A HISTORY OF TAE KWON DO
by Mr. D. James Tindell
The martial art we know today as tae kwon do has its roots in ancient Asia. On the Korean peninsula, the earliest known references to a formal fighting style come from tombs dating to about 50 BC, where wall-paintings show two men in fighting stances. These earliest forms of the art were known as taek kyon. Over the next millennium, various dynasties battled to control Korea. The eventual winners were the Silla, whose elite troops were known as the Hwa Rang Do, young noblemen devoted to cultivating the mind and body and to serving the government. Their name could be roughly translated as "flowering youth", and they practiced martial arts including taekyon and soo bakh do. The honor code of the Hwa Rang Do survives today as the foundation for the tenets of tae kwon do.
Over the next thousand years, the practice of the martial arts would gradually be taken over by the peasant class, as the rulers and noblemen turned more toward poetry and music. This attitude was reinforced by Confucianism, the religion based upon the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, and adopted as Korea’s official state religion in the 15th century during the early years of the Yi Dynasty. The peasant class came to rely on martial arts training as a means of self-defense against oppression by the ruling class, not to mention roving bandits or invading armies.
Modern tae kwon do has been influenced by other Asian martial arts, most notably Japanese karate. Japan conquered Korea in 1910 and its rule lasted until the end of World War II in 1945. Korean men were often conscripted into the Japanese army and trained in karate. Back home, the occupying authorities tried to eradicate the Korean culture, including its martial arts heritage. Today’s tae kwon do owes its quick, linear movements to Japanese karate.
One of those Korean conscripts was Hong Hi Choi, a native of a province in northern Korea. At the age of 12 he was expelled from school for agitating against the occupying Japanese. He studied the ancient art of tae kyon and later was sent to Japan to continue his education, where he earned a black belt in karate and became an instructor in Tokyo. Choi continued to secretly work for Korean independence, even after being drafted into the Imperial Army at age 25 in 1943. A year later, he was tried for treason, convicted and sentenced to death. Three days before his scheduled execution, Korea was liberated by the Allies and Choi was released. He would later be one of the founding officers of the army of the fledgling Republic of Korea, rising to the rank of major general.
This was the man who would become the "father of tae kwon do". Choi was instrumental in having the armed forces, along with police officers, instructed in the art. In the years following the end of World War II, several kwans, or styles, of Korean martial arts were founded, including General Choi’s Oh Do Kwan. The kwans united in 1955 as Tae Soo Do, and within a few years the name tae kwon do was recognized by the government of South Korea as a formal martial art.
During the 1960s and ‘70s, tae kwon do was demonstrated throughout the world, most notably by General Choi, who introduced the art to the United States in 1960. Within a year, the art would be included in the curriculum of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He became president of the Korean Taekwondo Association in 1965 and helped found the International Taekwondo Federation in 1966. Retired from theta army, General Choi fell out of favor in South Korea when he traveled to North Korea in 1966 to demonstrate tae kwon do. This was only 13 years after the end of the Korean War, and there was still much hostility between the two nations. General Choi, though, never thought of Korea as two nations, but as one. Unwanted in the south, General Choi emigrated to Canada in 1972 and set up the ITF headquarters in Toronto. He would continue to demonstrate and teach the art in virtually every country of the world until his death at age 83 in the summer of 2002.
The World Taekwondo Federation was founded in 1973 to promote tae kwon do as a sport. The International Olympic Committee recognized the WTF in 1980 and it became a demonstration sport at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988. Tae kwon do became an official medal sport at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia. The WTF emphasizes sparring and is often referred to as a martial sport, while the ITF concentrates on a more traditional form of the art with less reliance on preparing students for combat, either in formal competition or on the street. Over the years, several attempts have been made to unify the two organizations, but so far without success.
