Gumdo is also known as Kumdo, or Geomdo. Those words are a translation of the meaning of the word 'sword art' in Korean language. The meaning of Gumdo is the same as 'Kendo' in Japanese. 'Haidong' roughly translated was 'Land by the Eastern Sea', and was another name for Korea that had been used by other countries in ancient times. Thus, 'Haidong Gumdo' means 'Korean sword art.' Haidong Gumdo is different than traditional Kendo or Kumdo in that the focus is on battlefield engagements and the need to defend against multiple attackers rather than a focus on a singular strike.
According to the World Haidong Gumdo Federation, "The true principle of Haidong Gumdo is to execute justice with the sword light that is obtained at the break of day from majestic and brilliant sunlight that glows over the east sea".
Like other martial arts, Haidong Gumdo trains the body, the mind, and the spirit. It also teaches self-defense, self-confidence, character development, patience, concentration, meditation, and etiquette. If you learn it, you must learn how to respect others, above all. Along with those lessons, you learn two- handed style sword patterns (Ssangsoo Gumbup and Yedo Gumbup, Bonkook Gumbup, etc., 'gumbup' means forms), sparring, cutting and many other things.
The basic sword used in Haidong Gumdo is the traditional Korean long sword, which looks quite similar to a Japanese Katana. The blade is slightly curved and only one side is sharp. Most training is done with a hard wood sword (mokgum). After black belt the student regularly receives training with a real sword (jingum) for cutting and forms. For safety reasons the mokgum or kagum (blunt metal sword) are used in group classes. Here is a demonstration on YouTube of Ssang Soo Gumbup Yukbon and Chilbon (forms six and seven) using the kagum.
As you can imagine from the expression "the sword art that can be practiced by 3 generations," there is no age limit in learning Haidong Gumdo. Starting from around age 8, juniors, teens, adults and even seniors can exercise this sword art. It is not that difficult to see children, parents and grand parents exercise together in Korea. Seeing people of the ages of 50 or 60 who start to learn this sword art is not unusual either. You don't need any martial arts background to start training. Haidong Gumdo is open to everyone!