History of Taekwondo

Modern Taekwondo has no single, universally recognized founder. It grew out of several Korean schools, called kwans, and later split into separate international organizations. Dates and credit are contested in some places, and this article says so where it matters.

Before 1945 #

Older Korean martial practices such as taekkyeon (also spelled taekkyon) existed before modern Taekwondo.^[1] Korea was under Japanese rule until 1945, and several men who later founded kwans had trained in Japanese karate or judo, in Chinese martial arts or in taekkyeon. Examples include Lee Won-kuk, Hwang Kee, Ro Byung-jick and Chun Sang-sup.^[2][4][5]

The kwans (1944 to 1956) #

After liberation in 1945, instructors opened schools that blended their different training backgrounds. Five kwans, usually called the original five, opened in the mid-1940s: the Chung Do Kwan, Song Moo Kwan, Moo Duk Kwan, Ji Do Kwan and Chang Moo Kwan. Four more followed after the Korean War: the Han Moo Kwan, Kang Duk Won, Jung Do Kwan and Oh Do Kwan, making the nine kwans.^[1] Founding dates differ between sources.

Choosing a name (1955 to 1965) #

Accounts of how the name Taekwondo was chosen differ:

• The ITF says a board of politicians, military and business leaders, historians and instructors approved the name Taekwon-Do on 11 April 1955, with President Syngman Rhee's approval.^[3]
• Kwan leaders began discussing a unified art in 1955, with Choi Hong-hi advocating the name, and the Korea Taekwondo Association adopted it when it was founded in 1959.^[1]
• The name became official under the Korea Taekwondo Association on 5 August 1965.^[4]

Kang Won-sik and Lee Kyong-myong describe a detour. The Korea Taekwondo Association was founded in 1959 and adopted the name Taekwondo, but a unification conference in September 1961 changed it to Taesoodo. A Unification Declaration ceremony followed on 18 March 1965, which Hwang Kee declared invalid the next day, and Choi Hong-hi later changed the name back to Taekwondo.^[10]

Diverging organizations (1966 to 1973) #

• 22 March 1966: Choi Hong-hi founded the International Taekwon-Do Federation in Seoul.^[7]
• 1972: Choi went into exile in Canada.^[9] The Korea Taekwondo Association's central training hall opened in Seoul, and it was officially named the Kukkiwon on 6 February 1973.^[8]
• 28 May 1973: The World Taekwondo Federation was established at an inaugural meeting at the Kukkiwon, with 35 representatives.^[6]

Olympic recognition and growth (1980 to today) #

The International Olympic Committee recognized the World Taekwondo Federation on 17 July 1980. Taekwondo was a demonstration sport at the 1988 and 1992 Games and became an official medal sport at the 2000 Games in Sydney. The federation was renamed World Taekwondo in June 2017.^[6] See Taekwondo at the Olympics.

The ITF divided after 2001 and 2002 into separate groups, commonly called ITF-Vienna, ITF-Poland and ITF-UK.^[7]

Timeline #