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1. What is Taekwondo ?
Taekwondo is the name of the martial art turned modern international sport which has been independently developed over about 20 centuries in Korea. The main feature of Taekwondo is that it is free-fighting combat sport using bare hands and feet to repel an opponent.
All of its activities are based on defensive spirit since Tawkwondo was developed as a defense against enemy attacks. In old days people living simple lives lacked physical fitness and their bodies became bent in their old age. Taekwondo also served to improve health, physical fitness and poise of the people practicing it.
Our belief is that Taekwondo-trained men are selt-confident, not only in physical aspects but also in their mental discipline, because they have developed superior techniques for personal entire body is a weapon, and he is easily able to attack and beat off an aggressor with hands, fists, elbows, knees, feet or any other part of his body.
The most important fact about Taekwondo as a martial art sport is that it is not only a superior art of self-defense, but is adds remarkable bon sense to its practitioners. Self-confidence makes people generous in their attitudes toward weaker people. They can stand equally against any opponent, but their code forbids unfair assaults or unnecessary use if force. The practice of Taekwondo gives an individual the mental attitude of modesty. The virtues of modesty and generosity are fundamentally based on self-confidence.
It is obvious that healthy bodies make man active and powerful. Such mental and physical self-confidence are beneficial to the mental life of individuals as well as to their families, neighbors and their nation.
A Taekwondo 'Poomse' comprises various stances, each with its peculiar nature but each blending into the other. A 'Poomse' consists of about two dozen stances inter-connected. Blocking, punching, striking, thrusting and kicking are among Taekwondo Poomse, and these are properly carried out with hands, firsts and feet to the vital spot of the body or target at which they are aimed, and the stances accordingly change forward stance, back stance, cat stance and horseriding stance, etc. as the situation requires. Most typical 'Poomse' are Palgye I-VIII, Taeguk I-VIII, Koryo, Kumgang, Taeback, Pyongwon, Shipjin, Chunkwon, Hansoo and Ilyeo.
In recent years, Taekwondo has become a modern amateur sport. It has become a modern world sport with tradition and spirit of martial science maintained. It was incorporated into regular curriculum of primary schools through colleges. It became an integral part of training in the military. Taekwondo has become a major entry in the annual athletic meet. Constitution, rules, regulations, and promotion test riles were all developed to meet requirements as international amateur sport.
Propagation of the Competition Rules of the WTF has been made through International Referee (IR) Seminars held 29 times and the IR Refresher Courses held 14 times, exchanges of visits and booklets under auspices of the WTF and member national associations. For the purpose of impartial judgement of competitions, the WTF is promoting the development of electronic protectors and introduction of differential scoring system. Together with this, Executive Council of the WTF set up an Ad Hoc Committee to conduct in-depth study of Kukkiwon Dan promotion procedures.
Taekwondo uniform is neither expensive nor luxurious. It is designed to fit for free body actions. It is believed that the white color of the uniform signified the purity and origin of all colors as well as a state which can absorb any kind of learning. There are belts. i.e black (adult), red/black(children), red, blue, green, yellow and white; each color designating the degree of graded proficiciency possessed by one wearing the belt.
The white belt is for the beginner, that is, holders of 9th and 10th Keup and the yellow belt is worn by 7th and 8th Keup holders. The green belt is used by 5th and 6th Keup holders, the blue belt 1st and 2nd Keup holders. The black belt is for Taekwondo experts red/black belt is for those who hold 1st through 3rd Poom in the junior division. The Kukkiwon is authorized to conduct promotion tests and issue Dan and Poom certificates in accordance with the regulations on Promotion Tests of the Kukkiwon.
Man by nature has the instinct to preserve his own life as well as his race, and therefore engages himself in doing physical activities all the time either consciously or unconsciously. Man cannot do without physical motions and he grows and developes 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 the times when arms were developed as the 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 the rituals of tribal communities.
In the early history of the Korean Peninsula, there were three tribes dwelling there, each enjoying warrior's martial art contests during the ritual seasons.
At that 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, whose name has descended from "subak", "taekkyon", "takkyon" and so on.
Later in the latter part of ancient times on the Korean Peninsula, three kingdoms came into existence, always rivaling among themselves for the hegemony. They were Koguryo, Paekje and Silla, all indulged in growing national strength with trained warriors. Therefore, the Korean history tells that there were military personalities among the ell-known prominent national leaders of the three kingdoms, which proves the military tendency of ruling hierarchy.
As a result, youth warrior's corps were organized, such as "hwarangdo" in Silla and "chouisonin" in Koguryo, which both adopted the martial art training as one of the important subjects of learning. A renowned martial art book of the days, called "muyedobo-tongji" said; "Taekwondo(the art of hand-to-hand fight) is the basis of martial art, enabling one to build strength by means of using the hand and foot freely and training arms and legs as well as the body to be adaptable to any critical situations, which means Taekwondo was already prevalent in that age. Thus, it can be easily assumed that Taekwondo was originated from the days of tribal communities on the Korean Peninsula.
Silla was 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 the Yalu River, both making great efforts to raise their youngsters into strong warriors called "Hwarang" and "sonbae" respectively, certainly with Taekwondo as one of the principal subjects of physical training.
3. Koguryo's "sonbae" and Taekkyon
Koguryo was founded on the northern part of Korea, surrounded by the hostile Han(Chinese) tribes in the north. Therefore, in its initial stage of national foundation, the kingdom organized a strong warrior's corps called "sonbae" in its attempt to consolidate the centralized power.
According the scholars of history, the word "sonbae" is meant by a man of virtue who never recoils from a fighting, that is, a member of the warrior's corps. Later a history book on the old Chosun dynasty described the life of Koguryo days, saying; "People gathered on March 10 every year at a site of ritual, where they enjoyed a sword dance, archery, subak(taekyon) contests and so on", implying that subak(Taekwondo) was one of the popular events for the ritual in the Koguryo days. It also said that "sonbaes 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 nation."
Therefore, it is altogether natural that Koguryo put the priority of interests on the taekkyon which was the basis of martial arts, as can be proved by the wall paintings discovered at several tombs of Koguryo days. A mural painting at the Samsil Tomb shows two warriors engaged in a face-to-face match in takkyon(Taekwondo) stance, and a third at the same tomb shows the scene of Korean wrestling bout, clearly distinguishing it from the taekkyon.
It can be assumed from the painting of taekkyon match that the dead was either a taekkyon practicer or the subject of condolence with dances and martial art.
4. Silla's "Hwarang" and Taekkyon
The kingdom of Silla was founded on the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula under the circumstances of no immediate threat from outside, but along with the birth of Paekje Kingdom on its west flank and the start of invasions by Koguryo from the north, Silla was impelled to arm itself with the development of martial arts.
In fact, "hwarangdo" is the typical example of Silla's martial arts, which is an assimilation of Koguryo's "sonbae" system. The members of the youth group of 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 kingdom. Notable among them were Kim Yu-Sin and Kim Chun-Chu who made a definite contribution to the unification of those three kingdoms.
The Chronicle of Old Chosun described the life of hwarangs, members of hwarangdo:"hwarangs were selected by the kingdom through contests and, after selection, they lived together in a group, indulging themselves in learning, exercising subak(old form of Taekwondo), fencing and horse-riding, and sometimes they enjoyed various games including the Korean wrestling(Ssirum). In peace time, hwarangs served for the benefits 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 Hercules(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 first shown on the statue of Kumgang Yoksa(a strong man) exactly resembles that of a "jungkwon"(right fist) in the contemporary term of Teakwondo. The statue also shows today's "pyon jumok"(flat fist) and the use of legs which are seen in today's Teakwondo.
It is really noticeable that in that Silla epoch the terms of "subak"(hand techniques) and "taekkon" appear together, signifying that both hand and foot techniques were used in martial arts as shown in today's Taekwondo.
5. Taekkyon Transmitted from Koguryo to Silla
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;
(1) "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.
(2) Both hwarang and sonbae had the same organizations and hierarchical structure with each other.
(3) According to historical records, 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 taekkoni) 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 are clearly shown in the ancient sculptures and Buddhistic statues.
6. Taekwondo in the Middle Ages
The Koryoy Dnasty which reunified the Korean Peninsula after Silla and lasted from A.D.918 to 1392 had the taekkyon developed more systematically and made it a compulsory subject in the examinations for selection of military cadets.
The techniques and power of taekkyon martial art 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.
In 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 conquer of the Peninsula. A certain plain soldier who mastered the taekkyon techniques was promoted to a general, and young people 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 up as officials. At that time there already existed certain judgement norms of taekkyon contests, which is proof that Taekwondo sports was originated in that epoch. The Chronicles of Koryo Dynasty said; "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 among the populace because contests of subakhui were organized wherever a king went 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 art training. Therefore, the subakhui remained as the folk games to be transmitted as such down to the modern Korea, Chosun.
In the Modern Times of korea, which cover the Chosun (or Yi) 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 subakhui was still popular in the early days of Chosun.
The Yi Dynasty (Chosun) was founded on the ideology of Confucianism, which resulted in rejecting all Buddhistic festivals and giving more importance on literary art than martial art. Nonetheless, the Annals of Chosun Dynasty tell stories 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 time of feasts. It was also ruled by the Defense Department that a soldier should be employed when he won out three other contestants in the subakhui bouts.
However, as the systematic organization of government progressed, the government officials began to lay more importance on power struggles than of 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 (in 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, whose 4th volume entitled "hand-fighting techniques" contained the illustration of 38 motions, exactly resembling today's Taekwondo poomsae and basic movements. Of course, those motions can not 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 sonbae in the Koguryo Dynasty," and "Subak is like today's takkyon 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 takkyon in the process of suppressing the Korean people. The martial art taekkyondo(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, is still alive with the age of over 80 and testifies that his master was Im Ho who was reputed for his excellent skills of taekkyondo, "jumping over the walls and running through the wood just like a tiger."
At that time 14 terms of techniques were used, representing 5 kicking patterns, 4 hand techniques, pushing-down-at-the-heel 3 patterns, turning-over kick 1 pattern and 1 technique of downing-the-whole-body. Also noteworthy is the use of the term "poom" which signified a face-to-face stance preparing for a fight. The masters of taekkyondo were also under constant threat of imprisonment, which resulted in an eventual fade-out of taekkyondo as popular games.
(Extract from www.elim.net/taekkwondo )