Foot Fist Way
Taekwondo is a Korean form of Martial Arts characterized by punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on fast head-heigh kicks, spin kicks, jump kicks and spinning jump kicks. The literal translation for tae kwon do is "kicking," "punching," and "the art or way of” or simply the “art of kicking and punching” or “foot fist way”.
Taekwondo is the kind of martial arts in which one attacks or defends with hands and feet anytime or anywhere, with occasional use of weapons. The physical training undertaken in Taekwondo is purposeful and fosters strength of mind through mental armament. It is considered a combat sport and was developed during the 1940s and 1950s by Korean martial artists with experience in martial arts such as karate and kung fu and indigenous Korean martial arts traditions such as Taekkyon.
Beginning in 1945, shortly after the end of WW2 and the Japanese occupation, new martial arts schools called KWANS opened in the capital Seoul. These schools were established by Korean martial artists with backgrounds in Japanese and Chinese arts. At the time, indigenous disciplines such as Taekkyon were all but forgotten, due to years of decline and repression by the Japanese colonial government.
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 its own unique fighting style. Beginning in 1955 the leaders of the kwans began discussing in earnest the possibility of creating a unified Korean martial art. General Choi Hong Hi advocated the use of the name Tae Kwon Do. It was soon adopted by the ROK (Republic of Korea Armed Forces) and grew in popularity among civilian martial arts schools.
The oldest governing body for Taekwondo is the Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA), formed in 1959 through a collaborative effort by representatives from the nine original kwan. The main international organizational bodies for Taekwondo today are the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF), founded by General Choi Hong Hi in 1966 (The style we practice in our school), and the partnership of the Kukkiwon (Headquarters) and World Taekwondo (WT, formerly World Taekwondo Federation or WTF), founded in 1972 and 1973 respectively by the KTA as a type of full-contact sparring, which has been an Olympic sport event since 2000.
The historical influences of Taekwondo is controversial, with a split between two schools of thought: traditionalism and revisionism. Traditionalism holds that the origins of Taekwondo can be traced through Korean martial arts such as Taekkyon, while revisionism, which has become the prevailing theory, argues that Taekwondo is rooted deeply in Karate and Kung fu . Traditionalism has mainly been supported by the Korean government as a concerted effort to divorce Korean martial arts from their Japanese and Chinese past to give Korea a "legitimate cultural past.”
Taekwondo today is uniquely different from what was practiced in the past. Physically it is very dynamic with active movements that include a mirage of high kicking foot skills. Taekwondo also pursues harmonious growth and improvements of life through its unique activities. This is why one could say Taekwondo is a way of life.
