What is the Korean Martial Arts
Korean Martial Arts
Korean Martial Arts have two thousand years of history and an abundance of forms. Modern styles are practiced largely across the globe and are probably the most recognizable cultural aspect of Korea. For example, the popular Korean martial art of Taekwondo is one of the most widely practiced martial arts in the world and has grown in popularity to the point of becoming an Olympic sport, with only Judo accompanying it as an Asian martial art form found in the games. Korean martial arts are largely characterized by self-defense, discipline, unity, balance, and control, but with over 25 forms being in practice today, there is a lot of variety in style and technique. The roots of many can be found in Chinese and Japanese martial arts, but have evolved into a uniquely Korean art form.
History of Korea's Martial Arts
Early Times
The origins of Korean martial arts are unclear and still debated by scholars, but the practice has been in existence at least since the Goguryeo dynasty, approximately between 37 BCE - 668 CE. Gogoryeo government records mention subak, a general term for barehand martial arts originating in China, and in 1935 paintings on the walls of what are believed to be Goguryeo king tombs were uncovered.
A neighboring dynasty, the Silla (57 BCE - 668 CE) learned and spread the subak technique when Goguryeo armies sent aid to ward off Japanese pirates. It is believed that Korean martial arts spread across the Korean peninsula at this time.
During the Goryeo Dynasty (935 - 1392), the practice of subak was outlawed by the government as subak matches became a popular gambling event. However, the art form continued throughout the Goryeo dynasty and split into two separate martial art forms sometime in the 14th or early 15th century, the taekkyon and yusul. Taekkyon has recently regained popularity in the past few decades, but the original form of yusul, a Korean version and what some believe to be the origin of the Japanese martial art jujitsu, is now extinct.
During the Imjin War (1592-1598), Chinese martial art techniques were again spread to Korea when Chinese armies sent aid to ward off Japanese invaders. King SeonJo of the Joseon dynasty was so fascinated by Chinese martial arts that he ordered people in his court to study a Chinese martial arts manual written by a prominent Chinese military strategist. The techniques studied eventually evolved into Korean martial art styles and Korean martial art manuals began to be published. The most popular, the Mu Ye Do Bo Tong Ji, published in 1790, was an illustrated book that describes Korean, Japanese, and Chinese martial arts in great detail and has been a treasured manual up to this day.
Modern Times
With the rising popularity of Neo-Confucianism in the late Joseon dynasty, fighting forms largely lost their popularity. Furthermore, during the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 - 1945 the practice of Korean martial arts was banned, and many Koreans instead practiced Japanese martial art forms such as Kendo or Karate. However, the Mu Ye Do Bo Tong Ji along with taekgyeon traditions allowed Korean martial arts to survive through modern times. Modern Korean martial arts are largely a combination of Japanese martial arts and techniques studied from the Mu Ye Do Bo Tong Ji. The most popular Korean martial art form, Taekwondo, has roots in Japanese karate (itself derived from Chinese martial arts), but incorporates many historically Korean techniques. Hapkido is rooted in Japanese Daito Ryu, but is also considered distinctively Korean due to the incorporation of uniquely Korean styles.