SNIP'
One of the reasons that Taekwondo’s parent arts are obscure is that many of them were banned during the years in which Japan had control over the majority of Korea (between 1910 and 1945). For example, the strictly traditional Korean martial arts such as Subak and Taekkyon were prohibited from being practiced or taught in Japan’s effort to force Korea to assimilate to Japanese culture (Koreans were also forced to disregard their own language and take on Japanese names in place of their own).
SNIP
Hmmm. In fact, after 1919, the Japanese promoted a great deal of research into traditional Korean culture. The name policy was only implemented in the last three years of a 35-year colonial period, and was not forced on everyone. See Dr Andrei Lankov's recent piece on this.
This issue of "traditional Korean MA being banned by the Japanese" is often cited, but I have never seen any proof of this. And why would they ban MA? It was hardly a threat.
Moreover, MA cannot be "banned" by government: They are easily practiced indoors or in other private places. Efforts to ban MA in Okinawa and Southern China never had any effect historically, nor did Beijing's bans during the cultural revolution have a permanent effect.
Taekkyun - a martial folk dance, not a martial art; it did not include any weapons - was not widely practiced in late Joseon at all: It was virtually extinct, as evidenced by the fact that only one master bought it into the modern age. All evidence suggests that Taekkyun is practiced by more people in South Korea now than at any point in history.
The fact is both Subyok and Taekkyun had nothing to do with early TKD: Ask current masters of these arts. (I have.)
ALL the early kwans that later formed TKD were run by men who had 1st of 2nd dan black belts in the Japanese karate that they had learned during the colonial period. Dr Stephen Capener's writings have made all this quite clear. Early TKD was karate: We can see this in the forms (hyung), techniques, uniforms, ranking systems, etc.
TKD is a modern MA, with its main technical advances taking place in the 196Os and 70s, when it was moving towards a competitive sport. The only pre-modern technical forms that we can say for certain that had an influence on modern TKD are Japanese/Okinawan.
The last traditional Korean MA - Taekkyun, Sunmudo/Bulmudo and Subyok (previously Subak) - have and had no technical connection to TKD.
Anti-Japanesism remains a critical component of modern Korean nationalism on both sides of the DMZ, but enough research has been done on Korean MA to disabuse many of the notions about TKD that were promoted by the Korean government in the authoritarian decades from the 1960-1980s.
One of the reasons that Taekwondo’s parent arts are obscure is that many of them were banned during the years in which Japan had control over the majority of Korea (between 1910 and 1945). For example, the strictly traditional Korean martial arts such as Subak and Taekkyon were prohibited from being practiced or taught in Japan’s effort to force Korea to assimilate to Japanese culture (Koreans were also forced to disregard their own language and take on Japanese names in place of their own).
SNIP
Hmmm. In fact, after 1919, the Japanese promoted a great deal of research into traditional Korean culture. The name policy was only implemented in the last three years of a 35-year colonial period, and was not forced on everyone. See Dr Andrei Lankov's recent piece on this.
This issue of "traditional Korean MA being banned by the Japanese" is often cited, but I have never seen any proof of this. And why would they ban MA? It was hardly a threat.
Moreover, MA cannot be "banned" by government: They are easily practiced indoors or in other private places. Efforts to ban MA in Okinawa and Southern China never had any effect historically, nor did Beijing's bans during the cultural revolution have a permanent effect.
Taekkyun - a martial folk dance, not a martial art; it did not include any weapons - was not widely practiced in late Joseon at all: It was virtually extinct, as evidenced by the fact that only one master bought it into the modern age. All evidence suggests that Taekkyun is practiced by more people in South Korea now than at any point in history.
The fact is both Subyok and Taekkyun had nothing to do with early TKD: Ask current masters of these arts. (I have.)
ALL the early kwans that later formed TKD were run by men who had 1st of 2nd dan black belts in the Japanese karate that they had learned during the colonial period. Dr Stephen Capener's writings have made all this quite clear. Early TKD was karate: We can see this in the forms (hyung), techniques, uniforms, ranking systems, etc.
TKD is a modern MA, with its main technical advances taking place in the 196Os and 70s, when it was moving towards a competitive sport. The only pre-modern technical forms that we can say for certain that had an influence on modern TKD are Japanese/Okinawan.
The last traditional Korean MA - Taekkyun, Sunmudo/Bulmudo and Subyok (previously Subak) - have and had no technical connection to TKD.
Anti-Japanesism remains a critical component of modern Korean nationalism on both sides of the DMZ, but enough research has been done on Korean MA to disabuse many of the notions about TKD that were promoted by the Korean government in the authoritarian decades from the 1960-1980s.
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