Yimkongniken Aonok, 2nd Degree
Nagaland Taekwon-do Federation
Ever since man first walked the earth, he has been using his hands and feet for self defense. These physical actions eventually gave birth to martial arts, a process which is still a perplexing mystery.
Although many myths and legends exist about its origin, martial arts, or bare hand combat, has been generally accepted as introduced by an Indian Buddhist monk called BODHIDHARMA (448-529AD) the third son of the Indian King Brahman who was known as the 28th Indian patriarch of Buddhist Zen.
He reportedly traveled from an Indian monastery to China instructing in the areas of Buddhism (Zen). During his visit he introduced Buddhist monks, in the Shaolin Temple, to a form of mental and physical conditioning and training involving a set of 18 postures (similar to Tai Chi) imitating temple idols. Their style later became known as Shaolin boxing.
As Buddhism became increasingly popular, it spread throughout other Asian countries like the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea and Japan. An increased interaction between these countries allowed for some comparisons and further development of their fighting styles, and also variations in styles became apparent between countries and these actions were named as suited to the language of different countries by the practitioners for e.g., Kalaripayattu or Selambam (in India), Kiti-Do (in Nagaland), Judo, Karate, Jijutsu, or Ai ki-do (in Japan) Kung-Fu, Wu-shu, Tai-chi or Daeji-Chon (in China), Savate (in France), Samba (in Russia), Bosilat (in Malaysia), Kickboxing (in Thailand), Taekyon, Soo-Bak-Gi or Taekwon-do (in Korea).
After the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1909, the practice of martial arts by Koreans was forbidden and the only major survivor of this catastrophe was Taekyon with much training carried out in secret.
Origin Of Taekwon-do
After Korea achieved independence in 1945, 2nd Lieutenant Choi Hong Hi was released from Japanese prison. He was put in a position as a founding member of the just organized Republic of Korea Armed Forces.
The ROK demonstration teams, led by Choi, were later to become famous for their amazing skill displays while spreading the arts across the world, initially Vietnam, Malaysia and other Asian areas. Many famous Taekwon-do masters of today were members of these demonstration teams.
A whole chain of events led to the origin and development of Taekwon-do by General Choi Hong Hi. He had some prior knowledge of Taekyon plus the learning of Karate in Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
His knowledge furnished him with the ability to create, while his rank empowered him to propagate Taekwon-do throughout the whole army, in spite of strong opposition. He started developing new techniques systematically from March 1946. By the close of 1954, he had almost finished the foundation of a new martial art for Korea, and on April 11, 1955, it was named TAEKWON-DO. Hence, technically 1955 signaled the beginning of Taekwon-do as a formally recognized art in Korea.
During this year a special board was formed which included leading master instructors, historians and prominent leaders of Korean society. A number of names for the new martial art were submitted. But the board unanimously decided on the name of TAEKWON-DO submitted by GEN CHOI HONG HI. This single unified name of Taekwon-do replaced the different and confusing terms, Dang Soo, Gong Soo, Taekyon, Kwon-bup, etc. prevailing in Korea.
The definition of Taekwon-do reads as follows:
“Korean art of unarmed combat that is based on their earlier form of Korean self-defense known as Taekyon and Karate. The name Taekwon-do was officially adopted for this martial art in 1955 after that name had been submitted by South Korean General Choi Hong Hi, the principal founder of Taekwon-do”.
