Who invented Taekwondo?

Answer 1

Taekwondo (also spelled tae kwon do or taekwon-do) is a hard martial art originating in Korea. Having become the most widely practiced martial art in the world, it is the national sport of Korea as well as an Olympic sporting event.

In Korean, derived from hanja, tae (跆) means "foot"; kwon (拳) means "fist"; and do(道) means "way". Hence, taekwondo is loosely translated as "the way of the hand and foot" or more loosely, "the art of kicking and punching". Taekwondo's popularity has resulted in the divergent evolution of the martial art. As with many other martial arts, taekwondo is a combination of combat technique, self-defense, sport, exercise, entertainment, and philosophy.

Although there are great doctrinal and technical differences among public and private taekwondo organizations, the art in general emphasizes kicks thrown from a mobile stance, using the leg's greater reach and power to disable the opponent from a distance. In sparring, turning (roundhouse), 45 degree, front, axe, and side kicks are most often used; advanced kicks include jump, spin, and skip kicks, often in combination. Taekwondo training also includes a comprehensive system of hand strikes and blocks, but generally does not emphasize grappling until the higher belt levels.

Taekwondo is very much a reflection of Korea's tumultuous yet dynamic history and culture. Accordingly, the development of taekwondo must be carefully understood within proper historical and cultural contexts.

The oldest ancestor of taekwondo is an amalgamation of unarmed combat styles developed by three rival kingdoms of Goguryeo, Silla and Baekje. [1] Young men were trained in unarmed combat techniques to develop strength, speed, and survival skills. The most popular of these techniques was subak, with taekkyon being the most popular of the segments of "subak".


Taekwondo practitioners demonstrating their techniques.As the Goguryeo kingdom grew in power, the neighboring Silla dynasty became comparatively weaker, and an effort was undertaken among the Silla to develop a corps of special warriors. The Silla had a regular army but its military training techniques were less advanced than those of the Goguryeo, and its soldiers were generally of a lesser caliber. The Silla selected young men, some as young as twelve, and trained them in the liberal arts. Those who demonstrated strong natural aptitude were selected as trainees in the new special warrior corps, called the Hwarang-do. It was believed that young men with a talent for the liberal arts may have the grace to become competent warriors. These warriors were instructed in academic as well as martial arts, learning philosophy, history, a code of ethics, and equestrian sports. Their military training included an extensive weapons program involving swordsmanship and archery, both on horseback and on foot, as well as lessons in military tactics and unarmed combat using subak. Although subak was a leg-oriented art among in Goguryeo, Silla's influence added hand techniques to the practice of subak.

In spite of Korea's rich history of ancient and tradition martial arts, Korean martial arts faded into obscurity during the Chosun Dynasty. Korean society became highly centralized under Korean Confucianism and martial arts were lowly regarded in a society whose ideals were epitomized by its scholar-kings.[2] Remnants of traditional martial arts such as Subak and Taekkyon were banned from practice by the general populace and reserved for sanctioned military uses although folk practice by peasants still persisted into the 19th century.[1]

Much of Korea's traditional martial art heritage became further endangered at the end of the Chosun Dynasty which was hastened by Japanese invasion and occupation of Korea. The Japanese occupation of Korea was marked by brutal repression of Korean culture and identity. Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names and vestiges of Korean identity were banned such as the use of the Korean language and hangul.

During the Japanese occupation (1910-1945), the practice of taekyon was also banned. Although practice of the art nearly vanished, Taekyon survived through underground teaching and folk custom. As the Japanese colonization established a firm foothold in Korea, the few Koreans who were able to attend Japanese universities were exposed to Okinawan and Japanese martial arts with some even receiving black belts under Gichin Funakoshi. Koreans in Manchuria and China were also exposed to Chinese martial arts. By 1945, when the Korean peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonization, many martial arts schools were formed and developed under various names such as Tang Soo Do reflecting foreign influence.

By the end of the Korean War, nine martial arts schools (known as kwan) had opened, and South Korean President Syngman Rhee ordered that the various schools unify under a single system. A governmental body, selected a naming committee's submission of "tae-kwon-do," submitted by Choi Hong Hi, a general in the South Korean army and the founder of the Oh Do Kwan, for the new unified form. Following taekwondo's official creation on April 11, 1955,[3] The Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) was formed in 1959 to facilitate the unification.[4] Shortly after, taekwondo made its debut in North America, where Jhoon Rhee was teaching Karate in Texas, General Choi convinced Rhee to begin calling it Tae Kwon Do. However, the unification effort in Korea stalled, as the kwan's continued to teach different styles. Another request from the Korean government for unification resulted in the formation of the Korea Tae Soo Do Association, which changed its name back to the Korean Taekwondo Association in 1965 following a change of leadership. This new leader was General Choi Hong Hi who ended up falling out of favor in South Korea following a goodwill trip to communist North Korea. This resulted in Choi's separation from the KTA and the founding of a new, private organization, the International Taekwondo Federation, in 1966.

In 1972, the Korea Taekwondo Association Central Dojang was opened. A few months later, the name was changed to the Kukkiwon, which means "National Technique Center." The Kukkiwon remains the World Taekwondo Headquarters to this day. The following year, the World Taekwondo Federation was formed. The International Olympic Committee recognized the WTF and taekwondo sparring in 1980, and the sport was accepted as a demonstration event at the 1988 Seoul and the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games. It became an official medal event as of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Taekwondo is one of two Asian martial arts (judo being the other) in the Olympic Games.

The public WTF and private ITF, the two largest taekwondo organizations, operate and train in hundreds of nations and teach the martial art to millions of people each year. Although competition has always been a significant feature of Taekwondo, in recent years the increase in the discipline's sport orientation has led those with less interest in competition to seek more "traditional" dojang in order to focus on practice for the sake of practice, rather than practice for the sake of tournaments.

The largest taekwondo tournament organization is the World Taekwondo Federation, headquartered in South Korea. Although the terms "WTF" and "Kukkiwon" are often mistakenly used interchangeably to refer to this organization, the "Kukkiwon" is the physical building that contains the administrative offices of World Taekwondo Headquarters (aka Kukkiwon), a completely different organization. Olympic taekwondo competition is administrated by the World Taekwondo Federation, and WTF rules are used for Olympic taekwondo competition.


Four concrete paving bricks broken with a knife-hand strike. Breaking techniques are often practiced in taekwondo.Outside of the World Taekwondo Federation and its sanctioned events, a large number of smaller private organizations exist, the most well-known of which is the International Taekwon-do Federation, which is headquartered in Canada, Austria & North Korea. There are also other organizations such as ATF, ATA, ITA, UTF, USTF, WTU, ICTF & ITF. These organizations require that students belong to a member club or school. Events and competitions held by such organizations are sometimes closed to other taekwondo students. The World Taekwondo Federation allows any person, regardless of school affiliation or style, to compete in World Taekwondo Federation events, and is a member of the IOC, making it a public sports organization. There are over 200 private taekwondo organizations in the world. The major technical difference among these many organizations revolves around the poomsae, a set of prescribed formal sequences of movements that demonstrate mastery of posture, positioning, and technique, sparring rules for competition, and philosophy.

In addition to these private organizations, the original schools (kwan) that formed the organization that would eventually become the Kukkiwon continue to exist as independent fraternal membership organizations that support the WTF and the Kukkiwon. The official curriculum of the kwans is that of the Kukkiwon. The kwan also function as a channel for the issuing of Kukkiwon dan and poom certification (black belt ranks) for their members. Each kwan has its own individual pledge of tenets and manners that describes the organization's goals for personal improvement. For example, the tenets of oh do kwan have become very popular, and many taekwondo schools use them even though their roots are not originally from oh do kwan. The oh do kwan tenets are: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self control, and indomitable spirit. In contrast, the jidokwan manners are: view, feel, think, speak, order, contribute, have ability and conduct rightly.

Answer 2

TKD's history is mostly fabricated. As it is now, it was created in the 1950's, not by a single man but by a coalition of schools looking to standardize the teaching. Each of these schools were Karate dojos during Japanese occupation, but once the occupation ended and Korean nationalism began to thrive once more, the schools wanted to draw in students for a "Korean style". Korea does have many native arts, and some aspects of them have been incorporated into TKD. But the heart of TKD truly is Okinawan Karate. This is the truth, take it or leave it.

Answer 3

Genius' answer is a very good one. I'll just add that there is no one person you can trace it to but you can trace it's origins back through Okinawan Karate to Shaolin and then back to India through Da Mo or Ta Mo by different translations. All Chinese, Japanese and Korean arts came through Shaolin. Even today Shaolin looks more like Korean and Japanese arts then like other Chinese arts.

Taekwondo is today mainly a kicking art and some dojos teach it as sport rather then a real fighting art. You can tell the sport dojos because they will usually teach very little hand work at all except during warm ups.

Answer 4

General Choi Hong Hi

Answer 5

taekwondo was invented by grand master Choi hong hi ..9th degree black belt on April11,1955..he was a major general in the South Korean army...

Answer 6

Hey Genius why didn't you just say see this link and add the wikipedia link to the sources box.....
Rather than cutting and pasting and taking up so much room...

See link for geniuses answer.

Answer 7

Check out this link for a pretty good history of Tae Kwon Do.

http://hockscombatforum.com/index.php?topic=2437.0

Answer 8

The Koreans. Martial arts owes its existence to Bodhi Dharma from Kerala, who introduced it in the orient centuries ago.

Answer 9

wow, genious's answer's very very comprehensive.
everything i wanted to know about Taekwondo.

Answer 10

I'm not dure that you can really say there was 1 inventor. If I was to credit 1 man in particular, it would be grandmaster Lee, Wan Geuk.

Answer 11

koreans