Historical Views on the Origins of Korea’s Taekwondo

Abstract

The present study reviews the key contents and issues of Traditionalism, New Traditionalism and Revisionism, the key historical views of Taekwondo, with the purpose of focusing on the validity and limitations of New Revisionism. Traditionalism emphasizes that Taekwondo is Korea’s traditional martial art. New Traditionalism accepts this view and also recognizes the partial effect of Karate on Taekwondo without providing enough supporting evidence on their claims. Revisionism also focuses on the effect of Karate on Taekwondo. While New Revisionism shares a similar focus to Revisionism, it also focuses on the effects of Chinese martial arts on Karate and Taekwondo, which have been neglected previously. The validity of New Revisionism was supported with evidence on the following factors: the effect of Chinese martial arts on Karate, the effect of Chinese martial arts on Korea’s top five martial arts schools and their training methods, and the effect of Chinese martial arts appearing in the book written by the figures related to the top five initial martial arts schools after 1945. Despite a few limitations of the current historical views, New Revisionism suggests that Korea’s Taekwondo was affected by Japanese martial arts and Chinese martial arts, both directly and indirectly, in its formation.