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Forms of self-defense are as old as mankind itself,
and it would be impossible to trace hand and foot fighting of
today back to any single beginning. Korea is a country with a much
varied history, being at the cross roads of Asia. She was
periodically invaded by the Mongols, the Manchurians, the Chinese
and the Japanese but the indigenous people of what is now known as
the Korean Peninsula hung on to their own identity. Background
Early history of the Korean Peninsula is a melting pot of
tribal warfare and invasion by the Mongols, the Manchu Ch'ing
dynasties and other northern peoples. This period is, as far as
Korea is concerned, chiefly Protohistory, a period when we have
few facts and quite a lot of materials which are often of
uncertain value. Early Chinese records tell us of some tribal
groupings such as the Puyo, the Okcho, the Yemaek and the I-lou.In
the spring of 109BC the Chinese began an invasion of northern
Korea and established four commanderies with the hub of Chinese
administration in Korea at Nangnang which endured for 400 years.
This was a period of great Chinese influence on the Korean
Peninsula which had the effect of unifying many of the local
tribes. On a tributary to the Yalu river a group who considered
themselves a branch of the Puyo peoples united to form Koguryo
under the rule of King T'aejo (53 - 146AD). Early references to
Koguryo reveal a people who were fierce fighters, and given to
warfare. They lived in a mountainous area ill suited for
agriculture and apparently turned their hunting activities into a
professional military way of life.
During the fourth century AD there arose three distinct and
strong kingdoms in Korea, Koguryo in the north with Silla and
Paekche in the south. The small Kaya league nested between the two
southern states having strong ties with the Wa State of Japan.
Koguryo was to continue its expansion through an elite military
class called the Kyondang, at the expense of its southern and
northern neighbors until it reached its peak in the 5th Century
AD, covering half of the Korean Peninsula and much of Manchuria.
Some tomb paintings indicate a form of hand and foot fighting from
this period separate in style to the Chinese martial art of
kwonbop, introduced around 520AD and made popular in Korea between
1147 and 1170.
The early sixth century saw the introduction of Buddhism to
Silla and the annexation of much of the Kaya States by Silla.
Silla then formed an alliance with the T'ang of China, in order to
co-ordinate an invasion of Paekche, the T'ang from the sea and the
Silla forces led by General Kim Yu-sin from the land. In 661, with
Paekche secured, the T'ang/Silla forces set upon Koguryo. In the
following years the T'ang attempted to establish control of
Paekche at which point Silla broke off its alliance and routed the
T'ang from the Peninsula. As the result of a concerted effort in
667, aided by a Koguryo defector named Namsaeng, Koguryo finally
fell to the Silla forces in 668. The unifying of the Korean
peninsula was complete. A partial answer to Silla's military
success was its military institutions.
Growing out of a semi-official body dedicated to the nurturing
of talent amongst upper class young males, there emerged at this
time an elite paramilitary youth Corp. These were known as the
Hwarang who had among their ranks the young Kim Yu-sin, later to
become the master swordsman and leading General. The Hwarang were
organized on a clan or village basis with a fixed social structure
and were a firm base for national morality and spirit. They learnt
traditional values through communal life and rites and learnt
mutual understanding and friendship through military arts, poetry
and music. During the wars of unification the Hwarang fought
fiercely in the vanguard and, although very young, were leaders
skilled in many of the military ways and in martial arts, such as
Wrestling, Soo Bak-Gi and Taek Kyon (primitive forms of foot
fighting adapted from sport). The martial spirit of the Hwarang
and of Silla is revealed in the five precepts for secular life
given to them by the Buddhist monk Won'gwang (d.640AD).
- Serve your lord with loyalty.
- Serve your parents with filial piety.
- Use good faith in your communication with friends.
- Face battle without retreating.
- When taking life, be selective.
What followed was a period of relative peace and the decline of
the Hwarang as a military organization. It became known as a group
specializing in poetry, music and dance for enjoyment and fun.
This period also saw the gradual weakening of the throne of Silla
until 936 when Wang Kon, a very strong War-Lord, founded a new
dynasty called Koryo, an abbreviation of Koguryo. It is from this
that the modern name Korea is derived. It was during this time
that Soo Bak once again became popular as a sporting activity and
martial art. Koryo tried to repel or appease invaders until late
in the Koryo Dynasty (the 13th Century) it had become a
full-fledged participant in the Mongol adventure of conquest and
one small fragment in the vast Mongol Empire which stretched
eastward to the Danube. Koryo was the launching ground of the
Mongols against Japan but their attempts were thwarted by heavy
storms which the Japanese called "divine wind"
(kamikaze). The 14th Century saw the expansion of the Chinese Ming
and the contraction of the Mongol empire and the coming to power
in Koryo of Yi Songgye in 1392 and the replacement of Buddhism by
Confucianism as the State Religion. Confucianism advocated
classical Chinese thinking which played down the physical side of
life and replaced it with reading, poetry, music and other
classical arts. This tended to stifle the development of Korean
Martial Arts which became almost none existent.
The Yi Dynasty was to last until 1910, with various Kings
introducing many social and cultural changes. Generally, it was a
period of diplomacy more than continual war with Korea looking for
assistance from Japan when threatened from the north, and looking
to China when threatened from the south. Even so, Korea did spend
many decades under the control of foreigners particularly China.
From the late 17th century through to the early 19th, Korea was
known as the "Hermit Nation" because it turned away
foreigners, particularly the Europeans who were expanding their
own empires at this time. Towards the end of the 19th century
Korea set up relations with many Western Nations in an effort to
offset Japanese influence. In 1894 the Tonghak Rebellion brought
both Japanese and Chinese troops onto Korean soil in an effort to
protect their interests and to influence the Korean Monarchy.
After the Sino-Japanese war (1894-95) and the Russo-Japanese war
(1904-05) it was obvious that Korea was to come under Japanese
protection. The final Yi Dynasty King was on the throne for only
24 days when a new treaty with Japan stripped him of all power and
thus the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910 was merely an
acknowledgment of what had already happened. The Japanese were
hard task masters and did all they could to subdue the Korean
people, including the banning of the Korean language press and the
compulsory teaching of Japanese in all the schools. Korean culture
was frowned upon and the Korean people were forced into servitude,
hiding much of their culture including their martial arts. When
Japan became involved in World War II many Koreans, particularly
those resident in Japan, were forced into the Japanese military.
Towards the end of the war, the Americans invaded Korea to press
back the Japanese but also in an effort to control the post-war
occupation of the Korean Peninsula by the Soviets. In 1948 the
Americans and Soviets proclaimed the division of Korea into the
Republic of Korea (South), with Syngman RHEE as President, and the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North). Both the Soviet
controlled North and the American controlled South claimed the
whole of Korea and in 1950 the North Korean military invaded
south, resulting in the 'Korean War' lasting until the 27th July
1953.
Syngman Rhee (b. 26/4/1875 Whanghae - d. 19/7/65 Honolulu) was
a very nationalistic Korean who went to the USA in 1904 to become
the first Korean to obtain a PhD from an American University.
After returning to Korea he found that he could not work under
Japanese so returned to the USA in 1912. Seven years later, in
China, he was elected President of the Korean Provisional
Government in exile and held this position for 20 years. During
WWII he remained in the USA establishing his reputation with the
Americans which resulted in Syngman Rhee being set up by the US as
the new post war President of the Republic of Korea. He used
strong arm tactics, including assassination of opponents, to
maintain his presidency in elections in 1948,52,56 and 1960. He
maintained dictatorial control over all levels of government until
his downfall shortly after obvious rigging of the 1960 election.
Student riots, with heavy casualties, resulted in a call from the
National Assembly for Rhee's resignation. He resigned on the 27th
April 1960 and went into exile in Hawaii where he died 5 years
later. Rhee was replaced by constitutional liberalism in the
Second Republic but instability in the new democracy led to a
military coup on the 16th May 1961. General PARK Chung Hee
dominated the military junta and terminated military rule at the
end of 1962 to become the president of the Third Republic, being
re-elected in 1967 and 71 until he dissolved the National Assembly
and suspended the constitution in 1972 in the face of growing
popular unrest. Park expanded the powers of the presidency and at
the end of 1972 was directly elected president of the Fourth
Republic. Despite great unrest in the Korean population he was
re-elected in December 1978 but less than a year later he was
assassinated by the head of his own Central Intelligence Agency.
In 18 years Park had laid the basics for Korea's economic success
through State planning, capitalist incentives, strict control and
the abrogation of labor rights. His assassination caused another
military coup on the 12 December 1979 resulting in the May 1980
domestic uprising in Kwangju. Brutally put down, the uprising
resulted in CHUN Doo Hwan assuming the presidency and the
beginning of the Fifth Republic in October 1980. Chun lifted
martial law the following January and was elected president a
month later. For the next four years he ran a repressive regime
until he nominated his successor ROH Tae Woo, a former General of
the 1979 coup. Pressure from Human Rights Activists, the USA, and
the coming 1988 Olympics saw an election being held in December
1987 resulting in Roh being elected President with only 36% of the
vote.
The Korean Kwans
A group of Japanese archaeologist exploring the Tung-hua
province of Manchuria in 1935, discovered 2 tombs that were dated
to belong to the Tenth Kingdom of Koguryo (late 4th century).
Murals painted on the ceiling of the Kakchu (Kak-Je) and
Myong-chong temples depict figures in fighting postures. Guarding
the Sok Kul An Buddhist cave Temple is a carved statue of Kumgang
Yuksa, a famous warrior from the reign of King Hye-Gong (742-762)
who also appears in a typical martial art pose. The appearance of
these fighters in obvious martial poses shows that martial arts
and fighting techniques go back a long way in Korea, to even
before the known introduction of Kwonbop from China (520AD). These
figures could equally represent open hand techniques of modern Tae
Kwon Do or Karate but are most likely representative of the
forebears of many modern Asian fighting arts. To hold to the view
that these figures show that Tae Kwon Do is thousands of years old
is to be compared with saying that English is two thousand years
old, it's just that it used to be called Anglo-Latin. Also, to put
things in further perspective, two small Babylonian works of art
dating from between 3000 and 2000BC show two men fighting, one
with a typical modern martial art block but no-one claims that
Karate comes from Babylon.
Although generally banned by the occupying Japanese, the Korean
Martial Arts of Soo Bak, Tae Kyon, Kong Soo and Hwa Soo and others
survived by being practiced in secret, whilst in later years, the
Japanese martial arts were often learnt by Koreans from their
invaders. Tae Kyon was secretly practiced and passed onto a
handful of students by men like Han Il Dong and Duk Ki Song.
Another student of the outlawed arts was Hwang Kee, the future
founder of Tang Soo Do and the Moo Duk Kwan (martial arts School).
By the age of 22, Kee had become expert in Soo Bak and Tae Kyon
and in 1936 he traveled to Northern China to study the "T'ang
method". He then worked until 1945 to combine the Korean and
Chinese styles into Tang Soo Do (the way of T'ang hand). The
original meaning of the term Karate was "T'ang Hand", Te
meaning hand and Kara an ideogram to describe the Chinese T'ang.
In 1936, Okinawan Masters got together at the behest of a
newspaper to change the ideogram Kara to the one meaning
"empty", as it has the same pronunciation2. In the later
part of the Japanese occupation many Koreans went to Japan to
further their education and to learn Martial Arts. One of these
was Choi Yong-I, born in Korea in 1923 and started studying Korean
Kempo at the age of nine. He went to Japan in 1938 to study
aviation using the name Masutatsu Oyama but put more of his
energies into the study of Karate to become, many decades later,
the founder of Kyokushinkai Karate. Another Korean, Choi Hong Hi,
went to Kyoto, Japan in 1937 to study calligraphy. Choi had been
studying calligraphy and Tae Kyon in Korea under Han Il Dong and
upon arrival in Japan he started to study Shotokan Karate as a
student of a Korean named Kim, and after two years of intensive
training he was presented with a first Dan Black Belt in Shotokan.
He then went onto Tokyo University where he gained his second Dan
and became an instructor at the YMCA. During WW 2, whereas Oyama
stayed in Japan, Choi was forced to enlist in the Japanese army
and was posted to Pyongyang in Korea where he became involved in
the Korean Independence Movement, resulting in his imprisonment.
Until his liberation at the end of the war he practiced and
developed much of his martial art, later to be named Tae Kwon do.
Tang Soo TAE KYON Kong Soo
Karate Kung Fu
Soo Bahk Hwa Soo
CHUNG DO KWAN MOO DUK KWAN YUN MOO KWAN
Won Kook Lee Hwang Kee Sup Chun Sang
1945 1945 1945
CHANG MOO KWAN OH DO KWAN JI DO KWAN
In Yoon Byung Nam Tae Hi Gae Byang Yun
1946 Choi Hong Hi 1953/54
1953/54
CHI DO KWAN SONG MOO KWAN
Yon Kue Pyang Byung Chik Ro
1946 1953/54
Tae Kwon Do: 11th April 1955
At the end of World War II and the liberation of the Southern
end of the Korean Peninsula by the American Forces a number of
Martial Art Schools sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain. These
Kwan were established by masters of Korean and foreign martial
arts, the biggest being the civilian school of Chung Do Kwan in
Seoul, established by Won Kook Lee whilst Hwang Kee formed the Moo
Duk Kwan towards the end of 1945. One of the Korean styles was
known as Tang Soo ("Chinese Hand" after the Chinese Tang
Dynasty) and in 1953 the Korea Tang Soo Association was formed but
later replaced in 1960 by the more Korean name of the Soo Bahk Do
Association. Also formed in 1953 was the Oh Do Kwan. Established
by Choi Hong Hi and Nam Tae Hi this school was established within
the military and was for military personnel only although it had
strong links with the civilian Chung Do Kwan which Choi later
commanded in 1954.
Choi had been teaching his martial art to his soldiers
throughout his military career and had become instructor for the
American Military Police School in Seoul as early as 1948. In 1949
he visited Fort Riley in the USA and introduced the American
people to 'Korean Karate'. Given fast promotion within the Korean
Armed Forces, Choi was named Chief of Staff in 1952 as a Brigadier
General and a man of considerable influence in the war time forces
of Syngman Rhee. Immediately after the war he organized the crack
29th Infantry Division which was to become instrumental in the
spreading of Tae Kwon Do throughout the Korean Military.
Technically, 1955 signaled the beginning of Tae Kwon Do as a
formally recognized art in Korea. During that year a special board
comprising master instructors from various Kwans, historians and
prominent leaders of society was formed. A number of names for the
new martial art were submitted but on the 11th April, the board
decided on the name of Tae Kwon Do submitted by General Choi. This
name, meaning 'the way of foot and hand fighting', appealed to the
newly nationalistic Koreans as a totally Korean expression and
greatly resembled the ancient Korean art of Tae Kyon. Thus the
name of Tae Kwon Do began to spread throughout Korea as their own
mart al art and in a few years it had spread to many nations
across the world.
At this stage various Associations began to arise, the Korea
Tae Kwon Do Association (1959), the Korea Soo Bahk Do Association
(1960) replacing the earlier Korea Tang Soo Do Association, and
the Korea Tae Soo Do Association (1961). The unification of the
various Kwans was never smooth but by Presidential decree in 1962
the Korean Tae Kwon Do Association (KTA), with Choi Hong Hi as
president, was declared to be the representative body of the
Korean Martial Art and the body whose black belt qualification
would be recognized by the government. In March 1965, the Soo Bahk
Do Association attempted to unite with the Korea Tae Kwon Do
Association but the effort was unsuccessful splitting the Moo Duk
Kwan between the two associations. On the 22nd March 1966, General
Choi formed the International Tae Kwon Do Federation (ITF) after
almost a decade of establishing associations in many countries of
South East Asia, Europe and North America. This period of the
1960s was one of great political unrest both inside and outside of
the martial arts fraternity and the various associations were told
by the government of Park Chung Hee to unify under the banner of
the Korea Tae Kwon Do Association and to come under the auspices
of the Korean Athletics Association on February 23 1963. This was
not a totally smooth operation with some masters, such as Son Duk
Sung of the Chung Do Kwan, preferring to leave Korea altogether.
It was also during this period that General Choi Hong Hi, often
known as the 'Father of Tae Kwon Do', started to lose his control
of Tae Kwon Do.
At this point it is interesting to note the historic parallels
between CHOI Hong Hi and PARK Chung Hee who were both Generals
under President Syngman RHEE. Rhee was deposed on the 27th April
1960 by a constitutional democracy that was short lived. A coup
lead by Park on the 16th May 1961 saw Park become President by the
end of 1962. This was the year that Choi left Korea and was
"promoted" to be the Korean Ambassador to Malaysia.
Although he briefly returned to Korea in 1966 to establish the
International Tae Kwon Do Federation (ITF) Choi never gained much
political influence in Korea and finally moved the ITF
headquarters to Toronto, Canada, in 1972, the year that Kukkiwon
was opened. Choi had done much to spread Tae Kwon Do throughout
the world whilst others were establishing a stronghold at home. As
a further indicator to the almost total loss of influence of Choi
in South Korea, Christopher Hill states in his 1992 book,
"Olympic Politics", with reference to the 30th September
1981 vote by the IOC to decide on Seoul for the 1988 Olympics that
"Kim Un-Yong dealt decisively with the rumor that General
Choi, a Korean émigré in Canada, would stage an anti-Seoul
demonstration, as some citizens of Nagoya had done, on
environmental grounds, against their own city's bid. Kim did not
believe the rumor, but he put five Taekwondo instructors on
standby in case of trouble and there was no incident".
The early 1970s was the foundation period of two
internationally known Tae Kwon Dos, one a traditional martial art
and the other a progressive martial sport with the Olympics as its
primary goal. In 1970, Kim Un Yong, a shrewd businessman and not a
martial arts master, was elected as the new president of the
Korean Tae Kwon Do Association and was instrumental in changing
the direction of Tae Kwon Do from martial art to martial sport
with an ultimate goal of the Olympic Games. He is also one of
Korea's representatives with the International Olympic Committee
(IOC). In 1972 an advanced training establishment was built,
called Kukkiwon, now the Mecca of participants in sport Taekwondo.
In May 1973 the first World Taekwondo championships were held at
Kukkiwon in Seoul with over 30 countries participating and as a
result of the international success of this event, the World
Taekwondo Federation(WTF) was formed with Dr Kim Un Yong being
elected foundation president. The WTF replaced the KTA. Taekwondo,
now one of the national sports of Korea, is included as part of
the school curriculum at all levels and as a requisite for
military training. Modern Taekwondo in Korea has progressed so
much towards being a sport that its ruling body in Korea, the WTF,
comes under the control of the Korean Athletics Association and
not the martial arts body known as the Ki Do Hae.When Jigaro Kano
took aspects of the martial art Aikijujitsu and formed a safer
sport form for use by all people as a means towards better health
and fitness, he adopted the name "Judo" to describe the
new sport. Taekwondo has not adopted any name changes but it is
important to realize that there are today, many styles of the
original martial art of Tae Kwon Do. Perhaps the only distinction
between the various styles being in the spelling, with the sport
style preferring to use a single word for Taekwondo. With the
announcement that Taekwondo will be a full medal Olympic sport as
of the Sydney 2000 Olympics it has completed its road from martial
art to martial sport. There is really no reason that Art and Sport
can't co-exist under the same name if people are educated as to
its history.
References:
Encyclopedia Britannica
'The Martial Arts Companion' John Corcoran 1992
'Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do' Richard Chun 1975
'A History of Korea' William E. Henthorn 1971
'Tae Kwon Do' General Choi Hong Hi 1972
'The SBS World Guide' Peter Krien 1992
'What is Karate' Masutatsu Oyama 1966
'Tae Kwon Do Hyung (vol 2)' Hee Il Cho 1984
'Inside Tae Kwon Do' Dec 1992 edition
'Tae Kwon Do' Mark McCarthy 1984
'Official WTF TKD' David Mitchell, M.A. Comm of G.B.1986
'The Overlook M.A. Dictionary' Emil Farkas, John Corcoran 1983
'Olympic Politics' Christopher Hill 1991
'The way of the Warrior' Howard Reid, Michael Croucher 1983
'Modern Karate' Steve Arneil, Bryan Dowler 1974
'The Way of the Warrior' Howard Reid & Michael Croucher 1983
'Modern Karate' Steve Arneil & Bryan Dowler 1974
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