Sword Martial Art Program

Kummooyeh is the way of the Korean sword. Also called Kumdo, Gumdo, or Geomdo for short. Those words are a translation of the meaning of the word 'sword art' in Korean language. The meaning of Kumdo is the same as 'Kendo' in Japanese.

Like other martial arts, Kummooyeh 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 dynamic drills.

The basic sword used in Kummooyeh 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 Kummooyeh. Starting from around age 13, 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. Kummooyeh is open to everyone!