Brief History of Taekwondo

It is very difficult to fit in a brief history of a martial art like Taekwondo without offending anyone and without taking up like 10 paragraphs worth of space so this is a very quick summary for those of you who want to learn a bit from an unbiased TKD practitioner. If you guys want to learn more feel free to PM or later I may add a more comprehensive version.

Taekwondo's pioneers and Origins

Taekwondo has it's roots in North and South Korea. Major General Choi Hong Hi is the official creator of TKD's traditional style, General Choi introduced Traditional TKD to the world on the 11th of april 1955. General Choi worked alongside dozens of other great pioneers to mould TKD into the MA it is today. General Choi practised and mastered Shotokan Karate before the development of TKD. His goal was to create a martial art perfect in his eyes and for use in modern day situations. General Choi also took alot of inspiration from the ancient Korean form of self defence called Taekkyon.

The WTF and ITF

There are two main bodies who govern modern day TKD, the WTF(world Taekwondo federation) and the ITF(International Taekwondo Federation.) Both are now very seperate styles of TKD but both have their similarities. Both sides are renowned for argueing the bit out over who practises the 'true' Taekwondo form, (also I would like no hate replies to the thread this is purely informational). This is an unbiased thread and will tell you from both sides the story. WTF Taekwondo and ITF Taekwondo both originated from General Choi, in the simplest story, WTF is an altered and tweaked version, and ITF is purely the TKD that General Choi created. Neither is better than the other, just different.

The Difference

The difference is mainly in the sparring, although terminology and some kicks/stances are also different. Where a WTF Practitioner calls a 'Front stance', a ITF guy will call it a 'Walking Stance.' As far as the sparring is concerned they are extremely different.
WTF rules allow no punching to the head or face, you must wear a protective Hogo around your chest and abdomen area, a head protector, groin and mouth guard. WTF sparring is what is seen in the olympics and is focused alot on kicks, it is rare to see a WTF fight fueled mainly from arm work.
ITF rules allow punching anywhere (above belt and excluding the back) you must wear foot,head,shin and fist protectors along with a groin and mouth guard. ITF sparring is alot more like kickboxing, It is a more rounded fighting style with practisers using punches and kicks to string combos.

The Style

The fight style of TKD is instantly recognisable, its spectacular kicks and lightning fast strikes are one of the most amazing spectacles in the world. TKD is mainly based around the use of kicks and core muscles to turn the tide in a fight. And for this reason most people will call it 'useless in a fight', this is without doubt untrue, it is puzzling to think that a MA used to this day by the Korean army is 'useless in real life', each move was specifically designed to maim, severly injure, or kill the opponent. There indeed are flaws in TKD but every martial art has them, some TKD practitioners will rely completely oon their legs to attack, which will leave them vulnerable to boxing attacks. The style of TKD is misunderstood and if wielded correctly can prove a very effective and deadly weapon.

Which is for me?

I you want to learn the spectacular kicks go to either they both teach them, if you think you are capable of using your legs extensively WTF is probably for you because you must have lightning fast reflexes. But if you want to mix the fighting into a more real life scenario while sparring ITF is the one to go for. Both will teach you the tenets which are some of the most important you will learn, also the philosophy and purpose behind the styles. Taekwondo is a beautiful Martial Art, just underappeciated by the ignorant, try youtubing some sparring of both styles to get a real taste of what they're like.

,Craig

Amazing mate!!

Very nice! - Learnt a few things tbh

Yeah alot of people have no clue about the general history Bobby, but if you really wanna open your eyes you should order the Alex Gillis book 'A Killing Art', holy crap it gave me serious insight, you should read it if your into that kind of thing

Cneeson wrote:Yeah alot of people have no clue about the general history Bobby, but if you really wanna open your eyes you should order the Alex Gillis book 'A Killing Art', holy crap it gave me serious insight, you should read it if your into that kind of thing

I'll have a look around on Amazon, getting more and more into TKD now although I still can't get enough of sparring