FAQ's

Master Rozario (Brisbane) believes Gumdo is a beautiful art that can be pursued throughout your life.

Who can study Gumdo?

Gumdo is perfect for people who may not want what is typically offered in most martial arts which is kicking, punching, and throwing. It attracts students of both genders in equal number from all ages.

You must be capable of appreciating the power and beauty of the skills you will learn. You must be able to respect these skills and learn all the lessons they can teach you.

Gumdo does not require great flexibility, you will not have to kick heads or fight anyone. All you have to be willing to do is learn, challenge and improve yourself. It does require that you learn how to safely control falls and learn to tumble safely with a weapon. If you find that you cannot leap your body length, cut and do a dive roll all in one continuous motion do not worry - there is a less dynamic option for you.

The goal is to enable grandparents, parents and children to all study together with no barriers. 

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What is the curriculum and rank system?

Gumdo is organized like most modern martial arts into a series of ranks and degrees. The initiate begins at white belt and progresses from that level through several coloured belts before reaching the next beginning - black belt.

The progression in Gumdo is logical and well designed. A student will study memorised patterns for solo practice to enable the practitioner to discover the correct way to move with each technique in order to develop proper timing, speed and power.

The patterns are very dynamic and grow more physically challenging with each rise in rank. The gradual progression of the patterns teaches understanding of how to combine various offensive and defensive postures with movement to create effective tactics.

A first degree black belt in Gumdo should have learned the responsibility of self-control, developed an understanding of honour, internalised the 12 basic two-handed sword patterns (ssangsu gumbub), the 12 corresponding 'key-point' drills (gyuk-gum), developed a high tolerance for the physical and mental demands of Ki Gong exercises (breathing-based meditation facilitated by movement), basic unarmed defense vs punches and kicks, basic kicking skills, learned safe falling and tumbling practices and achieved a fairly good level of emotional and physical fitness.

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What weapons do you learn to use?

Most training is done with a wooden sword (mokgum). For safety reasons this is used in group classes. After black belt, students begin to regularly train with a dull-edged practice sword (kagum) and a real sword (jingum).

Once the student reaches black belt level, cutting fixed targets such as bamboo (Taenamu pegi), straw mats (Jipdan pegi) and paper (Sinmunji pegi) with live blades is practiced, as well as cutting targets thrown in the air (Dunjia begi) such as fruit.

Gumdo does not include other weapons training.

The application of sword technique to empty hand situations (kwon bup) are also taught at higher rank levels.

Adapted from Anthony Boyd's Personal Webpage and reproduced here with permission.

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Energy training

Gumdo incorporates its own methods to develop the awareness and strength of Ki in the body, much like that practiced in Tai Chi, Chi Kung and Yoga. Ki is also known as Qi or Chi and is energy that circulates in our bodies, that through practice, is able to be controlled. An example of this is the ability to extinguish large numbers of candles with a punch or sword stroke.

Do you wear armour?

Contact sparring is an option only for black belt students who express interest in it and is not a curriculum requirement. The majority of training takes place without use of any armour.

Specially-developed armour is available for personal protection during such training. The armour, when used in conjuncion with bamboo swords (jukdo) or RSW swords (a padded, correctly weighted sword developed by Realistic Sparring Weapons in Hong Kong) provides acceptably safe conditions for those interested in further exploring contact sword battle.

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