Taekwondo General Information.
Taekwondo is a martial art originating in Korea. Having become the most widely practiced martial art in the world, it is also the national sport of Korea, and an Olympic sport.
In Korean the word Taekwondo can be loosly translated into “the way with feet and fists”. Tea means “foot” Kwon means “fist” and Do means “way”.
As with many other martial arts Taekwondo is a combination of combat techniques, self defence, exercise and philosophy.
The oldest ancestor of taekwondo is an amalgamation of unarmed combat styles developed by three rival kingdoms, these kingdoms were Goguryeo, Silla and Beakje.
As the kingsdom of Goguryeo grew in power the neighbouring Silla dynasty became much weaker, and an effort was made to develop an army of fierce and devoed worriors. The Silla had a regular army but its training was far less advanced than those of its rivals, and its soldiers were generally poorer in skill than the soldiers of Goguryeo.
The kingdom of Silla selected and trained the new band of warriors and these were called “Hwarang–do. The training included martial arts, philosophy, sword techniques, archery, military tactics and academic teaching. The Hwarang-do was later used to form the tennents or commandments that all Taekwondo students should live by.
Later in Koreas rich history under the rule of the Chosun Dynasty martial arts were viewed as an activity undertaken by peasant folk, and were banned from being practiced.
The demise of Korean martial arts were not helped when Japan invaded and took control of the country. The Japanese forced the people of Korea to adopt Japanese names and banished the practicing of Korean culture, including banishing the use of the Korean language.
During the Japanese occupation of Korea, some Koreans kept practicing the native martial arts in secrete training camps, some Koreans who were able to attend Japanese universitys were exposed to Okinawan and Japanese martial arts, some even receiving black belt status under Gichin Funakoshi, at the same time other native Koreans in Manchuria were being taught Chinease martial arts.
By 1945 when the Korean peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonisation, many martial arts schools in Korea were reformed and developed under various names such as Tang Soo Do reflecting the Chinease and Japanese influence.
Modern Taekwondo.
By the end of the Korean war nine martial arts schools (known as “Kwan”) had formed, and South Korean President Syngman Rhee decreed that they should all be unified under a single system and name. This is when the name Taekwondo was adopted. The name Taekwondo came from General Choi Hong Hi who was heavily involved in the success of Taekwondo by adopting it as the training system for all members of the Korean army and police forces.
Following Taekwondos official creation on 11th April 1955 the Korean Taekwondo Assosiation (KTA) was founded in 1959 to facilitate the unifaication of the nine “kwans”. The unification efforts took several years to take effect and it was not until General Choi became leader that the unification became complete.
The new leader general Choi then fell out of favour with the South Koreans after a good will trip to North Korea, this led to the separation of Choi from the KTA to form the International Taekwondo Assosiation (ITF) in 1966.
one hana
two tul
three set
four net
five taso˘t
six yo˘so˘t
seven ilgop
eight yo˘do˘l
nine ahop
ten yo˘l
A brief history of Kup/kyu/dan (kyu is the Japanese equivalent of Kup) ranking systems and belts, contributed by Steve Gombosi follows:
Karateka in Okinawa did not use any sort of special uniform at all in the old days. The kyu/dan ranking system, and the modern karategi (modified judogi) were first adopted by Funakoshi in an effort to encourage karate's acceptance by the Japanese. He awarded the first "shodan" ranks given in karate to Tokuda, Otsuka, Akiba, Shimizu, Hirose, Gima, and Kasuya on April 10, 1924. The adoption of the kyu/dan system and the adoption of a standard uniform based on the judogi were 2 of the 4 conditions which the Dai-Nippon Butokukai required before recognizing karate as a "real" martial art. If you look at photographs of Okinawan karateka training in the early part of this century, you will see that they were training in their everyday clothes, or (!) in their underwear.
Most other arts that have ranking/belt color systems adopted them from the Japanese.
The explanation of belt colors was derived from the book of General Choi Hong Hi.
In WTF Taekwondo there are 10 Kups, starting from the 10th Kup (white belt) and ends with the 1st Kup (red-black belt). The term "Kup" means degree. The term "Dan" means phase. There are 9 Dan degrees, starting with the first and ending with the 9th. All Dan-degrees are represented by a black belt.
The color white indicates that a person is "innocent", has no knowledge of Taekwondo. The white-belt is automatically gained by taking Taekwondo classes.
The color yellow indicates that the person is getting to know the basic techniques, this stadium is compared to a plant growing its roots.
The student going for yellow-belt is usually not skilled enough to show "Chayu daeryon" (non-contact sparring). Instead the student has to show "Sajoe" ("four-direction-movement", one specific technique shown to all directions).
The color green indicates that a student is growing as a Taekwondo student. The color of the belt is compared to a plant growing its leafs.
The color blue indicates that a student is reaching higher, like a plant that is growing towards the sky.
The color red indicates danger. The student is warned to practice the control of his/her movements. The color red also warns an opponent.
Black is the opposite of white and means the maturity of the student in the art. It also is an indication of being impenetrable for fear and darkness.
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