by Andy_S on Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:14 pm
Research has proven that ALL the founders of modern TKD - about six different schools ("kwan") - learned karate in the 1940s. One also claimed training in CMA, and another (Choi Hong-hee) also CLAIMED to have learned taekkyun, but this has never been substantiated and is pretty irrelevant; It is clear from his early works that what he taught was karate. Taekkyun was not included among the original schools that learned TKD, and was never part of the TKD curriculum.
In fact, taekkyun came to within one master of extinction, which indicated that is was not particularly widely practiced in late Joseon, and most Koreans had never heard of it (let alone seen in) until the 1990s. (When I first saw it in 1989 on my first trip to Korea, there were only two schools in the country; a tiny little basement dojang in Chungju, which I visited, and one in Busan.) Only during the revival of "folk" ("minjeok) culture in the late 1980s and 1990s, mainly on campuses, did it come back to life, and its modern renaissance is truly remarkable. Today, that little dojang in Chungju is a massive, purpose-designed taekkyun center and cultural hub.
Now, it have been an INFLUENCE upon early TKD - after all, the Koreans really emphasized kicking, which was taekkyun's main tactic, and by some accounts, the name TKD was chosen as it sounded similar to taekkyun - but no taekkyun master was involved in the formation of either "traditional" or modern, sportive TKD. (I am not sure why, but I suspect that heads of the original TKD kwans wanted to promote the legitimacy of their new KMA, rather than the real, old KMA.)
The history of TKD is full of nationalistic nonsense in Korea, but over the last few years, there has been increasing admittal of its karate origins. I suspect most of this has come from the taekkyun people, who can clearly seen the difference, and know the early history of TKD.
I'd add that the taekkyun people have their own nationalistic myths, too. I will be willing to bet that taekkyun people have already told Chenyalong that taekkyun was "banned by the Japanese" (the implication being that the sly Japs had to suppress it in order to prevent deadly taekkyun experts from boldy opposing colonial govt.) In fact, modern researchers have found no evidence of any such ban in colonial era court and police records, but the claim continues to be endlessly repeated. I suspect that this came from an interview from its last surviving pre-colonial era master: He said that most taekkyun people stopped practicing after the Japanese authorities stopped people congregating for taekkyun matches: taekkyun was a betting sport and attracted some dubious patrons. But the point is: While there WAS a ban on large public gatherings, there is zero evidence of a ban on taekkyun, per se. In fact (and again, contrary to current Korean belief) the Japanese researched, preserved and renovated many aspects of traditional culture, from the alphabet and language to the nation's most famous Buddhist shrine (which was actually discovered by a Japanese).
Ken is right in that it was originally a folk game/sport, rather than a martial art: It had no weapons, so was useless on the battlefield. There again, it has some pretty sophisticated moves and training methods which are highly effective. For kicking and sweeping techniques - and most particularly for learning fighting rhythm - it has few peers in CMA.
And some people are now incorporating other material (hapkido, boxing, etc) into taekkyun, which is all good. But although taekkyun fighters claimed that they wanted to get heavily involved in MMA in its early days in Korea, you never seen them in MMA these days, I am not sure why; perhaps due to early defeats and a desire not to lose further face.
Even so, I really like what I have seen of it.
I wish my daughter, who is an excellent dancer, would take an interest.
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