Taekwon-Do History + Information

What is Taekwon-Do?

Taekwon-Do is a modern, hard style Korean martial art whose name means foot-hand- way. The name was coined in 1955 by General Choi Hong Hi, who founded the style and is now grand master and president of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF). Taekwon -Do is a refinement of many centuries of martial arts, particularly Japanese and Korean styles. Techniques include a wide array of foot, hand, elbow, and knee strikes, as well as throws and joint locks. Taekwon- Do is distinguished from other arts largely by its wide arsenal of spectacular and effective kicking techniques. Much training time is devoted to learning the fast and powerful kicks that are possible through biomechanically correct body positioning. This allows the practitioner to train safely for many years, developing strength, balance, and flexibility.

THE TENETS OF TAEKWON-DO
Taekwon-Do aims to achieve

Courtesy (Ye Ui)
Integrity (Yom Chi)
Perseverance (In Nae)
Self-Control (Guk Gi)
Indomitable Spirit (Baekjul Boolgool)

EXPLANATION OF TENETS
Needless to say, the success or failure of Taekwon-Do training depends largely on how one observes and implements the tenets of Taekwon-Do which should serve as a guide for all serious students of the art.

COURTESY (Ye Ui)
It can be said that courtesy is an unwritten regulation prescribed by ancient teachers of philosophy as a means to enlighten human beings while maintaining a harmonious society. It can be further be as an ultimate criterion required of a mortal.

Taekwon-Do students should attempt to practice the following elements of courtesy to build up their noble character and to conduct the training in an orderly manner as well.
1) To promote the spirit of mutual concessions
2) To be ashamed of one's vices, contempting those of others
3) To be polite to one another
4) To encourage the sense of justice and humanity
5) To distinguish instructor from student, senior from junior, and elder from younger
6) To behave oneself according to etiquette
7) To respect others' possessions
8) To handle matters with fairness and sincerity
9) To refrain from giving or accepting a gift when in doubt

INTEGRITY (Yom Chi)
In Taekwon-Do, the word integrity assumes a looser definition than the one usually presented in Webster's dictionary. One must be able to define right and wrong and have a conscience, if wrong, to feel guilt. Listed are some examples where integrity is lacking:
1) The instructor who misrepresents himself and his art by presenting improper techniques to his students because of a lack of knowledge or apathy.
2) The student who misrepresents himself by "fixing" breaking materials before demonstrations.
3) The instructor who camouflages bad technique with luxurious training halls and false flattery to his students.
4) The student who requests ranks from an instructor, or attempts to purchase it.
5) The student who gains rank for ego purposes or the feeling of power.
6) The instructor who teaches and promotes his art for materialistic gains.
7) The students whose actions do not live up to his words.
8) The student who feels ashamed to seek opinions from his juniors.

PERSEVERANCE (In Nae)
There is an old Oriental saying, "Patience leads to virtue or merit, One can make a peaceful home by being patient for 100 times." Certainly happiness and prosperity are most likely brought to the patient person. To achieve something, whether it is a higher degree or the perfection or a technique, one must set his goal, then constantly persevere. Robert Bruce learned his lesson of perseverance from the persistent efforts of a lowly spider. It was this perseverance and tenacity that finally enabled him to free Scotland in the fourteenth century. One of the most important secrets in becoming a leader of Taekwon-Do is to overcome every difficulty by perseverance. Confucius said, "one who is impatient in trivial matters can seldom achieve success in matters of great importance."

SELF CONTROL (Guk Gi)
This tenet is extremely important inside and outside the dojang, whether conducting oneself in free sparring or in one's personal affairs. A loss of self-control in free sparring can prove disastrous to both student and opponent. An inability to live and work within one's capability or sphere is also a lack of self-control.

According to Lao-Tzu "the term of stronger is the person who wins over oneself rather than someone else."

INDOMITABLE SPIRIT (Baekjool Boolgool)
"Here lie 300, who did their duty," a simple epitaph for one of the greatest acts of courage known to mankind. Although facing the superior forces of Xerxes, Leonidas and his 300 Spartans at Thermoplylae showed the world the meaning of indomitable spirit. It is shown when a courageous person and his principles are pitted against overwhelming odds.

A serious student of Taekwon-Do will at all times be modest and honest. If confronted with injustice, he will deal with the belligerent without any fear or hesitation at all, with indomitable spirit, regardless of whosoever and however many the number may be.

Confucius declared," It is an act of cowardice to fail to speak out against injustice." As history has proven, those who have pursued their dreams earnestly and strenuously with indomitable spirit have never failed to achieve their goals.

WHEN AND WHERE DID TAEKWON-DO BEGIN?
A combination of circumstances made it possible for me to originate and develop Taekwon-Do. In addition to my prior knowledge of Taek Kyon, I had an opportunity to learn Karate in Japan during the unhappy thirty-six years when my native land was occupied by the Japanese. Soon after Korea was liberated in 1945, I was placed in a privileged position as a founding member of the newly formed South Korean Armed Forces.

The former provided me with a definite sense of creation, and the latter gave me the power to disseminate Taekwon-Do throughout the entire armed forces, despite furious opposition.

The emergence of Taekwon-Do as an international martial art in a relatively short period of time was due to a variety of factors. The evils of contemporary society (moral corruption, materialism, selfishness, etc.) had created a spiritual vacuum. Taekwon-Do was able to compensate for the prevailing sense of emptiness, distrust, decadence and lack of confidence.

In addition, these were violent times, when people felt the need for a means of protecting themselves, and the superiority of Taekwon-Do technique came to be widely recognized. My social stature, the advantage of being Taekwon-Do's founder and my God-given health also contributed to the rapid growth of Taekwon-Do all over the world.

My involvement with the martial arts did much to supplement the health that God gave me. I had been born frail and weak and was encouraged to learn Taek Kyon at the age of fifteen by my teacher of calligraphy. In 1938, a few days before I was due to leave Korea to study in Japan I was involved in an unexpected incident that would have made it difficult to return home without risk of reprisals.

I resolved to become a black belt holder in Karate while I was in Japan. The skills I required were, I felt, sufficient protection against those who might seek to do me harm. Not only was I able to return to Korea, but I subsequently initiated the national liberation movement known as the Pyongyang Student Soldier's Incident. Like so many patriots in the long course of human history, my actions aroused the wrath of those in positions of power. I was imprisoned for a time in a Japanese army jail. In January of 1946, I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the fledgling Republic of Korea army and posted to the 4th infantry regiment in Kwangju, Cholla Namdo Province as a company commander.

I began to teach Karate to my soldiers as a means of physical and mental training. It was then that I realized that we needed to develop our own national martial art, superior in both spirit and technique to Japanese Karate. I strongly believed that teaching it throughout the country would enable me to fulfill the pledge I had made to three of my comrades, who had shared my imprisonment by the Japanese.

"The reason that our people suffer in this way at the hands of the Japanese," I had said, "is that our ancestors failed to rule wisely. They exploited the people and, in the end, lost the country to foreign domination. If we ever regain our freedom and independence, let us not become the rulers of the people. Instead, let us dedicate ourselves to advising those who rule."

It was with this ambition in mind that I began to develop new techniques, systematically, from March of that same year. By the end of 1954 I had nearly completed the foundation of a new martial art for Korea, and on April 11, 1955, it was given the name "Taekwon-Do".

On the spiritual level, Taekwon-Do is derived from the traditional, ethical and moral principles of the orient and, of course, from my personal philosophy.

Even though I am only five feet tall, I pride myself on having lived in strict accordance with my moral convictions. I have tried to fight on the side of justice without fear of any kind. I believe that this was possible for me only because of the formidable power and indomitable spirit instilled by Taekwon-Do.

The physical techniques of Taekwon-Do are based on the principles of modern science, in particular, Newtonian physics which teaches us how to generate maximum power. Military tactics of attack and defence have also been incorporated.

I wish to make it clear that although Karate and Taek Kyon were used as references in the course of my study, the fundamental theories and principles of Taekwon-Do are totally different from those of any other martial art in the world.

In March of 1959, I led the military Taekwon-Do demonstration team on a tour abroad. We visited South Vietnam and Taiwan. It was the first such visit in the history of Korea. On this occasion, I renewed my resolution to leave my personal legacy to the world, in the form of Taekwon-Do, and I formulated the following basic ideals for the Taekwon-Do practitioners:

	By developing an upright mind and a strong body, we will acquire the
	self-confidence to stand on the side of justice at all times;
	We shall unite with all men in a common brotherhood, without regard to
	religion, race, national or ideological boundaries;
	We shall dedicate ourselves to building a peaceful human society in which
	justice, morality, trust and humanism prevail;

I also resolved to dedicate myself to the world-wide propagation of Taekwon-Do, in the sincere hope that it would provide the means by which the unification of the divided halves of my fatherland would become possible.

My study of Taekwon-Do proceeded in two parts, spiritual discipline and technical perfection. Because the human spirit belongs to the realm of metaphysics, what I mean by spiritual discipline is not easy to describe. One cannot touch, see or hear the spirit of man, It is wider and deeper than anything we can perceive. In this respect, I, myself, am only another student participating in a continuing and never-ending learning process.

I have come to define the spiritual dimensions of Taekwon-Do as fusing oneself with the ideals of Taekwon-Do and attaining and understanding the full meaning of each of the Taekwon-Do patterns. If we consider ourselves as one with Taekwon-Do, we will respect it as we respect our own bodies and Taekwon-Do will never be used in a dishonorable way.

The names of the patterns are derived from the most illustrious people to have been produced by nearly five thousand years of Korean history. A proper understanding of the patterns leads, inevitably to the realization that Taekwon-Do is a martial art to be used only for self-defence and only in the cause of justice.

The history of Korea contains not a single sample of its military forces being employed for the invasion of its neighbors or for any other purpose except national defence.

In the technical area, I created a wide variety of techniques that can be used in almost any situation. They are based on the following principles:

	all movement should be designed to produce maximum power in accordance
	with scientific formulas and the principle of kinetic energy;
	the principles behind the techniques should be so clear that even those
	ignorant to Taekwon-Do will be able to distinguish correct from incorrect
	movement;
	the distance and angle of each movement should be exactly defined in order to
	achieve more efficient attack and defence;
	the purpose and method of each movement should be clear and simple, in order
	to facilitate the teaching and learning process;
	rational teaching methods should be developed so that the benefits of
	Taekwon-Do can be enjoyed by everyone, young and old, men and women;
	correct breathing methods should be devised, enhancing t he speed of each
	movement and reducing fatigue;
	attack should be possible against any vital spot on the body and it should be
	possible to defend against all varieties of attack;
	each attacking tool should be clearly defined and soundly based on the
	structure of the human body;
	each movement should be easy to execute, enabling the student to enjoy
	Taekwon-Do as a sport and recreation;
	special consideration should be paid to promoting good health and preventing
	injuries;
	each movement should be harmonious and rhythmical so that Taekwon-Do is
	aesthetically pleasing;
	each movement in a pattern must express the personality and spiritual
	character of the person it is named after.

Adherence to these basic principles is what makes Taekwon-Do a martial art, an aesthetic art, a science and sport.

Reproduced from "Taekwon-Do" (The Korean Art of Self Defense) also known as The Condensed Encyclopedia.
Fifth Edition 1999, All rights reserved
Copyright 1988, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1999 General Choi, Hong Hi.

Student Oath

I shall observe the tenets of Taekwon-Do                                            

I shall respect the instructor and seniors

I shall never misuse Taekwon--Do

I shall be a champion of freedom and justice

I shall build a more peaceful world