Tae kwon do, also known as taekwon-do (Korean: 태권도; [t̪ʰɛ.kɈwʌ̹n.d̪o] ⓘ), is a fighting sport and martial art that combines punching and kicking skills. Taekwondo literally translates as "kicking," "punching," and "the art or way of."[5] There are instances when weapons are used.
Practitioners of taekwondo don a uniform called a dobok. It is a fighting sport that was created in the 1940s and 1950s by Korean martial artists who had previously trained in Chinese martial arts, Korean martial arts unique to the country, and martial arts styles including taekkyon, subak, and gwonbeop.[6][7]
Early influences
The three rival Korean Kingdoms of Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje combined their unarmed combat techniques to create the earliest forms of Korean martial arts.[10] Among these methods, ssireum, subak, and taekkyon were the most often used.[11]
During the late Joseon dynasty, Korean martial arts declined. Under the influence of Korean Confucianism, martial skills were banned and academic pursuits were promoted, resulting in a highly centralized society.[12][Needs a page] Martial arts were only permitted for official military applications. Nonetheless, taekkyon continued to be taught as the official military martial art during the Joseon and continued to exist into the 19th century as a folk pastime at the May-Dano festival.[10]
appearance of different kwans
Soon after the Japanese occupation ended in 1945 and World War II came to an end, new martial arts schools known as kwans opened in Seoul. Korean martial artists with backgrounds in Chinese and Japanese martial arts founded these schools[13]. Taekkyon was one of the indigenous arts that was being neglected at the time because of years of forced Japanization by the Japanese colonial administration.[Reference required]
The early taekwondo pioneers, the nine original kwans, were exposed to Japanese martial arts, such as judo, kendo, and karate, while other students were exposed to Chinese and Manchurian martial arts as well as the native Korean martial art of taekkyon.[7][15][16][17]
Talks about how Taekwondo has influenced history
An attempt to taekwondo standardize
Choi Hong-hi and Nam Tae-hi, officers in the South Korean Army from the 29th Infantry Division, performed a martial arts display for South Korean President Syngman Rhee in 1952. He incorrectly identified the demonstrated technique as taekkyon[20][page needed][21][22] and advocated for the army to adopt martial arts under a unified framework. The chiefs of the kwans started seriously debating the prospect of unifying the Korean martial arts in 1955. Prior to that, Korean karate was referred to as "Tang Soo Do," utilizing the Korean hanja pronunciation of the Japanese character, 唐手道. A single style of Korean martial arts was also referred to as "Tae Soo Do" (跆쉋道). The hanja characters 鷆 tae, which means "to stomp, trample," 手 su, which means "hand,"
emergence of several styles
To aid in the unification of Korean martial arts, the Korea Tang Soo Do Association (later known as the Korea Taekwondo Association, or KTA) was founded in 1959. Choi desired for the Chan Hon-style of taekwondo to become the standard for all other KTA member kwans. This was opposed, though, by the other kwans, who desired the creation of a single, cohesive style drawing on the contributions of all kwans in order to preserve and carry forward the heritage and traits of all kwans, not just one.
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