Taekwondo, also spelled tae kwon do or taekwon-do, is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving punching and kicking techniques. The literal translation for taekwondo is "kicking", "punching", and "the art or way of". It sometimes involves the use of weapons.
Moo Duk Kwan is the name of a martial art organization founded by Hwang Kee in South Korea in 1945. Licensed Moo Duk Kwan schools teach Soo Bahk Do, formerly Tang Soo Do. 'Moo Duk Kwan' translates as "School of Martial Virtue". Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan translates to “the brotherhood and school of stopping inner and outer conflict and developing virtue according to the way of the worthy hand”
Tang Soo Do is a Korean martial art based on karate and may include fighting principles from taekkyeon, subak, as well as northern Chinese martial arts. From its beginnings in 1944 to today, Tang Soo Do is used by some Kwans to identify the traditional Korean fusion of martial arts styles. In the mid 1950s, Tang Soo Do became the basis for the martial art Taekwondo when the Korean Nine Kwans united.
Korea Taekwondo Association, originally the Korea Tang Soo Do Association (1961), is the first taekwondo organisation. It was founded in 1959, although official South Korean sources give 1961 as its year of establishment. In 1966, some members of the KTA, led by H. H. Choi, broke off from the KTA and formed the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF). The Kukkiwon and the then-World Taekwondo Federation were created by the KTA in the early 1970s. The KTA sits under the Korea Sports Council, is aligned with Kukkiwon, and is a Member National Association (MNA) of the WT. Its goal is to promote the martial art taekwondo as a national sport within South Korea.
The Korean terms hyeong, pumsae, poomsae and teul are all used to refer to martial arts forms that are typically used in Korean martial arts such as Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do.
Chang Moo Kwan is a style of Korean martial arts that was founded by Yoon Byung-in and Lee Nam Suk.
Chung Do Kwan, created by Won Kuk Lee in 1944, is one of the first of nine schools or kwan teaching Tang Soo Do. Later, the school began to teach what came to be known as taekwondo. This style of Tang Soo Do is known for its overall power and emphasis on kicks to the head.
Song Moo Kwan, also named "Song Moo Kwan Kong Soo Do ", is one of the Five original kwans of taekwondo in Korea. Its founder, from 1944, Supreme Grandmaster Byung Jik Ro (1919–2015), was one of the highest ranking taekwondo practitioners in the world, and is considered the "Founder of Modern Taekwondo". As a Shotokan Black Belt under Gichin Funakoshi, Byung Jik Ro created what is commonly known as Song Moo Kwan. While staying largely true to the basic principles of Shotokan Karate Do, he placed more emphasis on kicking techniques within the newly created Taekwondo style. To this day both styles maintain a striking similarity.
Kong Soo Do (공수도) is a name used to refer to Korean martial arts derived from Karate, that was used by a couple of the original kwans before the unification and creation of Taekwondo as the universal striking art of Korea. As with Tang Soo Do, the name Kong Soo Do is composed of the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters for "karate-do", meaning "empty-hand way" in English.
Kwan in Korean literally means building or hall, but in the context of martial arts can also refer to a school or clan of martial artists who follow the same style or leader.
Han Moo Kwan, was founded in August 1954 by Kyo-yoon Lee and is one of the nine original Kwans that later formed Kukkiwon Taekwondo.
Shudokan, literally "the hall for the study of the way of karate," is a Japanese school of karate developed by Kanken Toyama . It was the total headquarters of Japan Karate Federation (old). Characteristics of Shudokan karate include large circular motions with an emphasis on covering and its own unique kata.
Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo is a modern Korean martial art formed in April 1965 by Kim Young-taek, Hong Chong-soo, and Lee Kang-ik, after a significant group of former students of Hwang Kee chose to leave the original Moo Duk Kwan organization in order to join the Taekwondo unification movement.
Yoon Byung-in, also known in English reference as Byung-in Yoon, was a Korean Grandmaster of martial arts. He is believed to be the first Korean national to study Chuan Fa in China and to return to teach it in Korea. He was an influential instructor to many current and past Masters and Grandmasters, and himself a master of many styles and studies of Martial Arts.
Kim Ki-whang, also known in the United States as Ki-whang Kim, was a Korean martial arts grandmaster. He was chairman in the US of the Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Association and chairman of the US Olympic Taekwondo team in 1988. He helped unify several Korean martial arts into the overall style of taekwondo.
Son Duk-sung was a martial artist, Grand Master, 9th degree black belt, co-founder of the Korean martial art of Tae Kwon Do, successor of Lee Won-kuk and leader of the Chung Do Kwan school (1950–1959). He was also the chief Instructor of the South Korean Army and the Eighth U.S. Army, founder and president of the World Tae Kwon Do Association and author of the books "Korean Karate, the Art of Tae Kwon Do” and “Black Belt Korean Karate ".
Lee Won-kuk was a South Korean martial artist, who founded Chung Do Kwan. He introduced karate to Korea in 1944, creating his own style known as Tang Soo Do Chung Do Kwan style, which became Taekwondo as of 1955; instilling a profound influence in this martial art through teaching future masters and authoring the book “Tae Kwon Do handbook“ in 1968.
Yun Mu Kwan was one of the original five "kwans" that arose in Korea following World War II. It was the name of the place where a generic form of Japanese karate (Shotokan) was being taught by a number of Korean students who had studied in Japan and returned to Korea in the first half of the twentieth century, bringing the Japanese art with them. Yun Mu Kwan, as a style, would eventually be renamed Jidokwan by various former students and would become one of the core styles that contributed to the development of what is today known as Taekwondo.
Taegeuk Ee Jang is the second of eight taekwondo forms practiced by the Kukkiwon and the World Taekwondo Federation. A form, or poomsae, is a choreographed pattern of defense-and-attack motions. Taegeuk Ee Jang is considered a beginner form, often practiced by students of Kukkiwon/WTF-style taekwondo with rank of 7th geup. Seventh geup students of Kukkiwon/WTF-style taekwondo practice this form in order to advance to the next rank.
Yun Kwae-byung was a Korean martial artist and an notable figure in history of modern Japanese and Korean martial arts. He was the head of the influential Kanbukan Dojo, that would pioneer bogutsuki karate and full contact karate, as well as being the first headmaster of Jidokwan school, one of the original kwans that would eventually unite and found Taekwondo.
