Patterns Have Meanings – Chon-Ji

PATTERNS HAVE MEANINGS

Many of the patterns we learn were developed over the years by many different people important to the development of Tae Kwon Do.  We thought it would be interesting if you learned some of the facts behind the “named patterns”. So let’s start with the first “named’ pattern we learn. Chon-ji Hyung.

In his encyclopaedia General Choi told us CHON- JI means “the Heaven the Earth“. It is interpreted as the creation of the world or the beginning of human history. It consists of two similar parts; one to represent the Heaven and the other the Earth.

Chon-Ji also has another spiritual interpretation as Lake Chon-Ji is said to be the spiritual home of the Korean people. Lake Chon-Ji is the “Heavenly’ Lake”, located in a crater on Paektu-San (White Headed Mountain) located on the border between China and North Korea, which was the first residency of the legendary Dan-Gun before he established his capital at Asadal (now Pyongyang) in 2333 B.C.

Chon-Ji Hyung is made up of nineteen movements. The focus of the pattern is the development of basic strike (i.e. punch) and defence (middle block) techniques in combination with foundation Tae Kwon Moo Do stances (i.e. walking and L stance).