Tae Kwon Do History

Taekwondo instructors often recount the history of their art in rather vague terms. Describing it as a combination of
Tae Kyon kicks and Karate strikes, they still refer to Taekwondo as a martial art that is "thousands of years old." While
the supposed antiquity of the art is quite useful in squelching innovation by the lower ranks, it is also quite false.
Taekwondo is actually only about 40 years old, and for a good portion of that time, it was simply an imitation of
Shotokan karate. The youth of Taekwondo as we know it can be demonstrated through a discussion of Korean history
since its occupation by Korea in 1905.

For better or worse, twentieth century Korean martial artists have been greatly influenced by the Japanese. By 1900,
Koreans had lost interest in their native martial arts but after the Japanese occupation of Korea, Japanese educational
curricula was imposed on all Korean schools. This meant that all Korean boys were taught the sportive forms of Judo
and Kendo while in school.

However, this training came to an abrupt end in 1909, when the Japanese banned the practice of any fighting arts in
Korea.

The Japanese ban on the martial arts was not able to suppress their practice completely. Yeon Hee Park believes the
ban even "sparked a renewed growth of Subak" in the buddhist temples, a traditional place of refuge for out-of-favor
warriors, both in Korea and Japan. It was in 1906 that Duk Ki Song, at the age of thirteen, began learning Tae Kyon
from Hue Lim. Hong Hi Choi writes that Tae Kyon was also "secretly practiced" and "passed on to a handful of
students" by men like Han Il Dong and Duk Ki Song. It was under Han Il Dong in the 1930s that Choi, the future "Father
of Taekwondo," began his martial arts instruction (Dong was Choi's calligraphy instructor, and began teaching Tae
Kyon to Choi because the youth was so frail).

Another student of the outlawed arts was Hwang Kee, the future founder of Tang Soo Do. Kee "mastered" Tae Kyon
and Soo Bak Do in 1936 (at the age of 22). He then travelled to Northern China where he studied the "T'ang method,"
and from that time until 1945, he worked to combine the two styles.

The ban on the martial arts was obviously not entirely effective, and eventually the Japanese lifted the ban to fulfill
military requirements during World War II. Judo and Juken-jutsu (bayonet art) began to be taught in 1941, and by 1943
Karate and Kung-fu were also officially introduced to Koreans. All of these arts enjoyed widespread popularity.

Hong Hi Choi, the future "father of Taekwondo," was meanwhile busy learning Shotokan Karate. To further his
education, he was sent to Kyotoo in 1937, where he met Mr. Kim, a Korean instructor of Shotokan Karate. After two
years of "concentrated training," Choi gained his 1st Dan. He then went on to the University of Tokyo where he
continued his training and gained his 2nd Dan, after which he taught Shotokan Karate at the Tokyo YMCA. When the
Second World War began, Choi was "forced to enlist in the Japanese army."

After Korea's liberation in 1945, the native arts of Tae Kyon and Subak resurfaced. Among the other styles that
surfaced at this time were Bang Soo Do, Kong Soo Do ("Way of the Empty Hand"), Kwon Bop, Tae Soo Do ("Way of
the Foot and Hand"), and Tang Soo Do ("Way of the Tang Hand").

The Japanese occupation of Korea had obviously renewed Korean interest in the martial arts, and several kwans
("schools") quickly opened in Seoul. The first to open was the Chung Do Kwan (a.k.a. Chong Do Kwan, "Gym of the
Blue Wave"), which was founded by Won Kook Lee in 1945 in Yong Chun, Seoul. The Moo Duk Kwan was founded
later that year by Hwang Kee, who taught an art he eventually named Tang Soo Do ("Way of the Chinese Hand"). The
third school was the Yun Moo Kwan, founded by Sup Chun Sang (a.k.a. Sup Jun Sang). The Chang Moo Kwan was
founded by Yun Pyung (a.k.a. In Yoon Byung) at a YMCA in 1946, and was followed quickly by the Chi Do Kwan,
founded by Yon Kue Pyang.

Both native arts and Japanese forms gained in popularity. The Korean Yudo Association was formed in September of
1945 and early in 1946, Tae Kyon instructors began teaching the troops in Kwang Ju. In 1946-47, Hong Hi Choi (now
1st Lt. of the Korean Army's 2nd Infantry Regt.) taught martial arts to both Koreans and Americans stationed at
Tae-Jon.

Following his release from prison and commission in the Korean Army, Hong Hi Choi rapidly rose through the ranks,
possibly aided by his martial arts experience. In 1948, Maj. Choi became the martial arts instructor for the American
Military Police School in Seoul and in 1949, Col. Choi visited the Ft. Riley Ground General School in Kansas, where he
gave a public demonstration of Korean karate.

The Korean arts received increased attention with the beginning of the Korean War. Pres. Syngman Rhee watched a
thirty minute demonstration by Korean masters in 1952 and was so impressed with Tae Hi Nam's breaking
demonstration (he broke 13 roofing tiles), that he questioned Hong Hi Choi about the arts. Pres. Rhee then ordered all
soldiers to receive training in the art. Various units distinguished themselves, including the Korean 29th Infantry
Division (formed on Che Ju Island in 1953), which was responsible for all Tae Kyon training in the Korean Army, and
the Black Tigers, an elite unit involved in espionage missions behind enemy lines (they also occassionally performed
assassinations).

After the war, three more kwans appeared. In 1953-1954, Gae Byang Yun founded the Ji Do Kwan (a.k.a. Jee Do
Kwan), Byung Chik Ro founded the Song Moo Kwan (a.k.a. Sang Moo Kwan), and Hong Hi Choi founded the Oh Do
Kwan ("Gym of My Way") with the help of Tae Hi Nam.

Unification of the Korean arts was slow. The first step came when a conference of masters assembled on Apr. 11,
1955, to organize the Korean arts and merge the kwan. The name chosen for this unified art was Tae Soo Do,
although this was changed in 1957 to "Taekwon-Do," a name suggested by Hong Hi Choi for its similarity to Tae Kyon.
The Korean Taekwon-do Association (KTA) was founded on Sept. 14, 1961, with Hong Hi Choi as the President, but
the Chi Do Kwan Association seceded. The Chung Do Kwan, "the largest civilian gym in Korea," also remained aloof
and developed the Korean Soo Bahk Do Association into a rival of the KTA. The Korean government stepped into the
fray in 1962 when it recognized all black belts certified by the KTA, causing many martial artists to return to that
organization.

Korea quickly began to export its new martial art under the direction of Maj. Gen. Choi. In 1959, Choi toured the Far
East with his top nineteen black belts. In that same year, he published his first work on Taekwondo, entitled
Taekwon-Do Guidelines. In 1962, South Vietnamese troops requested to be taught Taekwondo, so Tae Hi Nam and
three other instructors were sent from the Oh Do Kwan to teach fifty soldiers from various branches of the
Vietnamese Armed Forces. Two instructors returned to Korea after six months, but Nam and Seung Kyu Kim stayed a
full year, returning on Dec. 24, 1963. Taekwondo entered Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong in 1962-1963 and in 1964,
Chong Lee introduced Taekwondo to Canada. In 1965, Choi led a goodwill Taekwondo mission to West Germany,
Italy, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Singapore and in 1966, Park Jong Soo introduced Taekwondo to
the Netherlands. By 1972, Taekwondo had been exported to fifty foreign nations.

Unfortunately, Choi's leadership of the KTA was lost in 1966. A goodwill trip to North Korea by a Taekwondo
demonstration team caused Choi "to fall from grace in the eyes of the South Korean government." He resigned as the
President of the KTA in 1966 and founded the International Taekwon-do Federation (ITF) on Mar. 22. He then moved
the ITF headquarters to Canada.

Taekwondo slowly made its way into the United States. In 1946- 1947, Hong Hi Choi taught martial arts to both
Koreans and Americans stationed at Tae-Jon. In 1952, Tae Hi Nam was stationed in Ft. Benning, Georgia, and
received a lot of publicity when he demonstrated before military troops and the public. In 1959, Maj. Gen. Choi attended
a "modern weapon familiarization course" in Texas, and used his extra time to visit several Taekwondo schools there,
including Jhoon Rhee's. In June, 1963, Choi hosted a demonstration at the U.N. Headquarters in New York City and
four years later, on Nov. 26, 1967, the U.S. Taekwon-do Association was formed. The USTA was superseded in 1974
by the U.S. Taekwon-do Federation (USTF).[] Korean & American Karate:

Until the 1960s, Taekwondo was essentially the same as Shotokan Karate. "The modern karate of Korea," according
to Sihak Henry Cho, "with very little influence from tae kyun, was born with the turn of the 20th century when it was
imported directly from China and also from Okinawa through Japan." "Tae-kwon do," he claimed, "is identical to
Japanese karate.... Some of the Korean public still use the 'karate' pronunciation in conversation." This should not
come as a surprise. By the time of the Japanese occupation, Koreans had lost interest in the martial arts. There were
few native martial artists left and since they were forced to teach in secret after 1909, they had to restrict the number
of students they could accept. At the same time, many Koreans probably went to Japan for an education (like Hong Hi
Choi) and returned with some knowledge of either Judo or Shotokan Karate. Thus, by the end of the occupation,
Korean martial arts were known by a minority while the Japanese arts were diffused throughout the populace, and
especially among those of the upper classes who had had a Japanese education.

When karate was first introduced into the United States, few people noticed a distinction between Japanese and
Korean karate. As a result, Korean stylists were often instrumental in the introduction of karate to the United States.
For example, Ernest Lieb, USAF, studied karate under Chun Il Sup while stationed in Korea and became the first
karate chairman of the AAU and later the President of the American Karate Association. Atlee Chittim is another
example. In 1948, he returned from Korea where he had studied Taekwondo, and became affiliated with the USKA. He
gave limited instruction at various YMCA's in San Antonio, Texas, and in 1955, he began teaching at San Antonio
College, as a brown belt. Some say it was Chittim who sponsored Jhoon Rhee's entry into the United States in 1956.
In any event, it was Rhee who later promoted Chittim to black belt. A third example is Allen Steen, karate pioneer in the
American Southwest, who started karate under Jhoon Rhee in 1959 at the University of Texas. He earned his black
belt in 1962, and in 1963, he promoted his first black belt. In 1966, he was a member of the victorious U.S. National
Karate Team in Hawaii. That same year, he won the International Karate Championships in Long Beach, beating
Chuck Norris and Joe Lewis.

In 1956, Jhoon Rhee arrived in Texas for military training by the USAF While there, he taught what was possibly the
first American class in Taekwondo. He was called back almost immediately to complete a year of active duty in the
Korean Army, but he then returned to Texas in late 1957 to attend San Marcos Southwest Texas State College. Rhee
explains,

"Well, at that time in San Marcos -- it was a very small city -- nobody ever really heard of karate. But when I
demonstrated tae kwon do as a freshman, after that everybody came to my dorm room and they wanted to start a
club. And so that's how it all started. Pretty soon, there were about 40 or 50 in the club."

Rhee later transferred to the University of Texas at Austin and taught in an even larger club. Then in 1962, he moved to
Washington, D.C. to become a professional instructor. He writes,

"I went to Washington to teach for somebody else. They only had six or seven students. I taught for three or four days
and then I had to get out because they wouldn't pay me, couldn't pay me. So 28 days after I arrived (in Washington), I
opened my studio. ... I first ran advertisements in Washington newspapers. I advertised in each paper for an open
house demonstration. At the open house, we had about 135 people packed into a small room. And right after the
demonstration, I think I had 30 students registered. Some people paid right there and more people paid within three
days. I think my demonstrations really attracted a lot of people instantly. I don't want to blow my own horn, but I had
very unique specialities. I am only five foot five and I jumped about eight feet in the air and broke three boards. ... At that
time, I put all belt levels in one class. Now we have all separate classes. I think now the drop-out is less because we
make the lessons more interesting, more professional. Now we can give them a more personalized attention. They
can really learn, and that I think contributed a great deal."

Jhoon Rhee has remained a major contributor to American karate. In 1966, he hosted his First National Karate
Championships in Washington, D.C. (these competitions lasted until 1970). He also hosted publicity events such as
giving free instruction in Taekwondo to Congressmen in 1973, and having his students march in Washington
Fourth-of-July parades. It was Jhoon Rhee who first introduced padded sparring gear in the early 1970s. He still
teaches at his Washington dojang.

In 1961, Sihak Henry Cho opened what is believed to be the first permanent commercial Taekwondo school in the
U.S.. It was located on Twenty-seventh Street in New York City and had about four dozen people working out at it. He
later opened a larger school on Twenty-third Street in Manhattan. Cho was still teaching in 1983. Like Rhee, he
originally came to the U.S. as a student (he was working on his M.B.A.). He writes,

"My purpose was to go back home actually (after my education), but on the way home, I came to New York mainly for
sightseeing. At that time, in the late 50s, early 60s, it wasn't that easy for a Korean to come to the United States. In
New York right now, we have over 100,000 Koreans, mostly they are immigrants. But at that time (1961), we had
around 100, or even less than 100, and they were mainly students. It was very hard to get a visa to come to the U.S.
So I figured, since it was so hard to come over here, why not look around and make sure I don't miss anything? It
ended up, instead of going back home, I ended up staying here."

While in New York, Cho visited a Judo school:

"The people who were there were amazed to see the kicks and the different things they had never seen before. The
only thing that we had in New York, like the rest of the States, of course was Judo. That was popular at the time."

Cho decided to stay and became one of the early pioneers of American Taekwondo.

The Koreans began to gain a reputation in the 1960s as kicking specialists. It was at this time that a string of talented
Korean kickers arrived in the U.S. and Canada: Jhoon Rhee (1958), Richard Chun (1962), Chong Lee (1964), and Hee
Il Cho (1969).

Changes in the Art:

Americans contributed to changes in both Karate and Taekwondo, primarily as a result of American tournament
experience. In the early 1960s, fighters generally fought from a stationary position, using 80% hand techniques and
20% foot techniques. Kicks were usually stomach level or lower, and few fighters would kick off their lead leg. The
standard kicks were front kicks or roundhouse kicks off the back leg. The counter reverse punch and the step-through
lunge punch were the standard hand techniques. Open tournament competitors in the same period (1962-1964) were
better kickers, but their hand techniques were primitive (Overhead Knife-hand strike, etc.) and they also fought from a
stationary stance, with no footwork. Countertechniques and combinations were unknown. Kicks included roundhouses
off both lead and trailing leg and spinning back kicks. Most of these kicks came from the Southwest (possibly due to
Jhoon Rhee's influence there), as did kicks to the head and jumping side kicks. East Coast fighters introduced the
jumping double front kick, and used the lead leg roundhouse more than other early stylists. West Coast fighters stuck
to the older Japanese styles. In 1965, Mike Stone was released from the Army and won nine consecutive tournaments
without being defeated, primarily using a lead leg roundhouse and double ridgehands.

In the late 1960s, Chuck Norris became a champion by combining Korean kicks (including lead leg side kick) with
Japanese hand techniques. He was also the first fighter to successfully introduce combination techniques. Joe Lewis
also came to fame at this time by the use of the lead leg side kick and the crossing back kick, demonstrating the
effectiveness of single technique specialization. Lewis also proved the effectiveness of a lead punch. As a result, lead
techniques began to gain recognition, although they would not become widely popular until the 1970s. Footwork in this
period became the standard back and forward movement still prevalent today. Later on, point fighters would establish
the basis of American Kickboxing. After the WTF concentrated on the sport form of Taekwondo, Korean instructors
began emphasizing competition rather than self-defense. As an example, touch blocks have long since replaced
formal blocks in sparring.

As a sport, Taekwondo progressed quite slowly. In 1962, Tae Kwon Do was included as one of the official events in
the 43rd Annual National Athletic Meet. In May, 1973, the first biennial World Tae Kwon Do Championships were held
in Seoul, with more than thirty countries participating. Taekwondo's big break came when the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) recognized and admitted the WTF in July, 1980. In May 1982, Taekwondo was named an official
Demonstration Sport for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Modern Problems:

The Taekwondo unity that Choi had achieved early in the 1960s soon disintegrated. Taekwondo splintered when the
KTA was renamed the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), on May 28, 1973. Young-wun Kim became the President,
and he dissolved the WTF's connection with Choi's ITF. The ITF continued using the forms developed by Gen. Choi
while the WTF began using the Palgue forms, although the WTF later abandoned the Palgues as well, and focussed
on the Tae-guek forms. The WTF also began placing more emphasis on the sport applications of Taekwondo. In 1977,
the kwan names were replaced by serial numbers. The kwans, in order from 1st kwan to 9th kwan, are:
Songmookwan, Hanmookwan, Changmookwan, Moodukkwan, Odokwan, Kangdukwan, Jungdokwan, Jidokwan, and
Chungdokwan.

Appendix B: Ancient Korean Martial Arts:

Although Taekwondo is a modern art, many Korean practitioners claim that the art began in the Koguryo dynasty (c. 37
B.C.). They claim that various Koguryo dynasty royal tombs contain murals of men practicing Taekwondo.
Interpretation of these postures, which seems to be mere wishful thinking, apparently began with Tatashi Saito's
"Study of Culture in Ancient Korea." Saito said that:

"The painting either shows us that the person buried in the tomb practiced Taekwondo while he was alive or it tells us
that people practiced it, along with dancing and singing, for the purpose of consoling the dead."

None of the Koguryo tomb murals can be definitively identified as the practice of a kicking & striking art. The murals on
the ceiling of the Muyong-chong are said to show "two men practicing a sort of Taekwondo." They actually show two
men -- both with goatee, moustache and long hair -- wearing loin cloths. They are at least four feet apart (their
outstretched hands are a foot away from each other). The positions could be stretching, dancing, or possibly wrestling
Mongolian style, but they certainly do not resemble modern Taekwondo stances or techniques.

The ceiling of Sambo-chong shows a man in deep horse stance who appears to be pushing the walls apart. The WTF
claims that this is "Poomse practicing of Taekwondo," something that would be hard to determine from a single figure,
and certainly not the simplest explanation of the position. Similarly, the paintings on the ceiling of Kakchu-chong shows
two men either dancing or Mongolian wrestling (the figures date from the age of San-Sang, the tenth King of Koguryo),
but Dr. Lee Sun Kun (President of Kyung Puk University) tries to say that the mural "shows sparring of Soo Bak."

The Hwarang fighting order of the Silla dynasty, also known as the Flower Knights, were famous for their practice of
the martial arts under the name of Hwarang-Do. According to the WTF, "Many scattered evidences described in the
Samguk Yusa, two oldest documents of Korea history show that Hwarang also practiced Taekwondo in their basic
training of the body."[] The Koreans also cite as evidence the two Buddhist images inscribed on the Keumkang Ginat
Tower at the Sokkuram cave in Pulkuk-Sa Temple, Kyungju. These Silla dynasty (c751 A.D.) stone relief carvings
show the warrior "Kumgang Yuksa" posing fiercely with one hand stretched low and the other held near the ear in a
fist. Although the Koreans often call this position a Taekwondo fighting stance, the pose bears a closer resemblance to
the typical temple guardians found in Japan and elsewhere. In modern Taekwondo, these figures are the inspiration for
the double blocks used in the Keumgang form.

The earliest influence on the Korean martial arts came from China. According to legend, the Bodhiharma came to
China in 520 A.D. and taught Kung-fu at the Shaolin monastery for nine years. Sometime after this, a form of Chinese
hand and foot fighting called Kwon Bop (based on Shaolin Kung-fu) entered Korea. During China's Sung and Ming
dynasties, some believe that nei-chia (internal kung-fu) and wai-chia (external kung-fu) entered Korea.

During the Koryo Dynasty (835-1392 A.D.), Tae Kyon was renamed Subak. Subak probably peaked in popularity
between 1147 and 1170, in the reign of King Uijong. According to Draeger, Kwonpup (aka. Kwon Bop) remained the
more popular of the two arts. There were two schools of Kwonpup, one defensive and the other a more aggressive
school featuring jumping attacks and evasive movement.

Some claim that envoys from Okinawa learned Subak during the Yi Dynasty (1392-1907) and took it home, mainly
because The Historical Record of Choson gives evidence of trade between Choson (ancient name for Korea) and the
Ryukyu islands. There is also some speculation that people of Chung-chong and those of Cholla provinces once
gathered at the village of Chakji to compete in Subak. The military manual Muye Dobo Tongji (Record Book of Military
Arts was published (written by Lee Duk Moo, c1790) by King Chongjo, and gave notice to Subak. Illustrations show
techniques that are somewhat Chinese in nature: "These techniques -- perhaps of Chinese origin, perhaps not --
definitely took on their own flavor and interpretation in the hands of the clever Koreans." The illustrations show men
without facial hair, wearing baggy pants, sashes, and caps. They do seem to be executing kicks and blocks. The
practice of Subak eventually declined due to lack of attention at the royal court.

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WTF Chronology

Scripted by .
Copyright © 1999 [Scotts TKD]. All rights reserved.
Revised: August 26, 1999.