Taekwondo has developed into a global sport and become an official sport in the Olympic Games due to its unique and traditional traits. It acquired such unique and traditional traits while inheriting various and creative cultures of Korean traditional...
Taekwondo has developed into a global sport and become an official sport in the Olympic Games due to its unique and traditional traits. It acquired such unique and traditional traits while inheriting various and creative cultures of Korean traditional martial arts including Taekkyon.
This study examined the historical background of the birth of Taekwondo and Kwan-based development of Taekwondo after Korea's independence from Japanese colonial rule. Since the 1980s, the theory that Taekwondo originated from ancient Seonbae, Hwarang, Subak, Subakhee and Taekyon has been officially accepted. However, Yang, Jin-bang suggested a new task for the research of Taekwondo history. In his master's thesis, he raised the necessity of recognizing Taekwondo history differently, emphasizing the influence of Karade on Taekwondo immediately after Korea's independence, which had not been much discussed in other studies.
The three representative Korean martial arts that were practiced in the past include Subak, Kwonbeop, and Taekkyon. These three martial arts are valuable cultural heritages that show the history of martial art on the Korean peninsula, though each of them has different features and techniques. Subak was created in the period of three kingdoms and gained popularity in the Goryeo period and then phased out after the early Joseon period. During the Imjin war in the mid Joseon period, Chinese Kunghu of the Ming dynasty was willingly accepted to enhance military morale. In addition, at the beginning of the late Joseon period Taekkyon, a folk martial art, was inherited as a representative folk martial art.
The establishment and systematization of Taekwondo Kwan after Korea's independence imparted momentum to the development of Taekwondo. That is, Cheongdokwan and other several martial art Kwans were founded and taught students at the end of Japanese colonial rule. The directors of the Kwans thought they needed to establish an integrated association that would unify the names of Dangsudo, Gongsudo, Subakdo, and Kwonbeop into one name based on Korean tradition and work for the development of Taekwondo. So they had a meeting two to three times over the issue of organizing the integrated association in July 1946, but failed to establish it. However, they managed to agree to the standard type and unified teaching method of Korean martial arts. Later, during the Korean war, ‘Korea Karadedo Foundation' was established. After the Korean War on June 25th, 1950, about 40 Kwan-based organizations based on five leading Kwans existed disorderly. The establishment of Korea Taesudo Association on September 16, 1961 became an opportunity to integrate them.
On August 1st, 1977, the main Kwan of Taekwondo, the organization unifying nine Kwans, was founded and operated by Korea Taekwondo Association. The integration of Kwans eliminated deep-seated factionalism of Taekwondo, laying the ground for the globalization of Taekwondo.
On March 22nd, 1966, International Taekwondo Federation(ITF) was established by Choi, Hong-hui. And in November 1972, Guk, Gi-won opened the Korea Taekwondo Association Central Dojang. In addition, the World Taekwondo Federation(WTF) was founded on May 28th, 1973 and Kim, Un-yong was elected the first presidents of the federation. Thereafter as World Taekwondo Championship continued, there was growing demand for regional championship. Therefore, the delegates of 12 nations which participated in the third Asia Taekwondo championship at MacPherson stadium in Hong Kong on September 10th, 1978 held a general meeting and established the Asia Taekwondo Federation.
Today the global Taekwondo population included 6 million members of WTF and 3.9 million members of ITF(Guk, Gi-won, 2005; ITF, 2005). The reason Taekwondo accomplished such a massive development of Taekwondo was that President of ITF Choi, hung-hui and President of WTF, Kim, Un-yong made ceaseless efforts to globalize Taekwondo.
The most controversial issue about Taekwondo history is its association with Karade around Korea's independence from Japanese colonial rule. In the 1980s, Yang, Jin-bang and Kim, Yong-ok claimed that Taekwondo was influenced by Japanese Karade. Before them, similar claims had been presented in Taekwondo quarterly magazines and Taekwondo textbooks, but Yang, Jin-bang(1986) was the first person who carried out intensive research on that.
Yang, Jin-bang dismissed the theory of diffusion from China, the theory of Taekwondo's origin from Taekkyon, and the theory of orient mixture which had been claimed by existing researchers. Instead of recognizing Taekwondo game as Gyeorugi among Taekwondo's three elements, Poomsae, Gyeorugi, and Gyeukpa, he set a new hypothesis called Gyeonggi Taekwon and argued that it gradually became different from Japanese Karade in terms of techniques. But his claim was considered as the theory of Kearade's influence on Taekwondo by the public as the fact that Taekwondo was affected by Karade was getting people's attention. Yang, Jin-bang's disapproval of the theory of diffusion from China and the theory of Taekwondo's origin from Taekkyon caused the existing researchers to improve the quality of their research and to counter his claim. Lee, Chang-hu “Philosophical principles of Taekwondo” and Choi, Yeong-yeol's and Jeon, Jeong-u's research in 1997 refuted the theory of Karade's influence on Taekwondo. Examining scholars' conflicting views on the association between Tawekwondo and Karade, the researcher wanted to examine how Japanese Karade instructors thought of the claim that Karade exerted an influence on Taekwondo. Thus the researcher went to Japan and interviewed Karade instructors. They acknowledged Taekwondo as Korea's traditional martial art and expressed envious feelings towards Taekwondo's popularity as an official sport in the Olympic Games and a global sport. They wanted Karade to be accepted as an official sport in the Olympic Games and become popular in Japan.
The establishment of Taekwondo history which had been carried out since Korea's independence from Japanese colonial will make Taekwondo have not only technical, organizational and administrative advantages but also theoretical advantages over other martial arts in the world.
Taekwondo has developed into a global sport in a short time. But not many systematic and logical approaches to Tawkwondo history have been made. The researcher made efforts to contribute to establishing the historical view on Taekwondo by collecting Taekwondo related materials. It is hoped that when a Teakwondo park is being created to publicize its status as a global sport, the officially unified view of Taekwondo and related theories will also be establish