‘무도’에서 ‘무도 스포츠’로의 진화과정에서 나타난 태권도의 불완전성 : The Incomplete Transformation of Taekwondo from a ‘Martial Art’ to a ‘Martial Sport’

국문 초록 (Abstract)

현재의 태권도는 경기스포츠적 특징을 지닌 겨루기 태권도와 정신수양 및 호신을 강조하는 품새 태권도라는 두 가지 상이한 실체로 구성되어 있다. 그러나 태권도의 역사 및 철학 이론은 이 두 가지 태권도가 공통의 목표를 추구하며 동일한 수련체계를 갖춘 단일적 실체라고 주장한다. 나아가 태권도제도권은 한편으로 이와 같은 일체성의 환상을 보존하길 원하며, 다른 한편으로 기술형식들의 분화를 더욱 가속화시키고 있다. 그 결과 태권도의 정체는 점점 더 애매하게 되어가고 있으며, 그 개념은 점점 더 정의하기 어려워지고 있다.
태권도의 실제 역사는 50년 남짓이다. 50여 년 전 태권도는 겨루기에 있어서 완전 타격방식을 도입함으로써 가라테와는 차별화된 수련활동, 기술, 목표를 갖춘 고유한 무예가 되었다. 그러나 그 이후 태권도는 심각한 내적 모순을 겪게 된다. 이 내적 모순은 올림픽스포츠인 경기스포츠 태권도와 정신수양 및 호신을 목적으로 하는 품새 태권도가 분열하면서 생겨났다. 품새 위주의 수련양식은 해방 이후 도입된 일본 가라테의 영향을 강하게 받았지만 태권도제도권은 이와 같은 역사적 사실을 애써 감추어왔다. 또한 태권도계는 이것이 한국 전통 무예의 계승이라는 논리로 왜곡시킴으로서 그들의 의도와는 달리 가라테적 요소가 태권도 내에 계속해서 잔존할 수 있도록 해주는 튼튼한 근거를 마련하였다. 한편 근대 경기스포츠 태권도는 지난 50년 동안 계속해서 진화되어왔으며, 이 과정에서 기술적 독자성을 내세울 수 있게 되었고, 이에 근거하여 한국 고유의 무도스포츠로 거듭날 수 있었다. 그러나 태권도의 역사와 철학은 이와 같은 태권도의 진화과정과 그 과정에서 획득한 기술적 독자성에 큰 관심을 기울이지 않는다. 현재의 태권도에는 이와 같이 이론적, 역사적으로 상이한 두 가지 기술체계가 병립하고 있으며, 양자 사이의 보이지 않는 장벽은 해를 거듭할수록 높아지고 있다. 특히 대한태권도협회가 품새를 경기화하면서 양자 간의 보이지 않는 대립 경향은 더욱 첨예화되고 있다. 태권도계는 이와 같이 서로 상이한 두 개의 실체를 하나로 묶어줄 수 있는 이데올로기나 훈련체계를 찾기 위해 헛된 노력을 기울이지 말아야 한다. 오히려 양자가 기술 및 역사적으로 서로 상이하다는 점을 인정한 후에 차별화된 훈련체계와 이데올로기를 만들기 위해 노력해야만 할 것이다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In reality, taekwondo consists of different entities, with the main division being the split between sparring/competition taekwondo with a sporting character, and traditional form/self-defense taekwondo with an emphasis on spiritual development. On the other hand, taekwondo is historically and philosophically still presented as being a single entity that seeks common goals and claims to have compatible training activities. The establishment wants to preserve this illusion of unity, but, at the same time, encourages further diversification. This process led to an identity crisis in taekwondo and the question arises as to which activity defines or represents taekwondo now.
The actual history of taekwondo is only about fifty years old. It was not until the introduction of full-contact competitions that taekwondo’s training activities, technique, and purpose started to significantly distinguish itself from karate. This left an essential contradiction at the heart of taekwondo. This contradiction is between taekwondo’s split into the modern sparring/competition taekwondo, which is an Olympic sport, and the traditional self-defense/form taekwondo, which is presented as a martial art. The traditional self-defense/form taekwondo is a leftover of traditional karate, and yet it is retained in general taekwondo activity, even though the links to a Japanese past are denied. It is as if, by retaining elements of a Japanese past (the kata or p’umsae), taekwondo is given historical and cultural legitimacy, while at the same time the Korean taekwondo establishment attempts to secure more legitimacy for taekwondo by denying Japanese links and claiming a more ancient and indigenous origin. On the other hand, the modern sparring/competition taekwondo, which evolved over the past fifty years, is really the indigenous Korean taekwondo, but it is not recognized as such. The techniques, training methods, focus, and purpose used in both systems have no apparent connection whatsoever, and therefore make little sense when combined. During the past twenty years, general training activity in taekwondo started again to diversify greatly with the introduction of new elements. However, with the ever-widening activities connected with modern taekwondo, the attempt to offer a consistent and meaningful training philosophy in terms of purpose and value in accordance with the actual training activity seems an ever distant goal. Therefore, instead of seeking a unified taekwondo ideology and training program, taekwondo needs to be clearly separated into different entities.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• I.INTRODUCTION 1
• 1.1. Necessity of the Study 2
• 1.2. Purpose of the Study 3
• 1.3. Research Methodology 4
• 1.4. Limitations of the Study 6
• 1.5. Outline of the Study 7
• II. LINGUISTIC ESSENTIALS AND DEFINITIONS 9
• 2.1. Romanization of Korean, Japanese and Chinese Terms 9
• 2.2. Definition of Key Terms and Concepts 9
• 2.3. General Classification of East Asian Martial Arts 11
• 2.4. Taekwondo Terminology Used in this Study13
• III. LITERATURE REVIEW 15
• 3.1. Early Karate Manuals 15
• 3.2. Early Korean Martial Arts Manuals 17
• 3.3. Modern Taekwondo Literature 20
• 3.4. Literature Critical about Taekwondo’s Historical Presentation 22
• 3.5. Additional Sources and Interviews Conducted for this Study 24
• 3.6. Summary 25
• IV. ANCIENT KOREAN MARTIAL ARTS AND
• T'AEKKYŎN 26
• 4.1. Popular Portrayal of Taekwondo History 27
• 4.2. Ancient Korean Martial Arts 28
• 4.3. Existing Records on T’aekkyŏn before the Twentieth Century 30
• 1) Ch’ŏngguyŏngŏn (靑丘永言) written by Kim Ch’ŏn Taek in 1728 31
• 2) Taek’waedo (大快圖) painted by Shin Yun Bok in 1785 31
• 3) Chaemulbo (才物譜) written by Yi Man Yŏng in 1798 33
• 4) Taek’waedo painted by Yu Suk in 1846 35
• 5) The Namwŏn’gosa of the nineteenth century 36
• 6) The photograph: ‘Children playing T’aekkyŊn,’ by Arthur Nobel in 1890 37
• 7) The book: Korean Games with Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan, written by Steward Culin in 1895 38
• 8) T’aekkyŊn in the Baekjado (百子圖) paintings of the nineteenth century 39
• 4.4. The Nature of T’aekkyŏn 39
• 4.5. T’aekkyŏn during the Twentieth Century 41
• 4.6. Represents Taekwondo the ‘T’aekkyŏnization’ of Japanese Karate? 42
• 4.7. Summary 45
• V. TAEKWONDO’S RELATIONSHIP TO KARATE 47
• 5.1. Karate in Okinawa 47
• 5.2. The Introduction of Karate to Japan (1922) 50
• 5.3. The Introduction of Karate to Korea (1944) 52
• 5.4. A New Name for the Art: The Dawn of Taekwondo (1955) 58
• 5.5. Discussion: Taekwondo and Nationalism 62
• 5.6. Summary 62
• VI. AN ANALYSIS OF THE TECHNICAL CONTENT OF EARLY TAEKWONDO LITERATURE 65
• 6.1. The Significance of Forms in Karate and Early Taekwondo 65
• 6.2. Funakoshi’s Kata 68
• 6.3. Forms in Early Taekwondo Literature 71
• 6.4. Technical and Historical Features of Early Taekwondo Literature 76
• 6.5. A Comparison of Stances and Kicking Techniques in Early Taekwondo and Karate Literature 81
• 6.6. Summary 92
• VII. THE INTRODUCTION OF A SPORTS CHARACTER TO TAEKWONDO -FULL-CONTACT SPARRING AND COMPETITIONS 94
• 7.1. Background: A Brief Overview of Early Full-contact Sparring Systems in Asian Martial Arts and the Rise of Taekwondo 95
• 7.2. The Power Struggle among Leaders Regarding Taekwono’s Direction 96
• 7.3. The Origin of the Protective Gear in Taekwondo: The Body Protector (Hogu) 98
• 7.4. The Target Area and Permitted Attacking Techniques in Taekwondo 103
• 7.5. The Competition Area 105
• 7.6. Changes of Rules and Regulations, and Improvement of Protective Gear 106
• 7.7. Improvement of Scoring Transparency 111
• 7.8. Safety Considerations in Taekwondo Rules in Comparison to other Martial Arts112
• 7.9.Summary 115
• VIII. THE EVOLUTION OF TAEKWONDO SPARRING TECHNIQUE 117
• 8.1. Kicking Techniques in Early Karate 117
• 8.2. Existing Kicking Techniques during the 1950s and 1960s 120
• 8.3. The Introduction of Full-contact Competitions in Taekwondo 122
• 1) Physics in full-contact sparring 123
• 2) The concept of point-scoring 124
• 8.4. The Gradual Shift from Power to Speed 125
• 1) The introduction of fast steps and short stances 125
• 2) The adjustment of the roundhouse-kick to full-contact sparring 125
• 3) The introduction of counter-attack-kicks 129
• 8.5. The Rise of Modern Taekwondo 131
• 1) General trends and tendencies in taekwondo sparring technique 131
• 2) The front-, side-, and push-kick 133
• 3) The axe-kick 134
• 4) The spinning-back-kick and hook-kick 135
• 5) The counter-attack-kicks 136
• 6) The use of the front leg: The cut- and fast-kick 137
• 7) The turn-kick 139
• 8) The double-kick 139
• 8.6. Summary .141
• IX. TAEKWONDO’S FAILURE TO TRANSFORM PHILOSOPHICALLY FROM A MARTIAL ART TO A SPORT 144
• 9.1. The Philosophical and Spiritual Aspects of Japanese Martial Arts 148
• 1) The self-defense and combat aspect 149
• 2) The spiritual and esoteric aspects 150
• 3) The health aspect 152
• 4) Science, education and ethics in modern budÞ 153
• 5) Summary of the philosophical aspects of Japanese martial arts 155
• 6) The adaptation of Japanese philosophical ideals to karate 155
• 9.2. Taekwondo’s Philosophical Foundations 157
• 1) Continuation and change of ideas and ideology 157
• 2) Education and ethics 160
• 9.3. The Origin of the Modern Sport Aspect in Martial Arts 162
• 1) The introduction of sport objectives, values and training methodologies to martial arts 163
• 2) The failure to introduce sport objectives and values to taekwondo 165
• 9.4. Summary 167
• X. THE DIVERSIFICATION OF TAEKWONDO’S TRAINING ACTIVITIES AND THE RESULTING INCONSISTENCIES 170
• 10.1. The Mismatched Concepts of Technique in Traditional Form Training and Sparring 171
• 1) Stances 172
• 2) The straight punch 173
• 3) Kicking techniques 176
• 10.2. Rethinking Taekwondo’s Training Methodologies 177
• 10.3. The Diversification of Taekwondo’s Training Activities 180
• 10.4. Summary 183
• XI. CONCLUSION 185
• 11.1. Discussion 185
• 1) Fact and fiction in Korean martial arts presentation 185
• 2) A reinterpretation of taekwondo’s evolution 186
• 3) The origin of taekwondo’s contemporary identity crisis 189
• 11.2. Summary of Findings 192
• 11.3. Concluding Remarks 193
• 11.4. Suggestions for the Improvement of Taekwondo 195
• 1) History 195
• 2) Philosophy 196
• 3) Organization, practical training methodology and activities 196
• BIBLIOGRAPHY 198
• APPENDIX A. Description of Interviews 207
• APPENDIX B. Chronological Facts of Historical Periods and Events 209
• APPENDIX C. List of Events Concerning Taekwondo’s Evolution 210
• APPENDIX D. Abbreviations Used in this Study 211
• APPENDIX E. Literature in Chronological Order 212
• Overview of Early Karate Publications 212
• Overview of Early Korean Martial Arts Literature 213
• Overview of Earliest Modern Sparring Taekwondo Literature 214
• Overview of Literature Critical about Taekwondo History 214
• APPENDIX F. List of Characters 215
• ENGLISH ABSTRACT 218
• KOREAN ABSTRACT 220