Taekwondo! Taekwondo! Taekwondo?

Taekwondo! Taekwondo! Taekwondo?

     Did you know that taekwondo is one of the only two sports, besides judo, to single-handedly make it to the Olympics? A sport of this degree is surely recognizable, as well as renowned in over 200 different countries. However, a question stinging several reader's brains is: what is taekwondo? Well, in short, taekwondo is a martial arts consisting of throwing kicks and punches, with the purpose of self-defense in mind during a mano-a-mano street match, in case one ever comes to be. Tae denotes to kicking, Kwon to punching, and Do as the method of doing it. However, taekwondo is much much more. Let's take a look at how it came to be in the first place, amongst the multiple martial arts categories ranging in the world.6

     In the 1940s, a man named Choi Hong Hi desired a family-friendly way to portray good moral values, exercise, and protect one's self. Taekwondo was his answer, and he took a combination of Korean Taek Kyon and Japanese Karate to create his masterpiece. In 1955, he came up with the perfect name of 'Taekwondo' for it, as it is built up with the components of kicking, punching, and critically executing proper stance. As taekwondo grew, it easily surpassed Karate as the most popular sport in all of U.S.A in the 1980s, with more than 7,000 schools per state at the time and 40 million participants. That was about 1/8th of all of U.S.A at the time! Eventually, taekwondo even became an Olympic sport in the year 2,000, Sydney, Australia.

Choi Hong Hi

     Korea is the primary country for taekwondo, historically dating back all the way to 50 B.C. There were three dynasties back then in Korea, the two who lavished taekwondo being the Silla and Koguryo dynasty. Japanese pirates starting raiding the Silla's build-ups because they were the most feeble kingdom. The king of Koguryo stepped in and put an end to this by policing his men to take on the pirates, which they executed by training in the form of taekwondo. One of these men was even the prominent Gwang Gae, who inflicted the probationary black belt pattern while regaining lost territory in the greater part of Manchuria. The re-trained Silla warriors were credited with this training and created the brown belt pattern, Hwarang. Eventually, they mastered and conquered with the five code of conduct. These were: Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self Control, and Indomitable Spirit, not necessarily in that order.
     In 1909, as Korean taekwondo grew extremely popular, Japan stuck again and banned taekwondo. They were under their rule for 36 yrs, and obviously ceased the era of taekwondo, right? Error! Error! Many folks still practiced martial arts in abandoned Buddhist temples and even switched countries to improve in their studies. As karate and jiu-jitsu butted in, martial arts grew everlastingly strong, especially taekwondo. Forsooth, this was the primary way in which Korea had an advantage and broke free of Japan's rule in 1945, without it technically even being invented yet. This led to the fabulous build-up of taekwondo and martial arts everywhere and led to the modern day version from April 11, 1955. Now, over 30 million people practice taekwondo, in over 156 different countries! Long live taekwondo!

     The person typing this post is a pupil of taekwondo and has learned several teaching, such as taekwondo terms, meanings, I wills, etcetera. In the author further blogs, I might be mentioning some terms. One of these terms is solar flex, which I've already mentioned in a previous blog. A solar flex is that squishy section of your abdomen. If you care to, you may stick a long finger in that section, and eventually, it will start hurting. Imagine being pounded there with a meaty fist. It would definitely be painful, as yours truly has experienced it. Another term is kiyup, along with chuckyonai, chumbi, etc. I'm not even sure if these are the right spelling, but they mean to yell, bow(to an audience), and maintain form, respectively, in Korean. There are also meanings of form, donated to Korean warriors such as Gwang Gae and Hwarang, as already cataloged. The authors meaning of form, pinned to a man named Kim Duk Ryang, is "Choong Jang, 54 movements, is the pseudonym of the general Kim Duk Ryang, who lived during the Yi Dynasty. The diagram represents the tragedy of his death, at age 27, in prison, before he was able to reach full maturity." Wow. That's deeper than a hole dug by the sturdiest shovel. Finally, there are the I wills. These are specified moral values which change every 2 months and are assigned 5 I wills each. At the time the author was writing this, the 'I will' word was flexibility, and the I wills were 'I will not get upset when plans change, respect the decisions of my authorities, not be stubborn, look for the good in changes, and not compromise what is right'.  As can be seen, there are several heartfelt teachings in taekwondo, all devoted to by Mr. and Mrs. Williams at West Coast Taekwondo, a top-notch school in Tustin, California.

     To sum things up, taekwondo is a Korean sport first enunciated by a man named Choi Hong Hi, yet dating back all the way to 50 b.c, where the martial arts form Taek Kyon was put to action to defend the Silla clan. Even when taekwondo was banned in 1909 under Japanese rule, it was still practiced and used against Japan in World War 2. There are several morals and fabulous teachings involved in it, and it will probably(nobody can predict the future after all)be termed in later blogs. Hopefully, one who is reading this post has gained proficient knowledge from the topic and will continue to subscribe. Keep reading future posts, and don't forget to join West Coast Taekwondo, the absolute best taekwondo school in Orange County.