Studying The History Of Taekwondo

In the world of martial arts, Taekwondo has been one of the most famous and well loved of all modern fighting sports. However, before it became an official sport, it was once a lethal art that was used by the military to combat adversaries. According to the history of Taekwondo, the forefather of this art started even way before Korea had any civilization. It was only refined when war was rampant in the country.

This art was first developed during the Three Kingdoms Period of Korea in which the kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Sila were at war with each other for the union of Korea. The earliest form of this style was known as Subak in which all soldiers were to take up during their training. They had to learn hand strikes, kicking, wrestling, and submissions. From this ancient art, Taekkyeon, which is the forefather of Taekwondo was born.

Eventually, warriors began to modify Subak and formed a predecessor called Taekkyeon. In this combat style, more hand techniques and heavier foot moves were added in order to become a deadlier art. The warriors of Sila, who were known as the Hwarang, were the ones who modified this new art because they had unbelievably strong legs. The Hwarang made a school called the Hwarang Do in which they could teach princes martial arts, Confucian principles, Buddhist teachings, and military tactics.

In the year 1910, Korea was fiercely invaded by powerful Japanese forces and banned all Korean fighting styles as it is a form of resistance. The oppressors instead, taught the Korean citizens Japanese martial arts like Karate or Kendo. This was to brainwash the Koreans into adapting the lifestyle of Japan. Korean martial arts were only brought back into the scene when the Japanese left Korea in 1945.

At this time, many schools appeared and had many different teachings. There were some schools that based their systems solely on the traditional styles of Subak and Taekkyeon while others added their new found knowledge of Karate and Judo to their styles. There were even some schools that included Chinese martial arts into their systems.

Now Korean combat arts really burst into the scene during the middle of the Korean War in 1952. A huge fighting exhibit was held at that time to show the public how powerful the fighters of Korea really are. All of the fighters there were indeed amazing, performing acrobatic stunts and breaking concrete with their bare hands. It was only in 1955 that the government decided to unite all the martial arts to form one main fighting style called Taekwondo.

Throughout the years, many instructors migrated to other countries and built schools there. In the sixties era, this martial art gained a lot of popularity with foreigners. Because of this sudden fame, the World Taekwondo Federation was founded in 1973 in order to control schools all over the globe.

Now, it has become such a popular sport that competitions are being held internationally every year. In fact, this famous martial art was even added to the list of Olympic games in the year 2000. Just by looking at the history of Taekwondo, one can see the transformation of this art from way of survival to a healthy activity.

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Studying The History Of Taekwondo