the shaft" position, although there are a couple side views shown for a few on the different techniques. The photographs are all of the starting and finishing positions for each of the techniques. There are no photographs to show body position as you move from one technique to another. A definite drawback! What little explanation there is for each move is very basic and quite brief. Not nearly as detailed as it should be. The foot position diagrams are pretty good and they do help somewhat with how your feet should move when moving from one technique to another. However, it could have been done a lot better.

You can tell that this book was written in the early 70's as the author refers to the ruling body of Tae Kwon Do as the Korea Taekwondo Association, which as you may or may not know, was the predecessor of today's World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).

The author also includes some obviously dated rules concerning free-style sparring in Tae Kwon Do and a few photographs of non-kata related applications of a few various techniques. This volume finishes up with some common Tae Kwon Do terms in both English and Korean.

If you are just starting out and want some really basic reference material for the Palgue series of forms, then this would be a fairly good book to own on this particular series of katas. However, there are some better ones out there. Two of which are Richard Chung's, "Tae Kwon Do" and "Advancing in Tae Kwon Do."

Shawn Kovacich, martial artist/author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series.

Good as an aid to training, but not a "teach yourself" text
Palgue (1,2,3 of Tae Kwon Do) is intended as a reference book for students of Tae Kwon Do/Karate/Kung Fu, and should be taken as such.However, as a reference, it is incredibly useful.Included in the book are the three basic forms of Tae Kwon Do (Palgue 1,2 and 3, hence the title), and a refresher on the basic uses of the hands and feet in Tae Kwon Do.

This book is well-illustrated, and the illustrations are very useful to the performance of the forms, but this book is no substitute for training under a teacher; the forms are harder than GM Kim Soo makes them appear!However, for practice at home, when you need to remember exactly HOW the forms are performed, this book is what you need ... Read more

Product Description
Manual for Gups published by the Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation, Inc. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A good basic book to own on this kata series.
I just finished rereading "Palgue 7-8" by Kim Pyung Soo for the first time in quite a few years and was reminded of the firs time I had purchased this and the other two books in the series when I was first starting out upon my martial arts journey whose primary focus in those early days was Karate and Tae Kwon Do. These books were some of the first ones I owned concerning the martial arts and kata or forms in particular.

After the customary introduction, the author includes a very brief section on the history of Korea and Tae Kwon Do in particular. Since the primary focus of this book is to be on the katas or forms, I was too bothered by the briefness of most of the fringe subjects that the author discusses throughout the book. Subjects such as; target areas, self-defense techniques, defenses against kicks, takedown defenses against kicks, etc.

Although there were a few fairly good techniques demonstrated, I really don't know why the author included these and the other brief sections in this book other than perhaps as reference material since it doesn't really add to the focus of the book.

Now this is just my personal and professional opinion, but I feel that any book dealing with katas or forms, should focus solely on the movements in the particular kata being discussed and the applications of each movement. There truly is no need to go into striking surfaces, hand and foot positions, stretching, etc., since these techniques should all be learned prior to learning katas anyhow. It is redundant and a waste of the authors talent and the readers time. Now having said that, this book, and the other two in the series, are still cherished and close to my heart as they were instrumental in helping me learn this particular series of katas.

Next comes the "meat and potatoes" section of this book, the demonstrations of Palgue #7 and #8.

The layout has improved a bit over the first two volumes in this series, although not nearly enough to significantly impact the reader's perception of the material presented. All of the photographs are taken from the "top of the shaft" position, although there are a couple side views shown for a few on the different techniques. The photographs are all of the starting and finishing positions for each of the techniques. There are no photographs to show body position as you move from one technique to another. A definite drawback! What little explanation there is for each move is very basic and quite brief. Not nearly as detailed as it should be. The foot position diagrams are pretty good and they do help somewhat with how your feet should move when moving from one technique to another. However, it could have been done a lot better.

I do have to add that this volume did incorporate a little bit of the applications of certain techniques in the kata demonstrated; however it wasn't enough to really impact the effectiveness of this book. This volume finishes up with some common Tae Kwon Do terms in both English and Korean.

If you are just starting out and want some really basic reference material for the Palgue series of forms, then this would be a fairly good book to own on this particular series of katas. However, there are some better ones out there. Two of which are Richard Chung's, "Tae Kwon Do" and "Advancing in Tae Kwon Do."

Shawn Kovacich, martial artist/author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A good basic book to own on this kata series.
I just finished rereading "Palgue 7-8" by Kim Pyung Soo for the first time in quite a few years and was reminded of the firs time I had purchased this and the other two books in the series when I was first starting out upon my martial arts journey whose primary focus in those early days was Karate and Tae Kwon Do. These books were some of the first ones I owned concerning the martial arts and kata or forms in particular.

After the customary introduction, the author includes a very brief section on the history of Korea and Tae Kwon Do in particular. Since the primary focus of this book is to be on the katas or forms, I was too bothered by the briefness of most of the fringe subjects that the author discusses throughout the book. Subjects such as; target areas, self-defense techniques, defenses against kicks, takedown defenses against kicks, etc.

Although there were a few fairly good techniques demonstrated, I really don't know why the author included these and the other brief sections in this book other than perhaps as reference material since it doesn't really add to the focus of the book.

Now this is just my personal and professional opinion, but I feel that any book dealing with katas or forms, should focus solely on the movements in the particular kata being discussed and the applications of each movement. There truly is no need to go into striking surfaces, hand and foot positions, stretching, etc., since these techniques should all be learned prior to learning katas anyhow. It is redundant and a waste of the authors talent and the readers time. Now having said that, this book, and the other two in the series, are still cherished and close to my heart as they were instrumental in helping me learn this particular series of katas.

Next comes the "meat and potatoes" section of this book, the demonstrations of Palgue #7 and #8.

The layout has improved a bit over the first two volumes in this series, although not nearly enough to significantly impact the reader's perception of the material presented. All of the photographs are taken from the "top of the shaft" position, although there are a couple side views shown for a few on the different techniques. The photographs are all of the starting and finishing positions for each of the techniques. There are no photographs to show body position as you move from one technique to another. A definite drawback! What little explanation there is for each move is very basic and quite brief. Not nearly as detailed as it should be. The foot position diagrams are pretty good and they do help somewhat with how your feet should move when moving from one technique to another. However, it could have been done a lot better.

I do have to add that this volume did incorporate a little bit of the applications of certain techniques in the kata demonstrated; however it wasn't enough to really impact the effectiveness of this book. This volume finishes up with some common Tae Kwon Do terms in both English and Korean.

If you are just starting out and want some really basic reference material for the Palgue series of forms, then this would be a fairly good book to own on this particular series of katas. However, there are some better ones out there. Two of which are Richard Chung's, "Tae Kwon Do" and "Advancing in Tae Kwon Do."

Shawn Kovacich, martial artist/author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Road of Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do/Soo Bahk Do
This is the 3rd book in a continuing 4 volume series published by the United States Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation (USSBDMDKF) presenting the official Moo Duk Kwan curriculum as passed down from Hwang Kee to hundreds of thousands of practitioners worldwide.This volume includes all of the requirements for green belt 6th, 5th and 4th gup.

The terms Tang Soo Do and Soo Bahk Do are often used interchangeably.Moo Duk Kwan is the unique name of this school, "Moo" meaning "Martial", "Duk" meaning "Virtue", and "KWan" translating as "school".The Moo Duk Kwan was founded by Hwang Kee in 1945, and although influenced in a large part by Japanese Karate, later came to include unique information derived from Hwang Kee's research into Chinese matrial arts and the Chinese-influenced Korean military manual known as the Mooyea Dobo Tongji.

Included in this volume are all required hand and foot techniques, combination techniques, and the following 4 Hyung (forms): Pyung Ahn Sam Dan (#3), Pyung Ahn Sa Dan (#4), Pyung Ahn O Dan (#5), and the first Chil Sung Hyung designed by Founder Hwang Kee and based upon his research, Chil Sung Il Ro (#1), which is generally the second Chil Sung Hyung taught.

Also included are one step sparring (Ill Soo Ski) #7-14, and Self-sefense (Ho Sin Sool) wrist grab on both wrists #1-4, side wrist grab Natural and alternate), and back wrist grab long & close.Sparring combinations for green belt #1-4 are also included.

A highly recommended book for anyone studying the official USSBDMDK style.Helful, complete, all techniques and forms are demonstrated by Hwang Kee's son, H.C. Hwang.Quality binding allows the book to be opened all the way as a study guide without having to worry about cracking the spine.Glossy moisture resistant cover will keep this book in good condition through use. ... Read more