Frontal up-and-down swing

Frontal up-and-down swing (정면 상하 후리기, jeongmyeon sangha hurigi) is a hurigi (후리기, swinging) exercise in kumdo. The Korea Kumdo Association's textbook (대한검도회) lists it among the sangha hurigi (상하 후리기, up-and-down swings), together with the jwau sangha hurigi (좌우 상하 후리기, up-and-down swing to the left and right) and the bal bakkueo jwau sangha hurigi (발 바꾸어 좌우 상하 후리기, the same with a change of feet, using the open step 벌려걷기, beollyeogeotgi).

How it is done (per the association):

• From the middle guard (중단세, jungdanse), the bamboo sword (죽도, jukdo) is raised high without stopping, as if thrown upward at about 45 degrees.
• It is then swung fully downward, drawing the left fist in front of the lower abdomen. Both fists wring inward and the tip ends at about knee height.
• In the frontal swing, both fists and the tip stay on the centre line (정중선, jeongjungseon).

Points of attention: the motion should be soft and large, the fists should not leave the body's centre line, the swing should be made with the three lower fingers of the left hand (little, ring and middle), and the body should not sway nor the ankles and knees bounce.

Purpose: it is used as a warm-up or cool-down exercise. A dojo page describes it as a preliminary step for learning head strikes (머리치기, meorichigi) smoothly. The aim is to learn the correct path of the sword, the use of shoulders and arms, and whole-body balance. According to that page, it is done standing still first and, once mastered, while moving forward and back.