It is apparent that some people do not understand how the martial arts are connected to the evolution of Earth and to human history. I will try to capture that by taking a look at the timeline from the primitive and ancient stages of the martial arts to the modern era and beyond.

From the birth of the creation of all life in the universe, each thing was given some form of defenses to survive. These defenses were embedded in the cells. Those embedded techniques has been organized as an art form, We call that, martial arts.

When born, everything had one mission – to live safely and happily and to reproduce to continue the existence of one’s own kind. Take humans on Earth, for example. Humans across the world created tribes and states. In the primitive stage, people developed different survival skills based on the realities of where they were located.

Being consistent with how they were made, they based all their survival techniques on physical, mental and emotional actions. Humans sought to protect their territory, not only against other humans, but also mainly against bigger and stronger creatures.

With their mind, humans developed strategies to survive. Hide-and-seek was the most primitive survival skill against more powerful creatures to capture the food but not to be captured as the food. But humans also needed food, shelter and rest. Along the path of evolution, humans discovered fire and other weapons to compensate for their lack of physical capability compared to other creatures. Humans lived as groups and packs to survive against other fully, physically equipped creatures. Humans learned to run after creatures and catch them, throw things at other creatures to take them down, ball up their hands into fists and punch, and before long, developed a combination of pulling and pushing, striking and blocking, kicking and choking, and they eventually moved on to develop weapons and firearms.

Still, packed creatures, including human beings, found they needed leaders. Leaders are those who have the ability to conquer opponents to survive and are willing to offer that protection to others. This brings us to the ancient stage, when the martial arts developed into highly effective military systems. During this stage, humans began training under the leaders willing to teach survival skills.

In the modern stage, armed forces and law enforcement took over much of the survival aspect of the martial arts. It used to be that martial arts were needed for survival. That was not eliminated, because gangs and bullies remained. But those who killed someone on the street faced the possibility of being thrown in prison.

Nonetheless, the martial arts were played as games and sports during times of peace. Unlike on the street, martial-arts games required participants to follow rules. Actually, all sports stem from the martial arts games. Sports such as basketball, football and baseball involve offense and defense, protecting one’s territory, power, speed, agility, striking, grabbing, locking, blocking, throwing, kicking, intimidating. These are all survival skills. And good communication is needed to succeed. In the future, the martial arts will be used mostly for holistic self-enhancement, given that it offers fundamental life skills that bring success, harmony and happiness.

That is the direction practitioners are going. Still, we must keep a keen eye on our past to understand how the martial arts got to this point and why it is so important to keep evolving without eliminating the core values and fundamental philosophies that have kept the various disciplines so strong. This will provide us with holistic and integrated lifestyles with skills that tap into our mind, body, spirit and emotions.

In this section, I would like to address Taekwondo, an ancient Korean martial art, which goes back as long as Korean history of more than 6,000 years. There are controversial viewpoints on the history of Taekwondo. Some say it branches from Karate, because the Japanese occupation, from 1909 to 1945. During those 36 years, imperial Japan banned the entire Korean culture, including its martial arts. Korea was strongly influenced by Japanese culture. Koreans began studying Japanese martial arts, including Karate, Judo and Kendo. This liberated Koreans to teach Japanese martial arts. However, the occupation will not replace more than 6,000 years of culture, including Korean martial arts.

Stability of the leading Taekwondo organizations plays a significant role in spreading the martial arts throughout the mainstream. Taekwondo helps to build character with mental and physical discipline, and some excel all the way to the level of competing in the Olympic Games.

Nevertheless, five young Korean masters began teaching integrated, modern, Korean martial arts, although they were dominated by the Japanese system, which later reconnected with many original Korean martial arts, especially the tradition of the kicking art called Taekyun (Korea was using kicking as part of play, competitive games and fighting arts in everyday life).

The first Taekwondo school was opened in 1944 by Byung Jick Ro, founder of Song Moo Kwan. The other four schools that followed were opened by Won Kook Lee, founder of Chung Do Kwan; Joen Sang Sup(ChoSun-Yoenmookan March 1946 - later became Jidokwan by Kwe Byung Yoon, founder of Ji Do Kwan; Byung In Yoon, founder of YMCA Kwonbupbu  (Later became Chang Moo Kwan by Nam Suk Lee); Ki Hwang, founder of Moo Duk Kwan.

Taekwondo soon was accepted as a national sport by the collaborated efforts of first generation Taekwondo leaders, such as Uoon Kyu Um from Chung Do Kwan, Chong Woo Lee from Ji Do Kwan, Young Sup Lee form Song Moo Kwan and few others. Taewkondo grew its popularity continuously by instructors of ITF and WTF. Taekwondo now enjoys over 50 million practitioners in over 150 countries.

In 1988 Taekwondo was accepted as an Olympic demonstration sport. In the year 2000, finally recognized as a full medal sport. This miraculous accomplishment happened combining efforts between great leadership of Un Yong Kim president of WTF and hard work by the Taekwondo instructors who took Taekwondo throughout the world. It took less than 50 years and these miraculous results happened by determination and dedication of instructors.

At the same time, the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) was founded by General Hong Hee Choi in 1965, and he used his influence as a military leader and an ambassador to spread Taekwondo lessons throughout Asia and Europe.

Then came 1971, when newly appointed Taekwondo president Un Young Kim built the World Taekwondo Center, otherwise known as Kukkiwon. Kim, who served as a presidential assistant security chief, began organizing Taekwondo into a modern sport and created world championships. He later became a member of the International Olympic Committee and president of the International Sports Federation. (He still serves as president of WTF and General Assembly of International Sports Federation.)

Meanwhile, the ITF began to suffer. Controversy erupted when General Choi took Taekwondo into North Korea. That move was viewed by followers as traitorous, and some accused him of being a Communist. His connection with North Korea put his followers in an extremely difficult position as they related with one another and with other Taekwondo practitioners. Many of the high-ranking young masters left him simply to avoid being labeled a Communist, although a review of General Choi’s stated mission indicates that his only intent was to spread Taekwondo. Nonetheless, the ITF was split among different leaders. (It is important to note, however, that a few stayed with him and remained loyal, even after he passed away last year.)

On the other hand, Kim thrived for almost 30 years. But that, too, came to an end in 2000, when he had to weather his first major opposition. Practitioners began to complain that under Kim's leadership, Taekwondo developed only as a sport and lost its traditions and philosophies. Supporters of the artistic aspects of the martial arts also began to criticize Kim. His influence in the Taekwondo industry quickly weakened. Under mounting pressure, he resigned as president of Korea Taekwondo Association and Kukkiwon.

Many of the strikes against Kim came from university competitors who challenged the unfairness of judging practices and the inadequacy of the rules and regulations to select the national team members to participate in international competitions. But the opposition failed to provide good leadership.

Chun Seo Koo, a Korean legislator who practiced Taekwondo in his youth, was elected president Korea Taekwondo Association.

Meanwhile, the presidency of Kukkiwon (the World Taekwondo Center) remained vacant for one year. The opposition groups tried very hard through demonstrations, media campaigns and organizational efforts. But Kim made a comeback with recommendations by previous followers due to the fact that he had never trained a successor. So he regained his position as president of Kukkiwon. Kim has been recognized around the world as one of the top diplomats in the sports industry and an unchallengeable leader for the time being.

The ITF presidency, meanwhile, was transferred to Woong Chang, which was the death wish of General Choi. Chang was a member of the IOC and the minister of sports in North Korea. But General Choi's son also stepped up to claim a leadership role, creating a division in the organization. The ITF is still in turmoil, and many masters hope that it can work itself out to be a stabilizing force in the Taekwondo industry for generations to come.

People of all walks of life pursue Taekwondo training for a variety of reasons. Some seek health and fitness. Others seek mental powers such as discipline, patience and self-control. Some seek self-defense. Some seek an outlet for their athleticism and pursue the sports aspect from the local to the state, national and international levels, striving for the pinnacle - the Olympic Games. Whatever the motivation, thousands have used martial arts as a conduit for personal improvement.

That has definitely been the case for me. I was one of the many people who fled from North Korea during the Korean War. I grew up in a refugee camp where there was lots of street violence and confusion, and I was a shy, undersized boy, 11 years old, just trying to survive from the street violence. In 1956 I started taking Taekwondo lessons from my cousin and later entered Songmookwan system from Ro, a Supreme Grand Master who is regarded as the father of modern Taekwondo.

I began my journey of self-improvement and becoming a leader. Instead of being picked on, I was protecting others from being picked on. My teaching career began from 1963 and competed successfully by earning several championship titles. To enhance myself to be more balanced martial artist, I studied Zen to understand self, Daoism to understand nature and Confucianism to understand different social structures through that philosophy. I’ve also studied acupuncture to learn how to heal, hypnotism to understand human mind and yoga to further understand human body.

In 1971 I decided move to the United States “The Land of Opportunity” to explore my dream, teaching and learning as a professional martial arts master. I opened Oriental Martial Arts College in 1971 and during 32 years of my teaching, over 25,000 students trained in OMAC and OMAC produced more national champions from one school than any other school in U.S. I served as U.S. National Team Coach 5 times including the Olympics in 1988 for the gold-medal winning Taekwondo team that competed in Seoul. In 1996, I was honored to receive the rank of 9th degree black belt from Ro himself.

As one of the martial arts industry leaders, I am trying very hard to bring unity within the various disciplines. For that reason, World United Martial Arts Alliance was founded in 1992 to serve our industry. Thus Created the Arnold Battle of Columbus Martial Arts World Games by joining force with the Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Fitness Expo. Through these World Games, we were able to host 20 different martial arts championships, 43 workshops and 55 demonstrations by legends, stars and champions of the martial arts during the Arnold Fitness weekend in Columbus, Ohio.

2004 Arnold Battle of Columbus Martial Arts World Games will held on March 5-7, in Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio USA. For further information, visit our website, www.wuma.com or call 614.864.4000.

"From the moment we are born to the moment we die, we must constantly try to improve. If we don't improve, we die. It is our obligation as human beings."

Sr. Grandmaster Choi

This article was published on "Martial Arts Digest".

Posted 6/6/03

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