Mini-Dojang

[ehowton]

Yes, that is a Korean flag hanging in my house. More specifically, the national flag of the Republic of Korea (ROK) - South Korea. Not to be confused with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) - North Korea. I only mention it because you might be surprised how many times I get asked.

Here we go:

From Wikipedia - the Do (道) means 'the way' or 'art' and Jang (場) means 'a place'. Which makes dojang the place where one practices the way. In the case of martial arts it is the place where one practices the path of that martial art, much like Dojo in Japanese.

So my wife and I re-arranged the house quite a bit this weekend for various reasons, and thankfully those individual components dovetailed nicely into the whole. Finished the dojang and was floored when both my children spent over an hour, very maturely "training." One would hold the paddles and suggest a combination of kicks while the other kicked, and they assessed and gently corrected each other as well - without arguing! UNHEARD OF. Kicks lead to punches led to stances...they stayed very focused during the most serious and rigorous training session I've seen them do outside of class. All without a word from us.

I was even more surprised to see them practice their poomse, or forms during this time; something they are loathe to do because at their age they see no benefit in doing so. SHOCK AND AWE.

A father couldn't be more proud.

*BEAM*



Remote Location Alpha (RMAA RL-A)

Comments

[thesweetestnote.livejournal.com]

Gotta love it!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I'm going to work off the assumption it was a one-time thing, but I'd sure like to see more of it down the road.

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

AWESOME on both accounts!!!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Think yoga with a side of ass-kicking. That's kinda what I do in the evenings at home. Stretching exercises, then...BAM!

[kat-rowe.livejournal.com]

it's wonderful that the kids are so into and adult about the whole thing *hugs and high-fives you and your wife*

*wonders how anyone could mistake the South Korean flag for the North Korean considering that they look nothing alike even to the untrained eye*

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

So, I think its more that people who have not ever seen either - and are unaware of the political differences in the two nations' ideology simply don't know that I would never hang a North Korean flag in my home, or why.

And honestly - I couldn't tell you the difference of the flags of North & South Carolina, but I bet those who live there feel strongly about them.

^{*goes to look up their state flags just in case*}

[kat-rowe.livejournal.com]

*nods* Maybe because I grew up military I tend to assume it's foregone that people know the difference between North and South Korea. Guess even I get myopic at times

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

My wife and I came to that same conclusion this morning; she was in Germany when the wall came down.

[kat-rowe.livejournal.com]

wow. i watched on TV (was just a munchkin at the time) and it seemed powerful that way. must have been nuts to actually be there and experience it along with everyone else in the country