Taekwondo & Korean Martial Arts
Taekwondo is the popular Korean martial arts practiced worldwide and is also the national sport of South Korea. It is well known for its focus on fast, powerful kicks and its use in self-defense. In Korean, "tae" means "foot" or "to strike with the feet," "kwon" means "hand," "fist," "to intercept" or "to strike with the hand" and "do" means "the way, method, discipline or art." Collectively, taekwondo means the art of skilled application of punches, kicks, blocks and dodges using bare hands and feet.
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Ancient History
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The earliest records of martial arts practice in Korea date to about 50 B.C. when evidence of martial arts practice was found in tombs with distinct wall paintings, each showing two unarmed men in fighting stances that looked similar to the stances of modern taekwondo. The earliest form of Korean martial arts was called the "Taek Kyon" (also called "Subak"), considered the earliest known form of taekwondo.
Ancient Korea used to be divided into three kingdoms: the Koguryo, Paekje and Silla. Taekwondo first appeared in the Koguryo Kingdom and the Silla warriors were credited in propagating it in ancient Korea. Early Koreans mostly used it to defend themselves from Japanese pirates. Many Sillan warriors were given training by the early masters from Koguryo.
Modern Taekwondo
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With the Japanese occupation in Korea from the early 1900s until the end of World War II, modern taekwondo gained influences from the Japanese Karate. There were many Korean soldiers trained in Japan and the Japanese tried to erase all traces of Korean culture, including martial arts, during their occupation in Korea. While generally unsuccessful on getting rid of traditional Korean customs and traditions, taekwondo started infusing some movements characterizing the Japanese martial arts system, more particularly the Shotokan Karate.
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Uniforms and Belts
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Taekwondo uniforms are natively called "dobok" or "gi." The white uniform is a plain V-neck, heavy cotton top. The accompanying pants are designed with an elastic waist.
The color of the taekwondo belt indicates the skill level of the student. The common way to improve skill level is by completing exams. Sometimes, higher belts can be gained by winning competitions. There are a total of 10 belt colors and colored combinations used in taekwondo, starting from the 10th "geup" (meaning "degree") for the novices to the first geup for the experts. Beginners wear white belt, then they reach higher levels through the following: white with yellow stripe; yellow; yellow with green stripe; green; green with blue stripe; blue; blue with red stripe; red; red with black stripe; and finally black.
Basic Techniques
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Taekwondo is both a sport and art. Aside from being a helpful self-defense skill, it also improves mental discipline and emotional equanimity. It focuses on the following basic techniques: patterns (also called forms or "pumsae, teul and hyeong"); sparring (also called "gyeorugi or matseogi") which may include 7-, 3-, 2- and 1-step sparring, free-style sparring, arranged sparring, point sparring and other sparring forms; and breaking (also known as "gyeokpa or weerok") which allows the individual to use break boards for testing, training and martial arts demonstrations. These typically are bricks, tiles, blocks of ice and other materials for power breaking, speed breaking and other special techniques.
Benefits
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Taekwondo offers many benefits for those who practice it. For the younger ones, it provides intense training that develops agility, flexibility, increased stamina, better body coordination and posture, muscle toning, increased confidence, leadership, and comradeship. Older ones gain the same physical and emotional benefits, along with improved adult health, increased self-control, self-assertiveness, positive attitude and relief from stress.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit kinder als sieger beim kampf sport image by Lucky Dragon from Fotolia.com
