HISTORY
Beginning in 1947, shortly
after the end of the occupation
of Korea by Imperial Japan, new
martial arts schools called Kwan’s were opened in Seoul. These schools were established by Korean
martial artists who had studied primarily in Japan during
the Japanese rule. The umbrella term traditional
taekwondo typically refers to
the martial arts practiced by the kwans during the 1940s and 1950s, though in
reality the term "taekwondo" had not yet been coined at that time,
and indeed each kwan was practicing their own unique style of martial art.
During this timeframe taekwondo was also adopted for use by the South
Korean military, which only served to increase its popularity among civilian
martial arts schools. [1] [2]
After witnessing a martial arts
demonstration by the military in 1952, South Korean President Syngman Rhee urged that the martial arts styles of
the kwans be merged. Beginning in 1955 the leaders of the kwans began
discussing in earnest the possibility of creating a unified style of Korean
martial art. The name Tae Soo Do was used to describe this notional unified
style. This name consists of the hanja 跆 tae "to stomp, trample", 手 su "hand" and 道 do "way, discipline".
In 1957, Choi Hong Hi advocated the use of the name Tae Kwon Do, i.e. replacing su "hand" by 拳 kwon "fist", the term also used for
"martial arts" in Chinese (pinyin quán). The new name was initially
slow to catch on among the leaders of the kwans. In 1959 theKorea
Taekwondo Association (KTA)
was established to facilitate the unification of Korean martial arts. In 1966,
Choi established theInternational Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) as a separate governing body devoted
to institutionalizing a common style of taekwondo.[1][2]
Cold War politics of the 1960s and 1970s complicated
the adoption of ITF-style taekwondo as a unified style, however. The South
Korean government wished to avoid North Korean influence on the martial art. Conversely,
ITF president Choi Hong Hi sought support for the martial art
from all quarters, including North Korea. In response, in 1973 South Korea
withdrew its support for the ITF. The ITF continued to function as an
independent federation, then headquartered in Toronto, Canada; Choi continued
to develop the ITF-style, notably with the 1987 publication of his Encyclopedia of Taekwondo.
After Choi's retirement the ITF split in 2001 and then again in 2002 to create
three separate federations each of which continues to operate today under the
same name. [1][2]
In 1973 the South Korean
government's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism established the Kukkiwon as the new national academy for
taekwondo. Kukkiwon now served many of the functions previously served by the
KTA, in terms of defining a government-sponsored unified style of taekwondo. In
1973 the KTA supported the establishment of the World
Taekwondo Federation (WTF) to
promote taekwondo specifically as an international sport. WTF competitions
employ Kukkiwon-style taekwondo. [1] [3] For this reason, Kukkiwon-style taekwondo
is often referred to as WTF-style taekwondo, sport-style taekwondo, or
Olympic-style taekwondo, though in reality the style is defined by the
Kukkiwon, not the WTF.
Since 2000, taekwondo has been
one of only two Asian martial arts (the other being judo) that are included in the Olympic Games. It
became a demonstration event at the 1988 games in Seoul, and became an official
medal event at the 2000 games in Sydney. In 2010, taekwondo was accepted as a Commonwealth Games sport. [4]
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