This post in intended to just give information.

Ok, Firstly, I want to tell all of you that the word Samurai was originated from a Korean word that was used in the Ancient Baekjae dynasty. The word is 'Saeul-a-bi' which means 'Warrior'.

Baekjae was very popular to Japan during these times as Japan was a colony of Baekjae. They traded a lot of things.

A lot of Baekjae people went over to Japan and made a living. When the Japanese spotted Koryo Warriors, they wanted to follow the word 'Saeul-a-bi' they decided to call their Warriors 'Saeul-a-bi', but due to their pronounciation, 'Samurai' was pronounced.

Even the Japanese Emperor during the time was descended from a family, from ancient BaekJae. Only Japanese Emperors used spoons to eat. In Japan, spoons were forbidden to everyone except the emperor until the year 1945. The Japanese emperor 'Hiroito' who ruled during 1926-1989 admitted this and said it.

Japan strictly does not allow anyone to study/see the Emperor's tomb as it has a record saying 'We are very close to the Baekje king Mu-Wang and we are close to euyjawang.'

About Korean Swordsmanship http://www.martialartsplanet.com/magazine/articles/koreanswordsman.htm

There are saying's about Haedong/Gumdo being a copy of Kendo as they have a similar concept. Wrong. Haedong Gumdo is different from Kendo in many ways: I will reveal the truth about Haedonggumdo for you English speaking people.
1.Haedonggumdo- Made around 1990. Kendo- founded by three Japanese masters who wanted to make swordplay into sport. (Sorry, it's hard to translate the names as they are very long.)
2.Names- Haedonggumdo- named by a pastor in Korea Kendo- Named by the three same people, meaning 'The way of the Sword'
3.- Haedonggumdo has different substyles like Twin swords etc.
4. Uniform- Haedonggumdo- Ancient Fighter's clothes.?
Kendo- Hakkama
5. Founders of Haedonggumdo are unpopular talents.

I was shocked with all the reports that were made by the Korean Court, As Im Korean. but I like the spinning techniques as they are very cool. but the thing is Haedonggumdo is not respected around Korea.

oh, Check out this HaedongGumdo site which has Videos and Images on it.
1.http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/dangsoodo/hdgd.html
2. www.stormpages.com/haidonggumdo/
Bibiliography on the truth of Haedong gumdo: http://kr.ks.yahoo.com/service/question_detail.php?queId=174823

Sorry if it's Korean but it's just to show you all the detailed evidence.

* * *

This might have no point but I just wanted to show you one of our treasures, treasure 326. It is the 'Jang-Gum' used by one of the greatest Admirals , Admiral Yi. Admiral Yi. Fought many battles during the Imjin war which involved Chosun, Ming Dynasty and Japan. He is also our hero. He won a lot of battles without having any casualties. One battle involved 13 of his ships against over 130 Japanese ships, which he beat.

The Jang-Gum is a sword, which is 197.5 cm long and 5.3 kg in weight. The picture of the Jang-Gum is posted on http://210.95.174.120/05tourism/hyunchung/bomul.html

by the way, I'm not saying Japanese sword fighting and people are poor/bad because I think Samurai were great fighters and swordsman. also Japanese swords are still the most Brilliant swords as they are scientifically proven to be.

Anymore questions, please ask me.

Thanks,

[This message has been edited by applegm (edited 12-11-2003).]

[This message has been edited by applegm (edited 12-11-2003).]

[This message has been edited by applegm (edited 12-11-2003).]

[This message has been edited by applegm (edited 12-11-2003).]

[This message has been edited by applegm (edited 12-11-2003).]