Introduction - A Brief History of Taekwondo

Taekwondo, the most poular martial arts today and a well-credited latest contact sport to be in the olympics, has its roots stretched back nearly two thousand years, when it was born from an art known as hwarang do, meaning “the way of the flowering manhood.” The hwarang were young noblemen, influenced by Confucian teachings, who formed a patriotic society during the unification of Korea, in the Silla dynasty, in about AD600. The Silla kingdom was the smallest of three within the Korea peninsula, and was constantly under attack from its two stronger neighbours. It was the constan invasions that led the Silla dynasty to develop a fighting system to protect their kingdom.

Towards the end of the 10th century, following the unification of Korea, learning Taekwondo became compulsory for all young men. However, in about the 16th century the military traditions of the country fell out of general favour and the practice of Taekwondo as kept alive only by buddist monks. Following the japanese occupation in 1909, the suppression of any form of martial art only served to further its decline. The few remaining dedicated practioners emigrated to China and Japan and thus, the art survived.

Following liberation in 1945, many korean exiles returned to their homeland and reintroduced an improved version of taewondo. The Korea governement by officially sponsoring it, led to a more formal approach to the teaching and grading of the discipline. In the 1950s, with techniques of the art modified to achieve a more efficient and effective Taekwondo led to the birth of what is called the moden Taekwondo, inaugurated in South Korea on 11 April 1955.

Taekwondo can also be be seen to spread worldwide through different organisations with World Taekwondo Federation as the one which promote Taekwondo not only as an martials art but as an official sport in many games such as the Olympics, Asian Games, Pan-pacific games, South East Asian games, etc. Other organisations such as the International Taekwondo Federation does not affiliate itself with Taekwondo as a sport in those games mentioned.

It does however has competitions too but with different rules and regulations and different style as well. For one instance, ITF allows punching to the face during competition whereas WTF limits punching on the body level. One is also able to see more variations and impressive techniques executed by players affiliated to WTF perhaps due to the different head gear used during competitions.