The earliest records of Martial Arts practice in Korea
date back to about 50 B.C. These earliest forms of korean
martial arts are known as 'Taek Kyon'. Evidence that Martial
Arts were being practiced at that time can be found in
tombs where wall-paintings show two men in fighting-stance.
Others reject this evidence and say that these men could
be simply dancing.
Back then, time there were three kingdoms:
Koguryo (37 B.C. - 668 A.D.)
Paekje (18 B.C. - 600 A.D.)
Silla (57 B.C. - 936 A.D.)
Silla unified the kingdoms after winning the war against
Paekje in 668 A.D. and Koguryo in 670 A.D. The Hwa Rang
Do played an important role at this unification. The Hwa
Rang Do was an elite group of young noble men, devoted
to cultivating mind and body and serve the kingdom Silla.
The best translation for HwaRang would probably be "flowering
youth" (Hwa ="flower", Rang="young
man"). The HwaRang Do had an honor-code and practiced
various forms of martial arts, including Taekyon and Soo
Bakh Do. The old honor-code of the HwaRang is the philosophical
background of modern Taekwondo.
What followed was a time of peace and the HwaRang turned
from a military organization to a group specialized in
poetry and music. It was in 936 A.D. when Wang Kon founded
the Koryo dynasty, an abbreviation of Koguryo. The name
Korea is derived from Koryo.
During the Koryo Dynasty the sport Soo Bakh Do, which
was then used as a military training method, became popular.
During the Yi-dynasty (1392 A.D. - 1910 A.D.) this emphasis
on military training disappeared. King Taejo, founder
of the Yi-dynasty, replaced Buddhism by Confucianism as
the state religion. According to Confucianism, the higher
class should study the poets, read poems and and play
music. Martial arts was something for the common, or even
inferior, man.
Modern-day Taekwondo is influenced by many other Martial
Arts. The most important of these arts is Japanese Karate.
This is because Japan dominated Korea during 1910 until
the end of World War II. During WWII, lots of Korean soldiers
were trained in Japan. During this occupation of Korea,
the Japanese tried to erase all traces of the Korean culture,
including the martial arts. The influence that Japan has
given to Taekwondo are the quick, lineair movements, that
characterize the various Japanese systems.
After World War II, when Korea became independant, several
kwans arose. These kwans were:
Chung Do Kwan
Moo Duk Kwan
Yun Moo Kwan
Chang Moo Kwan
Oh Do Kwan
Ji Do Kwan
Chi Do Kwan
Song Moo Kwan
The Kwans united in 1955 as Tae Soo Do. In the beginning
of 1957, the name Taekwondo was adopted by several Korean
martial arts masters, for its similarity to the name Tae
Kyon.
General
Choi Hong-hi required the army to train Taekwondo, so the
very first Taekwondo students were Korean soldiers. The police
and air force had to learn Taekwondo as well. At that time,
Taekwondo was merely a Korean version of Shotokan
Karate. In 1961 the Korean Taekwondo Union arose from the Soo
Bakh Do Association and the Tae Soo Do Association. In 1962
the Korean Amateur Sports Association acknowledged the Korean
Taekwondo Union and in 1965 the name was changed to Korean Taekwondo
Association (K.T.A.). General Choi was president of the K.T.A.
at that time and was asked to start the I.T.F. as the international
branch of the K.T.A. The southern government was overthrown
in 1961. General Choi Hong-hi left for America and established
I.T.F. (International Taekwondo Federation) Taekwondo, as a
separate entity, two years later.
Demonstrations were given all over the world. It took a while before real progress was made, but eventually, in 1973, the World Taekwondo Federation (W.T.F.) was founded. In 1980, W.T.F.
Taekwondo was recognized by the International Olympic Commitee (I.O.C.) and became a demonstration sport at the Olympics in 1988. In the year 2000 taekwondo made its debute as an official
olympic sport. There were several attempts to unify I.T.F. and W.T.F. Taekwondo, but unfortunately, these failed.
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