| Taekwondo | |
|---|---|
| [image] | |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul: | 태권도 |
| Hanja: | 跆拳道 |
| Revised Romanization: | Tae-gwon-do |
| McCune-Reischauer: | T'ae-gwŏn-do |
io:Template:Koreanname Taekwondo (also spelled Tae Kwon Do or Taekwon-Do) is the most popular of the Korean martial arts and is the Korean national sport. It is also one of the world's most commonly practiced sports. The World Taekwondo Federation's style of Taekwondo is currently an Olympic sport.
In Korean, derived from Hanja, Tae means "to kick or destroy with the foot"; Kwon means "to punch with the fist"; and Do means "way" or "art". Hence, Taekwondo is loosely translated as "the art of kicking and punching" or "the way of the foot and the fist." Taekwondo's popularity has resulted in the divergent evolution of the art. As with many other martial arts, Taekwondo is a combination of combat technique, sport, exercise, entertainment, and philosophy.
Although there are great doctrinal and technical differences among Taekwondo styles, 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, roundhouse, front, ax and side kicks are most often used; advanced kicks include jump, spin, skip, and drop kicks, often in combination. Taekwondo training includes a comprehensive system of hand strikes and blocks, but generally does not emphasize grappling or close-in combat.
As far back as the Silla Dynasty (668 AD - 935 AD), Chinese Chuan Fa techniques were used to train Korean warriors. These techniques evolved to become the empty-hand art of Subak, which was standardized during the Koryo Dynasty (935 AD - 1392 AD). During the early Joseon Dynasty (1393 - 1910), Subak was divided into Taekyon (a striking art) and Yusul (a grappling art). Through the years, however, Yusul was practiced with decreasing frequency and, eventually, only the Taekyon aspect of Subak remained, facing extinction.
In the late 18th century, King Chongjo ordered the compilation of the Muye Dobo Tongji, an official martial arts text which identified many disciplines, including the empty-hand Kwonbup (transliteration of Chinese Chuan Fa, from which Subak was derived). Taekyon survived during the last part of the Chosun Dynasty via the secret practice of certain Korean families and street gangs.
[image] During the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-1945), many Koreans were exposed to Japanese versions of Chinese martial arts such as Karate. As the Japanese moved deeper into the continent, karate was adopted and mixed with more traditional Korean martial arts such as Taekyon, as well as traditional Chinese martial arts studied by Koreans in Manchuria and China.
Upon the liberation of Korea in 1945, various martial arts schools formed, including Chung Do Kwan, Yun Moo Kwan, Chang Moo Kwan, Oh Do Kwan, and Moo Duk Kwan. General Choi Hong Hi, generally considered the father of modern Taekwondo, taught a combination of Karate and Taekyon to his soldiers.
In 1955, these arts, at that time called various names by the different schools, were ordered to unify by South Korea's President Syngman Rhee. A governmental body selected Choi's submission of "Taekwondo" as the name. Taekwondo incorporated more native Korean martial art styles, including difficult kicks from Taekyon in a modified linear form.
In 1959, the Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) was formed, with General Choi as president. This year also marked the first international tour of Taekwondo, by General Choi and 19 black belts.
In 1960, Jhoon Rhee was teaching what he called Korean Karate (or Tang Soo Do) in the United States. After a visit from General Choi, Rhee changed the name of his art to Taekwondo. Rhee is often considered the father of Taekwondo in America.
A goodwill trip to the Communist government of North Korea in 1966 caused General Choi to fall out of favor in South Korea. General Choi left for Canada, founding the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) in March of that year, with associations in Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, West Germany, the United States, Turkey, Italy, Egypt and Korea. The ITF focused on a more martial style of Taekwondo, complete with tuls, or forms, developed by Choi. By 1971, ITF had more than 65 member countries. General Choi died in 2002, in Pyongyang, North Korea.
In 1972, Kukkiwon was founded as the headquarters for Taekwondo in South Korea. In 1973, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) was formed by the South Korean government to rival the ITF. It was originally headed by Kim Un-Yong (later a member of the IOC), with participation of 35 delegates from around the world. Kukkiwon-WTF changed its format to focus on Tae Geuk poomse, sparring, and the competitive aspect of Taekwondo, holding the 1st World Taekwondo Championships in May 1973.
In July 1980, the International Olympic Committee recognized the WTF and, Taekwondo was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. It has been an official Olympic event since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Taekwondo was admitted to the Asian Games as an official event in 1984.
Since the death of its founder, Choi Hong Hi, the ITF has splintered into three major groups, in Canada, Austria, and North Korea.
The ITF had considerable success in bringing its art to the world in the 1960s, while the WTF succeeded in taking Taekwondo to the Olympic stage. WTF rules have been adopted by the International Olympic Committee, and only WTF-trained students can take part in the Olympic Games.
The WTF style is more of a sport, focusing on safe competition sparring, while the ITF style is more traditionally martial, or military, in its application. However, this varies by school and instructor.
Another difference is the poomse, the pre-set, formal sequences of movements. ITF has 24 patterns (called tuls), while WTF schools use the Taegeuk poomse, as well as Kicho, Kibon, Dan, and, in some older schools, Palgwe poomse.
Taekwondo is famed for its employment of kicking techniques, which distinguishes it from martial arts such as Karate or certain southern styles of Kung fu. The rationale is that the leg is the longest and strongest weapon a martial artist has, and kicks thus have the greatest potential to strike without retaliation.
Taekwondo as a sport and exercise is popular with people of both sexes and of many ages. Physically, Taekwondo develops strength, speed, balance, flexibility, and stamina. An example of the union of mental and physical discipline is the breaking of boards, which requires both physical mastery of the technique and the concentration to focus one's strength.
The five tenets of Taekwondo (courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self control, indomitable spirit) reflect that Taekwondo is a mental discipline as well as a physical one. Taekwondo helps students develop improved awareness, confidence, focus, discipline, memory, and respect. Some schools even have student creeds or oaths that describe Taekwondo's goals for personal improvement.
[image] Although each Taekwondo club or school will be different, a Taekwondo student can typically expect to take part in most or all of the following:
Some Taekwondo instructors also incorporate the use of pressure points as well as self-defense techniques borrowed from other Korean arts, such as Hapkido and Yudo.
The traditional belt colors recognized by the Kukkiwon (headquarters of the World Taekwondo Federation) are white, yellow, green, blue, and red. Between solid colors, a central stripe down the middle of the belt reflecting the next full belt color is added to indicate progress in Gup level. For example, from white the next belt would be white with a yellow stripe. Some schools instead place a "tip" or belt-end stripe of the next color on a student's belt to signify a rise in rank. Other schools opt for two-tone belts, reflecting both the lower rank and the next rank (eg., between the white belt and the yellow belt would be a belt half white, half yellow). Some schools opt to use a solid color alternative instead of stripes. For example, a common belt-color scheme is: white, yellow, gold, orange, green, purple, blue, brown, red. There is NO standardization in belt colors in the United States or elsewhere. Rank advancement records are kept by the school of origin and often by the style's association headquarters. Black Belt ranks are recognized as: 1st - 3rd, Instructor. 4th - 6th, Master. 7th - 9th, Grand Master. Tenth Dan has historically been reserved as a posthumous award, but in recent years it has seen presentation to a few living (mostly Korean) recipients.
The International Taekwondo Federation also uses a system of 10 Gup ranks and nine or 10 Dan ranks. The 1st through 3rd Dans are associated with an Assistant Instructor; 4th through 6th are associated with an Instructor; 7th and 8th with a Master, and 9th degree with a Grand Master. However, in recent practice, particularly in North America, this system has been relaxed. Many consider instructors who have attained a rank of 4th dan and have their own students (or have promoted their own black belts) to be Masters in their own right. Many Masters who have attained the rank of 7th dan claim the title Grand Master (or it is near universally applied to them), and almost all 8th Dan holders get the title Grand Master. See also the ITF ranks article.
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The official, current WTF competition rules can be found at the WTF website.These rules govern many aspects of tournament sparring, summarized below:
Among Hollywood films, one of the best depictions of Taekwondo can be found in the film Best of the Best and the sequels, although the art is referred to as Karate throughout. Possibly the most famous superkickers (bootmasters) of martial arts cinema (e.g. Hwang Jang-Lee) are practitioners of Taekwondo.
Not known to many, Taekwondo's famous kicks can be seen used by Martial Arts' most famous practitioner Bruce Lee.
Taekwondo is also seen in Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, as well as many Hong Kong action films.