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Taekwondo in Mordern Times
In the modern times of Korea, the Chosun dynasty [1392-1910]
the imperial Korea and the Japanese colonial rule until
1945, Taekwondo was rather called "subakhui"
than "Taekkyon" and it suffered an eventual
loss of official support from the central government
as the weapons were modernized for national defense,
although the subkhui was still popular in the early
days of Chosun.
The Chosun dynasty was founded on the ideology of Confucianism,
which resulted in rejecting Buddhism and giving more
importance on literary art than martial art. Nonetheless,
the Annals of Chosun Dynasty tells about the contests
of subakhui ordered by local officials for the purpose
of selecting soldiers and others ordered by the kings
who enjoyed watching subakhui contests at the times
of feasts. It was also ruled by the defense department
that a soldier should be employed when he wins three
other contestants in the subakhui bouts. However, as
the government progressed, the government officials
began to lay more importance on power struggles than
on the interest of defense, naturally neglecting promotion
of martial arts.
Then, it was only in the days of King Jungjo after the
disgraceful invasion of Korea by the Japanese [1592]
that the royal government revived strong defense measures
by strengthening military training and martial art practice.
Around this period there was a publication of the so-called
"Muyedobo-Tongji," a book of martial art illustrations,
which 4th volume entitled "hand-fighting techniques"
contained the illustration of 38 motions, exactly resembling
today's Taekwondo poomsae and basic movements, although
those motions cannot be compared with today's Taekwondo
poomsae, which has been modernized through scientific
studies.
Even under the Japanese colonial rule, some famous Korean
writers, such as Shin Chae- Ho and Choi Nam-Sun, mentioned
about Taekwondo, saying "present subak prevailing
in Seoul came from the sunbae in the Koguryo dynasty,"
and "subak is like today's taekkyon which was originally
practiced as martial art but is now played mostly by
children as games."
However, the Japanese colonial government totally prohibited
all folkloric games including taekkyon in the process
of suppressing the Korean people. The martial art Taekkyon
[Taekwondo] had been secretly handed down only by the
masters of the art until the liberation of the country
in 1945. Song Duk-Ki, one of the then masters testifies
that his master was Im Ho who was reputed for his excellent
skills of Taekkyon, "jumping over the walls and
running through the wood just like a tiger." (explanation
of taekkon techniques in muyedobo-tongji (general illustrations
of techniques) (scene of contest).
At the time, 14 terms of techniques were used representing
5 kicking patterns, 4 hand techniques, 3 pushing-down-the-heel
patterns, 1 turning-over-kick pattern and 1 technique
of downing-the-whole-body. Also noteworthy is the use
the term "poom" which signified a face-to-face
stance preparing for a fight. The masters of Taekkyon
were also under constant threat of imprisonment, which
resulted in an eventual of Taekkyon as popular games.
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