The first bit of sapience to drop dead along about the gripping and almost absurdly intricate Korean warlike art of tae kwon do is this : It ’s pronouncedTAY - kwon - lucre . NotTIE - kwon - bread . TAY .
That might be the easiest lesson ever about taekwondo , which has been part of the Olympics since 2000 even as diehard fiercely insist it ’s something much more than mere athletics . To the traditional , committed practitioner of taekwondo — to a taekowndoist — it is nothing less than a path of life .
" It ’s a skill … it ’s an pedagogy . It ’s not just simply entertainment , " Grandmaster Doug Cook , the chairman and CEO of theUnited States Taekwondo Association , says . He own and engage adojanginWarwick , New York , where he teaches traditional taekwondo and the development of a personalki , or internal free energy . " When masses begin , they think they ’re just going to come in in and do a few bitch and punch . Like kickboxing . Just kind of recede some weight . But they realize pretty quickly that the proficiency require a lot of endeavor and a stack of practice , and they require to come systematically .
" You have to start from zero and get a line the dynamics , the physics of the martial arts , the mindset , the metaphysics of the martial humanities . It ’s far , far profoundly than most people cogitate . "
A Brief History of Taekwondo
The condition taekwondo — remember , it’sTAY - kwon - do — is often translated many ways . Simply , it is defined as " strike with the foot and helping hand . " The suffixdois used to specify a room or a discipline . Or , as some people see it , a mode of enlightenment , a way of life of biography .
The soldierlike arts — which began as a means of ego - defense team , growing through hand - to - hand combat on battlefields — can be traced back thousands of age . Taekwondo ’s root are much more recent .
After the Korean peninsula was invaded by Japan in World War II and was bombard by foreign forces in the Korean War , the martial fine art in Korea — split into many different schools and way , and influenced bykarate , judo and what we sleep with as kung fu , among other warriorlike artistry — looked to unify . The various factions finally settled on taekwondo , a term not coined until 1955 and not swallow until the freshly formed Korean Taekwondo Association did so in 1965 .
Since then , some revisionist account brag taekwondo ’s ancient Korean roots — told by subject looking to make a claim for a true Korean warriorlike artistry — has lease cargo hold . But it ’s not all accurate .
From a 2016 paper write by two professors at Youngsan University in Yangsan City , South Korea , Udo Moenig and Kim Minho , in the journalActa Koreana :
How Taekwondo Differs from Karate
Because of karate ’s unmistakable influence on taekwondo , the two are often confused . They are both considered hard - vogue martial artwork , Cook explains , as oppose to subdued - style warriorlike arts like aikido ortai chi .
" Soft - stylus warlike arts are more often than not used , in a sense , where you airt an opponent ’s negative push , or belligerent Department of Energy , and throw them off balance and then apply joint ringlet or throw . You ’re blending with your assailant , " he says . " In hard - trend martial arts , you ’re doing hit , kicking and punching , degraded and heavy , penetrating power , rather than just blending . "
The difference between karate and tae kwon do is the difference between hired hand — the word karate has its al-Qaida in the Japanese character for hand — and infantry . Cook excuse it this way of life :
" One Son , and that ’s ' kicking . ' Taekwondo features spectacular , aerial , jumping , spinning kicks whereas karate never boast anything like that . It ’s mainly very low boot , very few kicks . "
Sport vs. Tradition
Many people know taekwondo only as an Olympian rarity . In that type of competition , the end is to land as many kicks and punches to the torso and head of the opponent . At the end of three unit of ammunition , the musician with the most points win .
marking is wide-eyed .
But the drive to make taekwondo more accepted internationally — often by those who require to reverse Korea ’s worldwide prototype through acknowledgment of the athletics — may be hurting traditional taekwondo .
To traditionalists like Cook , the sport of taekwondo is almost unrecognizable .
" The direction the summercater of tae kwon do is executed these days is really an atrocious endeavour at sport . They just stand there and jump up and down for five or six seconds , or 30 second , as much as that , doing nothing . And then one someone will hear to get a kick in , " says Cook , who has authoredfour books on taekwondo . " All the really good techniques that have been carry across tae kwon do for ten have been give up now just for unsubdivided slight taps . It ’s what we call ' foot ticket . ' "
Rather than settle for point or trying to win at all costs , those who practise traditional taekwondo follow five tenets :
Those tenet , the belief that tae kwon do is built on more than come through a laurel wreath , is what separates sport from traditionalists . " None of us , probably , will ever face manus - to - hand fighting on the field , " Cook says . " So when we ’re learning this , the great unwashed sometimes ask , ' Why am I doing this ? '
" Physically , you will be capable to fight down yourself and your loved ones . But , really , what it ’s doing is build up that lineament . And that ’s what you get in the twenty-first century as a forward-looking - day warrior . "
