In each case, an activity is meant to instill in the swordsman a near-reflexive ability to assess a circumstance and execute the appropriate meld of these elements to produce the intended outcome. For this reason practitioners rely heavily on the use of cutting targets of various materials to demonstrate successful outcomes concerning any particular technique. Noticeably absent in the Korean sword methods are tactics and strategies associated with individualized engagements such as dueling as found in European and Japanese traditions. Though not unfamiliar with affairs of honor, Korean culture is dominated by Buddhist and Neo-Confucian thought, both of which proscribe the use of violence. Therefore, Korean swordwork can be said to have been shaped primarily by Military practice and utilized most often in a melee environment requiring awareness of a variety of vectors and angles apart from directly to the front. A cursory examination of Bon Kuk Geom Beop reveals that of the 26 sword methods, 5 are thrusting methods and 15 are cutting or slashing methods. In like manner Military sword work introduced to the Korean Military during the Japanese Occupation (Toyama Ryu) is also heavily skewed in favor of cutting over thrusting. Lastly, techniques associated with Korean Geom Beop reveal a ratio of roughly 12 cutting techniques to 4 thrusting techniques. The use of the shield was not successfully integrated into the Korean Military despite its mention in a variety of Korean historical manuals. Korean sword, then, integrates a variety of parries which are intended to redirect the opponent's attack and produce an opportunity (K. Teum) for the defender to counter the attack. These parries are most often accomplished with the use of the spine of the sword or the sides of the blade rather than with the blade edge. "Native Sword Methods" (K. "Bon Kuk Geom Beop" - 본국검법) is first identified in Korean legends of the Kingdom of Silla, one of the domains comprising "The Three Kingdoms" Period (37 BCE – 660 AD). The "Yuji Sungnam" relates a story of a seven-year-old boy from the Silla Kingdom who traveled across the Kingdom of Paekshe, demonstrating his "sword dance" ("gummu") and drawing large crowds. However, when finally summoned to perform his dance before the king, the boy ended his performance by plunging his sword into the king, killing him, and was, in turn, cut down by the king's retainers. In honor of the young boy's sacrifice, the Silla people created a masked sword dance resembling the boy's face.