Generally speaking, is it a good rule of thumb to "sink" into sodose as you cut downward and rise up from sodose into han sodose as you cut upward? My thinking behind this is that by doing so you employ the whole body (especially the legs and hips) into into the cut (whether it's in the air, such as in forms, or actually cutting objects) instead of just the waist and up.

'Han sodose'??

first time hearing such term. can you tell me what it is?

Somewhere along the line I was told that "han" meant "high" or "raised." We all know what a regular sodose looks like. The other stance I'm referring to is the same as a regular sodose (in terms of foot position) except that the legs are straightened. Imagine being in a regular sodose and simply standing up while keeping your feet in the same position. Is this an actual stance that goes by another name?

Perhaps "pan sodosae": one of the half stances... virtually indistinguishable from pan daedosae?

my vote is to Pan or Bahn sodose. Similar to Pan/bahn daedose. Not an official term but more of explanatory term for a half stance.

Thanks for the correction.

Now that the terminology issue has been addressed, should one raise or lower their body to correspond with the direction in which they're cutting when using either of the versions of sodose?

It's funny... "han" can mean great sorrow.... Perhaps we should connect it with sodosae in some way.


Anyway to dispel more of that deafening silence these questions are famous for producing...


As we've discussed a few times before in various places our stances are for the transfer of power to the blade - particularly the last span of the sword when we are performing a cutting stroke. For the most part, any stance [other than chayon-sae] will last only long enough to accomplish this goal of power transfer.

Transitioning to sodo-sae from chayon-sae, and geum-gye-dong-nip-sae will require a lowering of the centre. Ultimately, I think [due to severe reinforcement from my instructor] that the bringing of the rear/low leg into position is of greater importance than the height change, but from the point of view that all sources of power are welcome: as long as I can transfer that power through technique to the end of the blade without interfering with the angles of the cut I'll take it.

Trasitions from boke-ho-sae, bom-sae, or sodo-sae do not have a drop in height as your centre is at the same altitude for the latter two and quite a bit lower for the first. To some extent even dae-do-sae and gima-sae [if you have the freedom/time to form them fully in whatever application you are doing] are not going to produce a real drop into sodo-sae. This again reinforces the importance of bringing the rear/low leg into proper position. In these transitions, it's the only way to transfer body weight into the cut.

Looking at both situations [dropping transition, level transition] the constant is the rear leg.

The second part of Casey's question is about rising cuts. We work against gravity in these situations so these cuts have always felt weaker to me. If I am going to be cutting upward from sodo-sae and can see that further movement [in a forward-ish direction] will be possible then I will not worry about rising up with the cut. Maintaining a stable base seems to have more effect. If, however, I have to stay in sodo-sae and launch cuts upward and downward from that single position, rising and dropping with each has been required of me and seems to have value for those follow-up downward cuts.

Thanks Tony. I'll chew on that for awhile and experiment a bit more during cutting and forms practice. Knowing that the hips and legs lend a good deal more power in the motions of certain other activities, I took it upon myself to assume that the same principle should be applied to HDGD.

Right. It's just a question of how. Seeing as how you are the Bamboo King of the Eastern USA, I figure you will get a much clearer idea than anyone else, a whole lot sooner than the rest of us.

"Bamboo King." Can that be condensed to BB King?

It dawned on me not long ago that I used to cut grass as a kid for extra money and here I am as an adult and back to cutting grass for extra money.

Annoying martial arts response #86:

Life is like a wheel.

Master Gihm or Anthony

In my dojang , the Sabomnim usually required us to do chung myon begi sodosae followed by alternate sodosae jump where the legs switched alternately during each jump, left leg front right feet back then left leg back right leg front, for 30 times at the same time during that alternate sodosae jump, a chung myon begi is executed with kihap.

my question is , if during the regular sodose practise the feet and legs have to in 90 degrees forms. While during I am practising on my own that sodosae jump with chung myon begi, my feet and legs are not always in 90 degrees forms like the standard sodosae to facilitate the impact on the ground. Is this wrong ? What is the actual purpose of such sodosae jump in actual sparring or battlefield. Kindly advice.

Regards

Johan

foot angle of 45 degrees is ok. In sodose, you are training a few different things. One of them would be the upper leg muscle (front side). What is that muscle called in English?

It increases your sprinting speed significantly. In sword fight, you will be able to move rapidly from standing position.

I'd recommend you not to do too much sodose jump practice. It is very intense workout and could put a lot of stress to the knees.

Are you back to dojang now?

I believe that's the quadicept. The specific part of the quadricept that you are talking about, the one we train in sodose, is called the rectus femoris. It's used to get your leg up into the air.

Thank you Master Gihm for the advice.
No I am not back in the dojang yet. I would like to , but not yet

Aha !! thats explain the importance of sodose, I limit sodose jump practise once every two weeks just to keep in my mind and I cant do it more than ten countings every time I do it, too straining the feet and legs.

Thanks for the input