The Art of Tae Kwon Do
These words were taken from the membership packet of the United Martial Arts Black Belt Assotiation written by our beloved Kwan Jang Nim Grandmaster John Myung Hwan Kim in 1983. We have chosen not to edit his words as to preserve his teachings in the original form.
Tae Kwon Do is the name of a martial art which has been independently developed over about twenty centuries in Korea. The main feature of Tae Kwon Do is that it ia a free-fighting self-defense using bare hands to repel an enemy.
All of its activities are based on defensive tactics since Tae Kwon Do was developed as a defense against enemy attacks. In old days, people living simple lives lacked physical strength and agility and their bodies became bent in their old age. Tae Kwon Do also served to improve health, physical balance, agility and poise of the people practicing it.
Our belief is that Tae Kwon Do trained people are self-confident in every respect, not only in physical strength, but also in their mental disclipline, because they have developed superior techniques for personal defense by using their entire bodies. For a Tae Kwon Do person, the entire body is a weapon, and they are easily able to attack and repel an agressor with hands, fists, elbows, knees, feet, or any other part of their body.
The most important fact about Tae Kwon Do as a martial art is that it is not only a superior art of self-defense, but it adds remarkable bon sense to its practitioners. Self-confidence makes people generous in their attitudes toward weaker people. They can stand equally against any opponent, but their code forbids unfair assaults or unnecessary use of force. The practice of Tae Kwon Do gives an individual the mental attitude of modesty. The virtues of modesty and generosity are fundamentally based on self-defense.
It is obvious that healthy bodies make people active and powerful. Such mental and physical self-confidences are beneficial to the mental life of individuals, their families, neighbors, and their nation.
A Tae Kwon Do Form (Hyung or Poom-Sae) comprises various stances, each with its peculiar nature but blending into each other. A Form consists of about two dozen stances inter-connected. Blocking, punching, striking, thrusting and kicking are included in Tae Kwon Do Forms, and these are properly carried out with hands, fists, and feet according to the vital spot of the body at which they are aimed. The stances will also change accordingly--front stance, back stance, cat stance, and horse-riding stance, etc. as the situation requires.
Tae Kwon Do has two styles of competition. One is free-style competition in which students can freely use their acquired techniques in attack or defense. The other is competition by pre-arrangement, in which students folow an agreed sequence for practice or demonstration. In the latter, the course of the prearranged competition must be thoroughly mastered before used in free-style competition.
Tae Kwon Do is formed as a trio of Forms (Hyung), Competition (Daeryun) and Breaking (Kyuk-Pa). Tae Kwon Do requires great mental concentration and it produces almost incredible power. As a matter of fact, it is impossible to exercise the developped power against people without the risk of inflicting serious injury or death. And so, another way was sought to test such formidable power against non-living things like wooden planks, roof tiles, or bricks. We call this "breaking." And we must realize that anyone can become proficient in this aspect of the art because in Tae Kwon Do, anyone can properly develop and control his or her latent power. No special place is needed to practice Tae Kwon Do During any free time, individuals can practice and develop Tae Kwon Do techniques.
The Tae Kwon Do uniform is neither expensive nor luxurious. It is designed to fit for free body action. It is believed that the white color of the uniform signifies the "purity and origin" as well as "conversance." There are belts, i.e. black, red, brown, purple, blue, green, yellow, white, etc., with each color designating the degree of graded proficency possess by the one wearing the belt. White, yellow, and orange signify beginners, green, blue, and puple indicate intermediate ranks, while brown and red signify advanced students. A black belt (the sign of "Living Dignity"), is reserved for Tae Kwon Do experts who hold the first grade of Dan or above
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