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History
of Tae Kwon Do
Tae Kwon Do in ancient times
The historical background of Taekwondo
development will be explained following the
chronological order of 4 different ages; ancient times,
middles ages, modern ages and present times.
A. The origin of Taekwondo
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Man by nature has an
instinct to preserve his own life as well as his
race, and therefore engages in physical
activities either consciously or unconsciously.
Man cannot do without physical motions that he
grows and developed on them, regardless of time
and space. In ancient times people had no means
other than the bare hands and body to defend
themselves; so they naturally developed the
bare-hand fighting techniques. Even at times
when arms were developed as defensive or
offensive means, people continued to enjoy the
bare-hand fighting techniques for the purpose of
building physical strength as well as showing
off through matches at rituals of tribal
communities. |
In the early days
of the Korea, there were three tribes, each enjoying
warrior's martial art contests during the ritual
seasons. At the time, people learned techniques from
their experiences of fighting against the beasts whose
defensive and offensive motions were also the subject of
analysis. It is believed that this was exactly the true
grounding of today's Taekwondo, which names have
descended from "Subak", "Taekkyon" and so on.
In the latter part of ancient times on the Korean
peninsula, three kingdoms were rivaling among them for
hegemony. They were Koguryo, Paekje and Shilla all
indulged in growing national strength with trained
warriors. Therefore, the Korean history tells that there
were military personalities among the well-known
prominent national leaders of the three kingdoms, which
proves the military tendency of ruling hierarchy.
As a result, youth warriors were organized, such as "Hwarangdo"
in Shilla and "Chosonin" in Koguryo, which both adopted
martial art training as one of the important subjects of
learning. A known martial art book of the days, called "Muyedobo-Tongji"
wrote "Taekwondo is the basis of martial arts, enabling
one to build strength by using the hand and foot freely
and training arms and legs as well as the body to
adaptable to any critical situations," which means
Taekwondo was already prevalent in that age. Thus, it
can be easily assumed that Taekwondo originated from the
days of tribal communities on the Korean peninsula.
Shilla kingdom founded in B.C. 57 on the southeastern
part of Korea, and Koguryo founded in B.C. 37 on the
northern part of Korea along Yalu river, both made great
efforts to raise their youngsters into strong warriors
called "hwarang" and "sunbae" respectively, certainly
with Taekwondo as one of the principal subjects of
physical training.
B. Koguryo's "sonbae" and Taekkyon
Koguryo was founded on the northern part of Korea,
surrounded by hostile Han [Chinese] tribes in the north.
Therefore, in its early days, the kingdom organized a
strong warrior corps called "Sunbae" in its attempt to
consolidate power.
According to the scholars, a man of virtue who never
recoils from a fight means "sunbae", which is a member
of the warrior corps. Later, the chronicle of the Old
Chosun Dynasty described the lift of Koguryo days,
saying; "people gathered on march 10 every year at a
site of ritual, where they enjoyed a sword dance,
archery, Taekkyon contests and so on," implying that
Taekkyon was one of the popular events for the ritual in
the Koguryo days. It also said "sunbae" lived in groups,
learning history and literary arts at home and going out
to construct roads and fortresses for the benefits of
society, always devoting themselves to the nations.
Therefore, it was natural that Koguryo put the priority
of interests on the Taekkyon which was the basis of
martial arts, as can be proven by the wall paintings
discovered at tombs of Koguryo days. A mural painting at
the Samsil tomb shows two warriors engaged in a
face-to-face match in Taekkyon stance, and a third at
the same tomb shows the scene of Korean wrestling bout [Ssireum],
clearly distinguishing it from Taekkyon. It can be
assumed from the painting of Taekkyon match that the
dead were either a Taekkyon practical or the subject of
condolence with dances and martial art.
C. Silla's "Hwarang" and Taekkyon
| The
Kingdom of Shilla was founded on the
southeastern part of the Korean peninsula where
there were no immediate threats from outside,
but along with the birth of Paekje Kingdom on
its west flank and the start of invasions by
Koguryo from the north, Shilla was impelled to
arm itself with development of martial arts. In
fact, "hwarangdo" is the typical example of
Shilla's martial arts, which is an assimilation
of Koguryo's "sunbae" system. The youth group
hwarangdo were well trained with
the senses of filial piety, |
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loyalty to the kingdom and
sacrificial devotion to society to become
important personalities for the rein of the
kingdom. Notable among them were Kim Yu-Shin and
Kim Chun-Chu that made definite contributions to
the unification of those three kingdoms. The
chronicle of Old Chosun described the life of
hwarangs, members of hwarangdo: "hwarang were
selected by the kingdom through contests and,
after selection, they lived together in a group,
learning, exercising subak, fencing and
horse-riding, and sometimes enjoyed various
games of communities, working on emergency aids
and construction of fortresses and roads, and
they were always ready to sacrifice their lives
at the time of war."
Hwarangs were particularly influenced by the
Buddhist disciplines and therefore the bronze
statues of a Kumgang Yoksa [a man of great
physical strength] currently exhibited at the
Kyongju Museum clearly indicate that martial
arts were practiced at temples by showing a
strong man's bare-hand defensive and offensive
stances.
Especially the shape of a fist shown on the
statue of Kumgang Yoksa exactly resembles that
of a "jungkwon" [proper fist] in the
contemporary term of Taekwondo. The statue also
shows "pyon jumok " [flat fist] and the use of
legs, which are seen in today's Taekwondo.
It is really noticeable that in the Shilla epoch
the terms "subak" [hand techniques] and "taekkyon"
appear together, signifying that both hand and
foot techniques were used in martial arts as
shown in today's Taekwondo.
The Kingdom of Shilla was founded on the
southeastern part of the Korean peninsula where
there were no immediate threats from outside,
but along with the birth of Paekje Kingdom on
its west flank and the start of invasions by
Koguryo from the north, Shilla was impelled to
arm itself with development of martial arts.
In fact, "hwarangdo" is the typical example of
Shilla's martial arts, which is an assimilation
of Koguryo's "sunbae" system. The youth group
hwarangdo were well trained with the senses of
filial piety, loyalty to the kingdom and
sacrificial devotion to society to become
important personalities for the rein of the
kingdom. Notable among them were Kim Yu-Shin and
Kim Chun-Chu that made definite contributions to
the unification of those three kingdoms.
The chronicle of Old Chosun described the life
of hwarangs, members of hwarangdo: "hwarang were
selected by the kingdom through contests and,
after selection, they lived together in a group,
learning, exercising subak, fencing and
horse-riding, and sometimes enjoyed various
games of communities, working on emergency aids
and construction of fortresses and roads, and
they were always ready to sacrifice their lives
at the time of war."
Hwarangs were particularly influenced by the
Buddhistic disciplines and therefore the bronze
statues of a Kumgang Yoksa [a man of great
physical strength] currently exhibited at the
Kyongju Museum clearly indicate that martial
arts were practiced at temples by showing a
strong man's bare-hand defensive and offensive
stances.
Especially the shape of a fist shown on the
statue of Kumgang Yoksa exactly resembles that
of a "jungkwon" [proper fist] in the
contemporary term of Taekwondo. The statue also
shows "pyon jumok " [flat fist] and the use of
legs, which are seen in today's Taekwondo.
It is really noticeable that in the Shilla epoch
the terms "subak" [hand techniques] and "taekkyon"
appear together, signifying that both hand and
foot techniques were used in martial arts as
shown in today's Taekwondo.
D. Taekkyon transmitted from Koguryo to Shilla
As the art of taekkyon was popularized in
Koguryo, it was also handed down to Silla, which
is justified by the following points of view; "Hwarang"(or
sonrang) in Silla has the same meaning with the
word "sonbae" in Koguryo by indicating both the
youth warrior's corps from their etymological
origins
both Hwarang and sonbae had the same
organizations and hierarchical structure with
each other.
according to historical, as sonbaes in Koguryo
used to compete in taekkyon games at the time of
their national festivals, Hwarangs in Silla also
played taekkyon games (subak, dokkyoni or
taekkyoni) at such festivals as "palkwanhoe" and
"hankawi" , thus systematically developing the
ancient fighting techniques into the taekkyon(or
sonbae) as the basis of martial arts by around
a.d.200. from the 4th century the Hwarangs took
the takkyon lesson as a systemized martial art
at their learning houses to make it also
popularized among ordinary people so much so
that their techniques were depicted on the mural
paintings of ancient warrior tombs. Again, it is
also true that taekkyon, coming down to Silla,
was further developed into a school of martial
art with the division of techniques, i ,e
bare-hand techniques and foot techniques, which
can be proved by the fact that both hand and
foot techniques art clearly shown in the ancient
sculptures Buddhist statues.
Tae Kwon Do in the Middle Ages
The historical background of teakwood
development will be explained following the
chronological order of 4 different ages; ancient
times, middles ages, modern ages and present
times.
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The
Koryo dynasty, which reunified the
Korean peninsula after Shilla [A.D. 918
to 1392], had the Taekkyon develop more
systematically and made it a compulsory
subject in the examinations for
selection of military cadets.
The techniques and power of Taekkyon
grew to become effective weapons even to
kill human beings. In the military, a
pattern of collective practice, called "obyong-subak-hui
[5 soldier's Taekkyon play], was
introduced so that it might be used in a
real war.
n the early days
of Koryo dynasty, martial art abilities
were the only required qualifications to
become military personnel because the
kingdom utterly needed the national
defense capabilities after conquering
the peninsula. A certain plain soldier
who mastered Taekkyon techniques was
promoted to a general, and young were
invited to Taekkyon contests where the
skilled ones were selected to become
military officers. " |
There were lots of other
examples in which many Taekkyon-mastered youths
were picked at contests, which is proof that
Taekwondo sports was originated in that epoch.
The chronicles of Koryo dynasty writes: "at a
power contest of Taekkyon techniques, Lee Yi-
Min punched a pillar of the house with his
right-hand fist, then some of the props of the
roof were shaken. Another Taekkyon practicer had
his fist pierce through the clay-wall.
Especially the kings of Koryo dynasty were much
interested in "subakhui" [Taekkyon contest],
making it a compulsory course of military
training. Therefore, subakhui was also popular
out for inspection tours in the villages.
However, the Koryo dynasty in its latest years
had gunpowder and new types of weapons available
at hand, thus slowing down its support of
martial as the folk games to be transmitted down
to the modern Korea, Chosun. (taekkyon explained
in the Koryo history book)
Tae Kwon Do in Modern Times
In the modern times of Korea, the Chosun dynasty
[1392-1910] the imperial Korea and the Japanese
colonial rule until 1945, Taekwondo was rather
called "subakhui" than "Taekkyon" and it
suffered an eventual loss of official support
from the central government as the weapons were
modernized for national defense, although the
subkhui was still popular in the early days of
Chosun.
The Chosun dynasty was founded on the ideology
of Confucianism, which resulted in rejecting
Buddhism and giving more importance on literary
art than martial art. Nonetheless, the Annals of
Chosun Dynasty tells about the contests of
subakhui ordered by local officials for the
purpose of selecting soldiers and others ordered
by the kings who enjoyed watching subakhui
contests at the times of feasts. It was also
ruled by the defense department that a soldier
should be employed when he wins three other
contestants in the subakhui bouts. However, as
the government progressed, the government
officials began to lay more importance on power
struggles than on the interest of defense,
naturally neglecting promotion of martial arts.
Then, it was only in the days of King Jungjo
after the disgraceful invasion of Korea by the
Japanese [1592] that the royal government
revived strong defense measures by strengthening
military training and martial art practice.
Around this period there was a publication of
the so-called "Muyedobo-Tongji," a book of
martial art illustrations, which 4th volume
entitled "hand-fighting techniques" contained
the illustration of 38 motions, exactly
resembling today's Taekwondo poomsae and basic
movements, although those motions cannot be
compared with today's Taekwondo poomsae, which
has been modernized through scientific studies.
Even under the Japanese colonial rule, some
famous Korean writers, such as Shin Chae- Ho and
Choi Nam-Sun, mentioned about Taekwondo, saying
"present subak prevailing in Seoul came from the
sunbae in the Koguryo dynasty," and "subak is
like today's taekkyon which was originally
practiced as martial art but is now played
mostly by children as games."
However, the Japanese colonial government
totally prohibited all folkloric games including
taekkyon in the process of suppressing the
Korean people. The martial art Taekkyon [Taekwondo]
had been secretly handed down only by the
masters of the art until the liberation of the
country in 1945. Song Duk-Ki, one of the then
masters testifies that his master was Im Ho who
was reputed for his excellent skills of Taekkyon,
"jumping over the walls and running through the
wood just like a tiger." (explanation of taekkon
techniques in muyedobo-tongji (general
illustrations of techniques) (scene of contest).
At the time, 14 terms of techniques were used
representing 5 kicking patterns, 4 hand
techniques, 3 pushing-down-the-heel patterns, 1
turning-over-kick pattern and 1 technique of
downing-the-whole-body. Also noteworthy is the
use the term "poom" which signified a
face-to-face stance preparing for a fight. The
masters of Taekkyon were also under constant
threat of imprisonment, which resulted in an
eventual of Taekkyon as popular games.
Tae Kwon Do in Present Day
Upon liberation of Korea from the Japanese
colonial rule after World War II, the Korean
people began recovering the thought of
self-reliance and the traditional folkloric
games resumed their popularity. Song Duk-Ki,
aforementioned master of Taekkyon, presented a
demonstration of the martial art before the
first republic of Korea president Syngman Rhee
on the occasion of his birthday, clearly
distinguishing Taekwondo from the Japanese
Karate which had been introduced by the Japanese
rulers.
Martial art experts began opening Taekwondo
gymnasiums all over the country and after the
end of Korean War [1950-1953] Taekwondo was
popularized among the dan-grade black-belts
within the country, also dispatching about 2,000
Taekwondo masters to more than 100 countries.
After all, following the nomination of Taekwondo
as a national martial art in 1971, the present
Kukkiwon was founded in 1972 to be used as the
headquarters as well as the site of various
Taekwondo competitions. Then a year later, in
1973 the World Taekwondo Federation was
established. In 1973, the biennial World
Taekwondo Championships was organized.
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n 1984, Taekwondo
was admitted to the Asian games as an
official event. In 1975, Taekwondo was
accepted as an official sport by the U.S
Amateur Athletic Union [AAU] and also
admitted to the General Association of
International Sports Federations [GAISF],
followed by the adoption of official
sports event by the International
Council of Military Sports [CISM] in
1976. The WTF became an IOC-recognized
sports federation in 1980, making
Taekwondo an Olympic sport. Then the
adoption of Taekwondo as an official
event was followed by the world games in
1981, the pan-American games in 1986,
and finally by the Sydney 2000 Olympics
in 1994 and then Athens 2004 Olympic
Games in 2000. On November 29, 2002, the
114th IOC Session also confirmed the
inclusion of Taekwondo in the Beijing
2008 Olympic Games. |
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