Home > Taekwondo

Taekwondo is the Korean national sport and martial art, and is also one of the world's most commonly practiced sports. In the Korean language, Tae (태, Hanja 跆) means "kick or destroy with the foot", Gwon (권, Hanja 拳) means "punch or smash with the hand or fist", and Do (도, Hanja 道) means "way or art". Hence, Taekwondo is taken to mean "the way of the foot and the fist."

Taekwondo is popular throughout the world, and the Kukkiwon- World Taekwondo Federation's form of Taekwondo is currently an Olympic sport. While some forms of Taekwondo have received criticism for not teaching enough street-effective techniques, this has more to do with commercialization, rather than with any inherent flaw in the art itself: one of the reasons Taekwondo is so popular is because of its ease in learning and effectiveness as a form of self-defence. It is used in un-armed combat training in some armies (the French army, for instance).

1 History

Korea, as a peninsula buffer state between Manchuria, China and Japan, with incursions by the Mongols and Tatars, among other peoples, has quite a long history of unarmed and armed combat, absorbing various styles and making them more suitable for their own rugged and mountainous terrain and indigenous combat styles.

Probably the most influential period of development was during the Three Kingdom period ( GoguryeoGoguryeo (also known as Koguryo Chinese: Gogoul ( 1st century BC- 668) was a kingdom in southern Manchuria and northern Korea. It is often referred to as one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, along with Baekje and Silla. The modern name "Korea" derives from, BaekjeBaekje was a kingdom in southwestern Korea. In Korea, it is known as one of the Three Kingdoms, along with Goguryeo and Silla. It was destroyed by an alliance of Silla and the Tang Empire in 660 AD. History Hanseong period (BC 18 ~ AD 475) There are two d, SillaThis article is about the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla. For the municipality of the same name in Spain, please see Silla, Valencia. Silla was one of the three kingdoms of ancient Korea. Silla conquered the other two kingdoms in the 7th century C. Baekj). Silla is believed to have established diplomatic relations with the Tang Empire in the 7th century6th century 7th century 8th century other centuries) Events The religion of Islam starts in Arabia, the Qur'an is revealed, and Arabs spread Islam into Syria, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, North Africa and Central Asia. Sutton Hoo ship burial, East Anglia (modern, which led to military training of a class of famous warriors. They may have possibly been called the Hwarang. These warriors who would train students to master the martial arts in addition to other aspects of life. (Martial arts, healing arts, etc) A secret class of warriors called the Sul-sa arose during this time. They were highly trained warriors trained for espionage/assassinations.

However, the influence of Tang dynasty on the martial arts (as it was in almost every other cultural aspect throughout East Asia) was considerable both on Japan and Korea, which called their art tangsu, or Tang-hand, the exact same name as used in Okinawan karate much later in the 1600s. In this same period, in the kingdom of Koguryo, various carvings into the towers at Kumkongryksa and Kakcjuchung, and the statues of Kumkang Kwon at the entrance of Sokkul-Am at Mt. Toham depict basic stances, such as the nalchigi, of what is now known as taekwondo, but the words subak, taekyon and kwonbeop to describe these traditions were not used until about the mid-Koryo period (about 990-1050 AD), and not standardized until King Injong.

Under various generals, kwonbeop began to be developed and made mandatory for training in the armed services. By the time of the Ming dynasty, various major schools of kwonbeop reigned -- the sorim temple school, and the songkae school. Sorim temple may have been influenced by the Northern ShaolinThe Shaolin temples (; pinyin: Shaolin Si, Wade-Giles: Shao-lin Ssu) are a group of Chinese Buddhist monasteries famed for their long association with Chan Buddhism and martial arts. They are perhaps the Buddhist monasteries most familiar in the West. Temple, as it was practiced by monks who favored swift, evasive moves and jumping techniques; Songkae, maybe related to Chang Songkae of the Ming Empire and could have been influenced by the Chinese, with techniques divided into three divisions: stun, knock out, and kill. Koreans were also developing sword arts called Gumdo or Haidong Kumdo. Under the Choson dynasty, however, kwonbeop (as did other martial arts) saw a major decline as the official state policy was to discourage all manner of military affairs. Kwonbeop's center was moved northwest to central Korea and renamed taekwon, which continued in this form, probably largely as a sport or ceremonial art, or existed underground due to annexation, until Korea's independence from Japan in 1945.

Two other influential Korean unarmed arts are yusul (soft art) and cireum, which are in part related to Chinese arts like shuai chiao and Mongolian wrestling. Yusul was popular between the Koryo and Choson dynasties. Striking arts such as keupso chirigi and pakchigi, which attack vital points, and headbutting, respectively, have been also popular in Korea. As the official state policy in Korea was to discourage all manners of military arts many martial arts masters dispersed to other regions/countries. Yusul which is pronounced as jiujitsu in Japanese started to appear later in Japan. Later in the late 19th century jiujitsu is re-named judo and introduced as a sport to the rest of the world by Japan.

After the Choson dynasty, Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910. As a result, young Koreans were exposed to Japanese version of these old sport arts such as jujitsu, kendo, judo, karate, sumo, et cetera. As jiujitsu was derived from Yusul, sumo was similar to mongolian wrestling or Korean cireum even down to the rituals. The Japanese arts were mainly derived from Chinese martial arts, Korean martial arts and Mongolian wrestling techniques. This annexation had far reaching effects in Korean martial arts since Japan tried to ban all forms of Korean martial arts while incorporating techniques from Korea and China into their own arts. Then after 1945 when Japan was defeated in World War II, there was clearly a concerted effort by martial arts masters to consolidate their resources and develop a uniquely Korean art once again.

Taekwondo was officially formed on April 11, 1955, when most Korean martial arts masters tried to unite all the various fighting styles (such as Gong Soo , Taekyon, Kwon Beop Soo Bahk Do Tang Soo Do etc.) under the name "Tae Soo Do" . Though not every art joined in the resulting organization, an organization was created with a many of the participants and the backing of the government. Its name was suggested by 1957 9th degree black belt General Choi Hong Hi as Taekwondo.

The similarities between Taekyon and Taekwondo are the high flying kicks and various other feet action, but this style wasn't completely incorporated until the 1960's. Taekwondo also integrated various aspects of Karate. Choi Hong Hi was a 2nd degree black belt Karate of shotokai, so it is natural to utilize karate techniques and native martial arts techniques in Taekwondo. In addition many Koreans had an influence in the development of Karate, an example of this would be Choi Yong-I (Mas Oyama) who created Kyokushin Karate.

Taekwondo most likely came to America in much the same way that karate and kung fu came to the US, by Korean immigrants, who were not as populous in the US until the 1970s and 1980s, and by American military personnel, who most likely learned the art stationed in Korea after the Korean War. Taekwondo is taught almost everywhere in the US and may be the most popular martial art in the country.