Taekwondo 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.

The Origin of Taekwondo

Man by nature has 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 Korean peninsula,
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.

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
"Chouisonin" 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 art, 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 was 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.

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.

Sillas ¡°Wharang¡± and ¡°Taekkyun¡±

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.

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;

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.

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 buddlistic statues.

Middle Ages

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. 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 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)

Taekwondo In modern times

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.

Present day Taekwondo

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-belters 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. In 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.