psychophd

I believe you are referring to Hua Rang Do, which is considered one (if not the) first martial arts in Kora, spawning many other Korean martial arts, including Hap Ki Do.

Here's something I found online:

A brief history of Tae Kwon Do
"Early Koreans developed unique martial art forms for unarmed self defense to complement their skills with weapons. The first recorded evidence of what was to become modern Tae Kwon Do is found about two thousand years ago in Korean history. A mural painting from the Koguryu kingdom (37 B.C to 66 A.D.) was found in a tomb believed to have been built sometime during the period 3 to 427 A.D . This mural depicts figures practicing martial arts techniques. Historical records from this Koguryu period also mention the practice of martial arts techniques and tournaments. The early forms had different names, such as Kwonbak, Bakhi, Dangsoo, Taesoo and Kongsoo. From about 600 A.D. to about 1400, the main stream dominant form was Soobak, which further evolved into Taekyon beginning in the late 1300s. Taekyon was the dominant Korean martial art form until the Japanese invasion and occupation of Korea in 1909. From 1909 to 1945, the Japanese suppressed Korean culture and martial arts, and introduced Japanese culture and martial arts.

The modern period of Taekwondo began with the defeat of the Japanese and the liberation of Korea in 1945. Korean martial arts masters wanted to eliminate Japanese influences. They began discussions on how to return to the traditional Taekyon based Korean martial arts and on how to unite the various martial arts schools (or Kwans) and styles into a single style and national sport. After several years of discussions, the name "Taekwondo" was chosen in April 1955 by the board of masters of the various Kwans, and the kwans started to unify through the late 1950s."

from: http://www.tkd.net/tkdnetwork/history.html

What is interesting in this quote is that there is no direct link between the ancient and modern tkd - they just note that marital arts started in Korea during the three kingdoms period, but make no attempt to show the integration between the old and new. Just a thought - I could be wrong here.
Sorry to be a pain about this, but I like to try to correctly report info...

X12

Look, I understand you guys like to be neutral and I can respect that, but as impartial as you try to be, you're simply just casting two votes against a head to head political race which is useless.... Sure there are many styles and sure it has to do with preference but we all seriously know within a certain realm of sports/fighting/racing/etc... there ALWAYS exist a dominant class or group of people.

Take the American society and its social class for example. I hate to say it but who is the dominant class? The upper, white, elite class is surely it. Now I don't want to get into a societal debate because that in itself is another can of fury but if you are at least slightly informative about how the American democratic and capitialization systems work then you can agree with me that we are being controlled by THAT very upper, white, elite class.

Now secondly, projekt brought up a very good point. You see, for Tae Kwon Do, Jujitsu, Muay Thai kick boxing, etc it is a a choice to decide to uptake that martial arts form. And I am sure there are kids that even start at 3 years of age trying to learn and dedicate their lives in learning these forms. HOWEVER, if you look at historical reasons, most Shaolin monks are NOT monks by CHOICE.

First off, there are only a FEW that would CHOOSE to dedicate their entire life in becoming a Shaolin monk. Ask yourself, would you be willing to leave away from home at the age of 4 to live in a temple and be a monk forever but the tradeoff is you'll be an excellent martial arts fighter?
Umm.....I think NOT. MOST Shaolin Monks were FORCED into becoming a monk because of China's societal structure: overpopulation, scarce job opportunities, poverty, the one child rule, etc... So since the dawn of their existence, they have been admitted to the temple as an alternative way to live. But aside from that, from 4-70+ years of training EVERYDAY, meditating EVERYDAY, practicing EVERYDAY, body conditioning EVERYDAY, how is it that the Shaolin form will not prevail?

Seriously just think about it. If practice makes perfect then the Shaolin arts will be PERFECTED due to practice.

-X12

lilken

i've been taking muay thai for 2 years now. started fighting a year ago and now im an amatuer. i've seen tae kwon do and i honestly laugh. they need to learn to use sumthing other than their legs. they make it so easy to catch and throw a elbow to the face.

joeLTron

So many taekwondo haters

I guess you cant respect it unless you either do it or get beat by it.

trivium

There is one sport more dominant than the other. Its Jeet Kune Do. It is the most practical and covers all areas of fighting. Your question is like asking: If one supercar is the best, why are there so many other? Dont be stupid. The world will never conform to one thing forever. People want change, even if its for the worse.


I also dont know why people are bringing up the obvious fact that "it depends on the individual" Give me a ****ing break. Of course it does. But when we talk about a martial art, we talk about someone being well versed in its methods, not some amateur.



I dare anyone and ANYBODY to tell me which martial art is superior to Jeet Kune Do. Witch the exception of a Shaloin Monk's training since they spend their goddamn life doing it. Any takers?

joeLTron

Jeet Kune Do isn't a sport, it's a martial art for self defense.

Heres another thing, if JKD is the absolute best martial art, why isn't it used it K-1, UFC, or Pride?

Also, what martial art do you practice?

smegmatic

you give too much credit to JKD... what are you basing your assumption taht it is the best?

trivium

You've got to be kidding me. Do you know anything about JKD? Well apparently you dont.

Most of JKD basics involve the most illegal moves in Pride, UFC, or K1. Eye Jabs, throat jabs, groin strikes, elbows to the forehead, and strikes to the back of the neck.

Look at these 2 videos again and see what I mean (I know its too quick to see but try to focus):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKuXOkm09bM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBTM6_l-Gdk

See what I mean?

If someone were to remove these tools from their arsenal, it would be very hard to walk away from a fight. Why does JKD include these "tools" ? Its very simple and its why JKD is so practical for fighting. JKD is founded on the belief of getting out of a fight as quickly as possible, with the least amount of energy used. Therefore, Bruce advocated no limitations (one of his famous quotes was "use no limitation as a limitation").

But lets imagine for a second that the strikes mentioned above didnt exist in JKD or were legal in MMA. I dont know how well a JKD fighter would perform in a MMA match b/c:
1) he must wear gloves,
2) there is NO ELEMENT OF SURPRISE,
3) and he cant wear clothes.

If you know what street fighting is about, then you would understand why I brought up the last 3 issues.

As for me, I only went to a JKD class a few times (they were free) but I couldnt afford it (the school is run by one of Bruce Lee's students Dan Inosanto). I just practice boxing/kickboxing in a community center in Santa Monica which offers free equipment to use and a boxing ring a few times a week.

trivium

No. Im basing it on the fact that it is the MOST practical. See my post above to understand what I mean. If you think it isnt the best, come up with a well formulated argument as to which martial at is my friend.

smegmatic

crap.. everytime i think of something, i get into theory and it turns out to be as long as a book. and dont get me wrong, im not saying your opinion is wrong, but just flawed. if you wanna talk practical, any martial arts can apply because all involve subduing the attaker as quickly and effortlessly as possible. theyre a way of self defense, to get out of close range situations. youve trained for it and so your body is used to the strains and movements in that art. to someone who hasent trained in that aspect of martial arts, it may seem that it takes a lot of energy, and it would because you wernt trained in it, but to someone who has, it seems like nothing. same with JKD. i gotta stop here or this will get too long