When I began my Taekwondo training in the early nineties, it was told to me that Taekwondo was developed in 1955 by General Choi Hong-Hi. The answer was pretty straight forward, and I didn’t ask too many questions about it for a number of years. To my surprise, while training and talking with other Taekwondo practitioners, schools, and organizations, I was told Taekwondo was an ancient martial art dating back thousands of years. I was quite confused. Was I told wrong?

I’m going to give you a direct answer to whether or not “Taekwondo” is an ancient martial art. The answer is no. There’s not even any grey area to that answer. The name “Taekwondo” was coined by General Choi in 1955. Being that it was so recently named, there is a flood of historical documentation around the creation of Taekwondo. Now ask me if the martial art techniques we train in Taekwondo are ancient techniques. That answer has much more grey in it.

The history of Taekwondo, while easily summed up as “created in 1955”, is actually quite complicated. I’ll do my best to sum up the reasons without going too deep into the disturbingly dark and politically driven history of Taekwondo. It essentially started with the end of World War II. South Korea had essentially been released from Japan’s grip. This is also when Korea split into North and South Korea as we know it today. With this, a newly developed South Korean military sprouted in which Choi Hong-Hi eventually became a General.

General Choi had trained in Shotokan Karate under Funakoshi Gichin, the founder of Shotokan while going to school in Japan. General Choi, among others, began training their soldiers in martial arts. The soldiers eventually performed a demonstration for their then South Korean President, Syngman Rhee. Rhee was blown away by the demonstration and asked what the name of the martial art was that they were demonstrating. Mind you, the Koreans generally despised Japan at this point and wanted nothing to do with them or their culture. This placed General Choi in a precarious position.

He could not state that he was teaching them a Japanese based art. Thinking quickly on his feet, he stated, “Taekkyeon”. Taekkyeon was an ancient Korean sport/art of foot fighting and sweeping. While his answer was not true, he eventually did implement much of Taekkyeons kicking and footwork into the art. General Choi, and other martial arts leaders in South Korea at the time, decided it would be best to name this new art to solidify it as a Korean martial art. During this meeting, General Choi named the art, “Taekwondo”. While it didn’t really take off early on, as many continued to call it Korean Karate or Tang Soo Do (both heavily steeped with Japanese influence), it did eventually become the unifying name of the art being taught.

For a while, Taekwondo was essentially made up from Shotokan Karate and Taekkyeon techniques. Both steeped in history and could be considered “ancient”. Therefore stating, “Taekwondo is an ancient art” could be somewhat correct at the time if you are referencing the techniques and ideas being taught. However, this all changed in the years to come when General Choi developed new patterns (poomse, tul, kata, forms) for Taekwondo. He had also added impressive new kicking techniques, specifically aerial kicks, and implemented the power generation known as Sine Wave. These last two elements most clearly separating Taekwondo from Karate and other arts and solidifying it as a modern art.

To make matters more complicated, not all Taekwondo schools are directly related to this martial art that General Choi named, developed and promoted. Other Instructors simply renamed their arts “Taekwondo” to give their arts a more Korean history. Then, to get even more complicated, General Choi was somewhat ousted from South Korea and a new “Taekwondo” was developed with a new Taekwondo association president, Kim Un-Yong. This style of Taekwondo become more sport-oriented version known as the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF – now known as WT…any ideas why they change it? hah). This is the version that was accepted into the Olympics. A different set of patterns, no
sine wave, no more punching to the head, no grappling techniques and a new history of development.

While much of the techniques used in Taekwondo are from ancient arts through the styles it was created from, we need to look at Taekwondo as a whole when deciding if it is an ancient or modern art. If not, I could create a new martial art right now and call in Dan-sed-so-Do and claim it’s an ancient art as long as I implement a punch and kick I learned from Kung Fu or Okinawan Karate. So no, Taekwondo is not an ancient art. It is not only modern, but among the most modern martial arts practiced on the planet among the most popular arts out there.

Now go on out there and correct those claiming Taekwondo as an ancient art. And while you’re at it, help me promote my new art, Dan-sed-so-Do! Coming to a martial arts studio near you! You’ll love the ancientness of it.