Joseph Willert

A Brief History of Taekwondo

My History

Before I delve into the brief history of Taekwondo I’d like to talk a little bit about my

own experience with Taekwondo and how I’ve come to see and understand it. I first began

Taekwondo at Boise State University in the fall of 2014. I didn’t know starting out that

Taekwondo was something that I would enjoy doing, or even something that I wanted to do. I

wanted to try taking a martial art, so I checked out the BSU Club Page and started browsing

through the various martial arts listed there. It was here that I discovered Taekwondo and began

taking a class in it. At this time the class was led by Jason Jeffries and I had a lot of fun learning

the various moves of Taekwondo and interacting with the people involved with it.

While taking the Taekwondo class I discovered that there was also a Taekwondo club

that went more in depth and met right after class. Hearing this, I began to regularly attend the

club workouts and continued pursuing Taekwondo. When I heard that a president was needed for

the club I volunteered and have been serving in this position ever since. In the club we learned

proper stance form, kick form, poomsae, and began to do sparring. This was my first time being

introduced to what the sport of Taekwondo was; and I really enjoyed partaking in it. Since then

I’ve learned a lot about Taekwondo and the various methodologies and ideas behind the stances,

blocks, and forms. In this paper I’d like to share a bit of what I’ve learned from experience, as

well as from research.

The History of the Sport

We begin our journey with the origin of the word Taekwondo itself. We can take the

word Taekwondo and break it up into its 3 main parts and meanings of each. Coming from the
book Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts by Donn Draeger and Robert Smith we obtain the

following definition. Tae means "to Kick" or "Smash with the feet," Kwon implies "punching" or

"destroying with the hand or fist," and Do means "way" or "method." From this definition we

obtain that Taekwondo is “the way of the foot and the hand” or a method of fighting and self-

defense. The other interesting thing to note from this definition is that the word Taekwondo itself

contains the character for punching or fist. This is worth note because many people believe that

Taekwondo is a martial art only associated with kicking. We see though from the very meaning

of the word that Taekwondo concerns itself with more than just the feet and is a full body

fighting style. Also worth noting here is that Taekwondo is an unarmed combat as it doesn’t

employ any weapons, but instead focuses on technique and power in combat.

The history of Taekwondo, like the history of anything from such a long time ago, is a

little murky and scholars’ debate over exact times or events throughout the timeline. The earliest

records of martial arts practices in Korea date back to about 50 B.C. These early forms of martial

arts were known as ‘Taek Kyon’. This “foot-hand” martial art was developed by the Silla

Dynasty Warriors, the Hwa Rang, as a means of self-defense. Like modern Taekwondo it

employed various techniques that sought to bring down your opponent in an efficient matter

without the use of weapons.

The reason scholars debate over this origin is because the evidence is found in tomb wall-

paintings that depict two men in a fighting stance as shown in the following image.
Images like this are contested because while some people claim it is a depiction of two men

getting ready to fight, others claim it is of two men dancing. Personally, I can see either and

understand why the scholars would have differing views on what’s going on in the image. It does

appear though that whatever the men are doing there is some sort of snack vendor as well as an

audience. This could imply that if it was a form of martial arts that people would come and

watch it as part of their culture of entertainment.

At this time and leading up into the late 7th century Korea was broken up into 3

Kingdoms, known as Koguryo, Paekje, and Silla. By 668 AD Silla had united the kingdoms by

winning wars with them. The Hwa Rang Do, or “flowering youth”, played an import role in this

unification and in the history of Taekwondo. These flowering youth were an elite group of noble

men devoted to cultivating their minds and body and serving the kingdom of Silla. They had an

honor code and practiced various forms of martial arts, that would later go into influencing
Taekwondo. The honor-code of the Hwa Rang is what became the philosophical background of

modern Taekwondo.

This background laid the groundwork for the thought of Taekwondo spirit. Taekwondo

certainly takes root in protection and surviving against outside forces, which would have been a

common threat during this time when these three kingdoms were always at war. They also had to

defend themselves against foreign pressures such as China and Japan, so the self-defensive

aspects were important. Therefore, a spirit of national unity and defense was stressed among the

people. They had to be loyal to the state, and ready to give their lives for it if need be. “No retreat

from fighting” became an engrained concept of this philosophy and still holds root in

Taekwondo today; even being seen in rules about how much one can retreat from an opponent

before engaging. They also promised to not commit ethical faults or betray their social

obligations. This thought is seen in the consistency of learning and acting properly within

Taekwondo. These thoughts together, stemming from that honor code that allowed the Hwa

Rang to win over the other 2 kingdoms, has been handed down as a peace thought and has

formed the philosophical background that Taekwondo has today.

After the three kingdoms united a time of peace descended the land until 936 A.D. when

Wang Kon founded the Koryo dynasty, an abbreviation of Koguryo, the name of which Korea is

derived from. During this dynasty the sport Soo Bakh Do became popular as a military training

method. Between 1400 and 1900 AD this emphasis on military training was lost; but the

popularity of the sport remained. It was also during this time that Confucianism replaced

Buddhism as the state religion, which led to a cultural shift in how marital arts were perceived.

According to Confucianism, the higher classes should study the poets; while martial arts was

something for the common, or even inferior, man.

Taekwondo as we know it today. Modern day Taekwondo has been influenced by a lot of other

martial arts, the most important of these being Japanese Karate. This is mainly because Japan

dominated Korea during the first part of the 20th century leading up until the end of WWII. Due

to this many Korean soldiers were trained in Japan and got to learn Japanese martial arts such as

Karate. During this occupation Japan tried to erase the Korean culture, including the martial arts,

and replace them with the Japanese way of doing things. This resulted in heavily influencing

Taekwondo as a martial art. This influence is seen in the quick linear movements in Taekwondo,

that characterize the Japanese systems of martial arts. I believe it is also seen in the similarity of

the uniforms of the two. Upon seeing them one cannot help noticing how similar a Japanese Gi is

to a Korean Dobok, seen below on the right and left respectively.

Seoul. These schools were established by martial artists with backgrounds in Japanese, Chinese,

and Korean martial arts. The term “traditional Taekwondo” generally refers to the martial arts

practiced by these kwans during the 40’s and 50’s, although the term “Taekwondo” had not yet

come about. This wasn’t until 1955 when the kwans united as Tae Soo Do and then in 1957 the

name Taekwondo was adopted by several Korean Martial Arts masters for its similarity to the

name Tae Kyon. Before this all the Kwans were practicing their own unique style of Martial

Arts. It was also during this time that Taekwondo was adopted by the South Korean Military

which increased its popularity among the citizens.

It was General Choi Hong-hi that required the army be trained in Taekwondo, resulting in

the first Taekwondo students being soldiers. Police and the Korean Air Force had to learn

Taekwondo as well and being heavily influenced by the Japanese; Taekwondo of this time was
more like Shotokan Karate than modern Taekwondo. According to Barry Nauta; “In 1961 the

Korean Taekwondo Union arose from the Soo Bakh Do Association and the Tae Soo Do

Association.” This was the first governing body of martial arts that had the name “Taekwondo”.

It was acknowledged by the Korean Amateur Sports Association in 1962 and in 1965 the name

changed to the Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA). The goal of this organization was to

facilitate the unification of Korean Martial Arts. Upon its initial founding, General Choi Hong Hi

was president of the KTA, however he broke with the KTA in 1966 to establish the International

Taekwondo Federation (ITF). The ITF was to act as a separate governing body devoted to

institutionalizing Choi’s style of Taekwondo.

During the 1960’s and 70’s cold war policies complicated the adoption of ITF style

Taekwondo. Demonstrations of Taekwondo were given all over the world, but it was a challenge

for it to gain worldwide legitimacy. The South Korean government wanted to try and avoid

North Korean influence on the sport. This put them in conflict with Choi Hong Hi who sought

support from all countries, including North Korea. Due to this conflict in interests the South

Korean government withdrew its support of ITF style Taekwondo. ITF continued to operate

however and experienced a split in 2001 with the retirement of Choi Hong Hi. In 2002 it was

split into 3 separate federations each of which continue to operate under the name of ITF today.

In 1973 the South Korean government established the Kukkiwon as the new national

academy for Taekwondo in the region. The Kukkiwon served many of the same functions as the

previous KTA, including implementing a unified style of Taekwondo. The KTA and Kukkiwon

supported the establishment of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) in 1973 to support

Taekwondo as an international sport. In 2017 the WTF would be renamed to World Taekwondo

due to confusion with the acronym of the name.

World Taekwondo competitions employ Kukkiwon-style Taekwondo, and for this reason

Kukkiwon-style is often referred to as WT-style Taekwondo, sport-style Taekwondo, or

Olympic-style Taekwondo. This style is defined by the Kukkiwon and not World Taekwondo.

This being the case it is Kukkiwon that oversees setting the standards for the Taekwondo seen in

the Olympics. Since the year 2000 Taekwondo has been one of the only two Asian Martial Arts

included in the Olympics. It was a demonstration event at the 1988 games in Seoul and became

an official medal event at the 2000 games in Sydney.

Now that we have gone through a brief summary of Taekwondo from the 5 th century BC

to modern day, I’d like to look at some of the different styles and theory of Taekwondo and how

they have helped to shape the sport.

Theory

As a martial art Taekwondo puts emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping and spinning

kicks, and fast kicking techniques. The way sparring matches are scored is evident of the

importance of these techniques as additional points are awarded for head kicks, spinning kicks,
and spinning head kicks. As a sport Taekwondo puts emphasis on speed and agility. This is in

large part due to the work by Choi Hong Hi. Choi based his work on Newtonian physics and

Chinese martial arts and observed that power goes up quadratically with an increase in speed, but

only linearly with an increase in mass. This led to the idea that speed was more important than

size in Taekwondo sparring, which is still an idea used today.

Another important theory implemented in Taekwondo sparring is the idea of being

relaxed at all moments during the fight except on the moment of impact. The goal here is to

conserve energy when not directly initiating an attack or defense. This helps the body to not get

tired as quickly and allows the moves to be faster and stronger at the point of impact. Tension

should try to constantly be avoided in Taekwondo as we want to attack from a relaxed stance in

as quick and efficient a manner as possible.

Styles and Schools

Traditional Taekwondo (1946 Era)

The traditional style of Taekwondo practiced after WWII involved heavy influence by

Japanese martial arts. This Taekwondo came about right after the end of the Japanese occupation

of Korea. The term Taekwondo had not been implemented yet and all of the 9 kwans practiced

their own individual forms of martial arts. The term traditional taekwondo encompasses all 9 of

these martial arts even though they went by different names. In 1959 these 9 kwans came

together and agreed upon the name “Taekwondo” for their martial arts and established the KTA.

This would also later lead to the establishment of the Kukkiwon and World Taekwondo.

ITF/Chang Hon-style Taekwondo (1966 Era)

This form of Taekwondo is defined by Choi Hong Hi’s Encyclopedia of Taekwondo and

was a break away from the KTA after seeking support from all countries, including North Korea.
In ITF-style Taekwondo the word “teul” is used in place of forms and the set of teul that is

practiced is known as “Chang Hon”. 24 Chang Hon teul are defined and practiced under standard

ITF Taekwondo. According to Wikipedia; “The names and symbolism of the Chang Hon teul

refer to elements of Korean history, culture and religious philosophy.” For the most part, what

holds a school to the style of ITF Taekwondo is its practice of these teul.

ATA/Songahm-style taekwondo (1969 Era)

These Taekwondo schools began in 1969 when Haeng Ung Lee, whom was a former

Taekwondo instructor in the South Korean military, moved to Nebraska and established them.

These chains of martial arts schools were all established under the banner of the American

Taekwondo Association (ATA). They are one of the largest and most prolific Taekwondo

schools in the United States. Many of them operate under the name of “Master Lee’s

Taekwondo”. For the most part they practice a form of traditional Taekwondo known as

Songahm Taekwondo.

Jhoon Rhee-style taekwondo (1970’s Era)

These schools were also established in the United States in 1962 by Jhoon Rhee. They

were established primarily in Washington D.C. and practiced traditional Taekwondo. Rhee went

on to establish his own style of Taekwondo called Jhoon Rhee Taekwondo which incorporated

elements from traditional Taekwondo as well as ITF Taekwondo. This Taekwondo is still

practiced today, primarily in the US and Europe.

Kukki-style / WT-taekwondo (1972 Era)

Originally called the KTA Central Dojang, the name was later changed to Kukkiwon in

1973. Under order of the South Korean government the Kukkiwon became the national academy

for Taekwondo and established a new unified style of Taekwondo. In 1973 the WTF was
established by the KTA to promote Taekwondo as a sport internationally. The International

Olympic Committee recognized the WTF and Taekwondo sparring in 1980, resulting in

Kukkiwon style Taekwondo being referred to as sport-style Taekwondo or Olympic-style

Taekwondo. In Korea it is referred to as Kukki Taekwondo, or “National Taekwondo”. Forms

practiced under this form of Taekwondo are called poomsae and refer to elements of Korean

philosophy. The other fun fact about WT sanctioned tournaments is that essentially anyone can

compete in them, as opposed to ITF and ATA Taekwondo which hold closed tournaments.

Summary

Taekwondo has a rich and vivid history that encompasses a vast amount of time. We saw

that it could have started its origins as early at the 5th century BC and still had spectators even

back then. It has been influenced by other martial arts, new practitioners, and schools that

implement it. Taekwondo continues to evolve and grow today with new ideas of forms being

introduced and new rules added or taken away for sparring tournaments. It is a sport as well as a

philosophy and way of being. In Taekwondo, just as in life, one must be attentive and ready to

strike at an opportunity without hesitation. Taekwondo will surely continue to develop in unique

and interesting ways going forward, and the principles will continue to be upheld by those who

choose to practice it.

Morris, Glen R. Taekwondo History, 1994, www.worldTaekwondo.com/history.htm.

Nauta, Barry. “History of Taekwondo.” General Taekwondo Information - History, 2016,

www.barrel.net/history.html.

“Taekwondo Equipment and History - Olympic Sport History.” International Olympic

Committee, IOC, 15 May 2018, www.olympic.org/Taekwondo-equipment-and-history.

“Taekwondo History.” World Taekwondo Headquarters,

www.kukkiwon.or.kr/front/pageView.action?cmd=%2Feng%2Finformation

%2Fhistory_Taekwondo.

“Taekwondo.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Oct. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taekwondo.