Valid strike
A strike or thrust counted as a point (hanpan, 한판) in kumdo: made with full spirit and proper posture, with the striking part of the jukdo (죽도) on a permitted target, edge correctly aligned, and followed by jonsim (존심).
How to say it
- Korean
- 유효격자yuhyo gyeokja
- Spanish
- Golpe válido
- English
- Valid strike
- Japanese
- 有効打突ゆうこうだとつyūkō datotsu
Valid strike (유효격자, yuhyogyeokja) is the strike or thrust that the kumdo competition and refereeing rules recognize as a point (hanpan, 한판). It corresponds to Japanese yūkō datotsu (有効打突). Merely touching the opponent is not enough: several conditions must be met together.
Under Article 12 of the rules, a valid strike is made:
- with full spirit (충실한 기세) and proper posture (적정한 자세);
- with the striking part of the jukdo (죽도, the bamboo sword), the gyeokjabu (격자부);
- on a permitted target area (gyeokjabuwi, 격자부위), with the cutting edge correctly aligned (칼날을 바르게). This means the direction of the strike and the edge side of the jukdo are the same;
- and followed by jonsim (존심), the mental and physical posture kept after the strike.
Korean sources tie these conditions to the unity of spirit, sword and body (gigeomche ilchi, 기검체 일치). The spirit (기) is the will and its expression in the shout; the sword (검) is the jukdo; the body (체) is the stamping step and the upright waist. All three must coincide at the moment of the strike.
The target areas are the head (머리, meori: front, left and right), the wrist (손목, sonmok: left and right), the waist (허리, heori: left and right) and the thrust to the throat (목찌름, mokjjireum).
Validity is decided by the referees alone: one chief referee (주심, jusim) and two assistant referees (부심, busim), with equal authority. Coaches cannot challenge a decision about a valid strike. The international handbook says a strike is deemed invalid if the attacker shows excessive excitement while claiming it in an improper manner.
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