History & Tenets of Tae Kwon Do

The marital arts discipline we now know as Tae Kwon Do evolved on the Korean Peninsula. Since before the Christian era, Korean fighting arts and sporting skills such as hand-to-hand combat, horsemanship, and archery were practiced by both the military and the general populace.  Formal organization of Korean martial arts systems can be traced back to the Koryo dynasty (935AD-1392AD).  However, during the Yi dynasty (1392AD-1910AD) the ruling class devloped a strong bias against the military, and Tae Kyon, as Tae Kwon Do was then known, fell into disfavor.  

During this time, the martial arts traditions were still practiced by small groups.  Most significant of these groups were the Hwa Rang Do, an elite corps of military officers formed by Chin Geung, twenty-fourth king of Silla.  The Hwa Rang Do trained not only in the traditional fighting arts but also in systems of mental, physical and moral disipline meant to complement the combat training.  The Hwa Rang Do developed Tae Kyon to a new stardard of practice unprecedented in Korean history.  They codified the moral tenets of their discipline for the first time.  Theses tenets are:

• Il Sa Kun E Chung        Loyalty to one's country
• E Sa Chin E Hyo           Loyalty to one's parents
• Sam Kyo U E Shin        Trust and brotherhood among friends
• Sa Im Jun Moo Teah     Courage never to retreat in the face of the enemy

They also codified the virtues that they recognized as central to the Korean martial arts tradition.

During the Japanese occupation of Korea early in the 20th Century, the Japanese expressly forbid the practice of all martial arts.  In spite of the Japanese injunction, the tradition survived in secrecy among a small group of practitioners including Song Duk Ki and Han Il Dong.

After the liberation of Korea in 1945, many of these Tae Kyon adherents opened to the do-jangs, or martial art institutes.  The martial art traditions quickly took root in the new climate of tolerance and soon may forms of the arts were practiced throughout Korean society.  Ten years later, Tae Kwon Do was selected as the new name of the national martial arts.  The name translates in English to The Art (Do) of the Hand (Tae) and the Foot (Kwon).

In addition to being one of the fastest growing martial arts in the country, Tae Kwon Do is now an official olympic sport.  During the 1992 summer games in Barcelona, tickets to Tae Kwon Do competitions were the hardest to obtain including tickets to popular gymnastic events.

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