# taekwondo vs karate



## senseiblackbelt (Jun 24, 2016)

what is the is the difference between taekwondo and karate?


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Jun 24, 2016)

What are some differences between Karate and Taekwondo?


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 25, 2016)

They're quite similar and Tae Kwon Do is sometimes in fact referred to as Korean Karate but some of the main differences would be how you stand. With Tae Kwon Do, the kind I've trained in, you stand more sideways with your kicking leg forward whereas with Karate you stand more squared off against your opponent with your stronger leg behind. Also Tae Kwon Do tends to focus more on kicking techniques while Karate focuses more on hand strikes and in Tae Kwon Do they put more of an emphases on high kicking and on ariel techniques.


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## Tez3 (Jun 25, 2016)

PhotonGuy said:


> Also Tae Kwon Do tends to focus more on kicking techniques while Karate focuses more on hand strikes



No.


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## JowGaWolf (Jun 25, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> No.


TKD is one of those martial arts that we should specify if we are talking about the sports version or the self-defense version. Same with karate.


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## Ironbear24 (Jun 26, 2016)

Depending on the dojang there could be zero difference or tons of difference.


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 27, 2016)

JowGaWolf said:


> TKD is one of those martial arts that we should specify if we are talking about the sports version or the self-defense version. Same with karate.


The techniques in sport versions can be modified to be more effective for self defense and vice versa although whether a school teaches a sport version or a self defense version does make a difference. Although some schools teach both.


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## Tez3 (Jun 27, 2016)

PhotonGuy said:


> They're quite similar and Tae Kwon Do is sometimes in fact referred to as Korean Karate but some of the main differences would be how you stand. With Tae Kwon Do, the kind I've trained in, you stand more sideways with your kicking leg forward whereas with Karate you stand more squared off against your opponent with your stronger leg behind. Also Tae Kwon Do tends to focus more on kicking techniques while Karate focuses more on hand strikes and in Tae Kwon Do they put more of an emphases on high kicking and on ariel techniques.





Tez3 said:


> No.



It's quite simple, you are incorrect. Disagree as much as you like but you are confused. Karate btw is a generic name, perhaps you would like to actually specify which type of karate you think just focuses on hand techniques? I can tell you it's not mine Wado Ryu, we do everything equally, we like to be well rounded as does Shotokan. All the TKD I've seen outside the Olympic stuff also does techniques equally.


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 27, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> It's quite simple, you are incorrect. Disagree as much as you like but you are confused. Karate btw is a generic name, perhaps you would like to actually specify which type of karate you think just focuses on hand techniques? I can tell you it's not mine Wado Ryu, we do everything equally, we like to be well rounded as does Shotokan. All the TKD I've seen outside the Olympic stuff also does techniques equally.



Karate is a generic term and often used to refer to all sorts of martial arts that are primarily striking but to be specific and correct karate and tae kwon do are two different arts and are from different geographical areas of origin. The main style I've trained in,   Shito-Ryu Karate, is about half/half in terms of hand techniques vs kicking techniques or at least in my dojo that's how its done, except for the katas which involve mostly hand techniques. The first three katas you learn don't have any kicks and the more advanced katas don't have much kicks either. I would say that the katas that use the most kicks are about 25% kicks and 75% hand techniques. 

I've done some tae kwon do as well and from my experience there is more of an emphasis on kicking with tae kwon do than there are with hand strikes. The main school at which I learned tae kwon do did incorporate quite a bit of hand techniques and many of the punching techniques from western boxing was included but it was still mostly kicks that was taught. I've spoken to people who've gone to other tae kwon do schools and some of them have said that if they threw two hand techniques during a class that would be too many. Also tae kwon do places a good emphasis on jumping kicks and areal techniques. The karate I train in occasionally does use jumping techniques but very rarely and you don't start learning those until you get very advanced whereas at this tae kwon do school I went to you start learning them as a white belt. So if you're going to respond to my post by saying no perhaps you should explain why. To just say no without an explanation you probably won't be taken seriously.


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## Tez3 (Jun 27, 2016)

PhotonGuy said:


> Karate is a generic term and often used to refer to all sorts of martial arts that are primarily striking



By whom?



PhotonGuy said:


> The main style I've trained in, Shito-Ryu Karate, is about *half/half* in terms of hand techniques vs kicking techniques or at least in my dojo that's how its done,



So why are you saying 'karate' focuses mostly on hand techniques then if it's 50/50?



PhotonGuy said:


> So if you're going to respond to my post by saying no perhaps you should explain why. To just say no without an explanation you probably won't be taken seriously.



However you are wrong, and if I put more I will be Captain Obvious. There isn't anything else to be said, you have it wrong. You don't know enough TKD to know what they do and you admit you do 50/50 hand and leg strikes, you have proved yourself wrong so again I didn't need to say anything.


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 28, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> By whom?



By the general public.




Tez3 said:


> So why are you saying 'karate' focuses mostly on hand techniques then if it's 50/50?



My particular style is 50/50 only when you don't include the katas. When you include the katas its mostly hand techniques and katas make up a big portion of it. 

OTE="Tez3, post: 1771477, member: 10553"]However you are wrong, and if I put more I will be Captain Obvious. There isn't anything else to be said, you have it wrong. You don't know enough TKD to know what they do and you admit you do 50/50 hand and leg strikes, you have proved yourself wrong so again I didn't need to say anything.[/QUOTE]

Do you know enough TKD to know what they do? I know enough to know they place more of an emphasis on kicking at least where I've learned it. What is your background in TKD?


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## EvanWinther (Jun 28, 2016)

Tae Kwon do:
Korean
Poomsae/Taeguk
Sparring focuses on landing kicks

Karate:
Japanese
Kata (?)
Sparring focuses on both kicking and punching 

Also they both have different traditions ie. Bowing to sibbum at start of class etc.


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## Tez3 (Jun 28, 2016)

PhotonGuy said:


> By the general public.



No, you don't get to do that. This is a martial arts site with martial artists, you don't get to cite the general public as experts. Even the general public can tell the difference between arts such as Judo and karate.

We have kicks in our kata so all karate doesn't focus on hand techniques. Our second kata onwards has kicks in it. The TKD equivalent has many hand techniques if you are going to regard kata as the sole component to judge a style by which of course it's not, many styles don't use kata at all.

I have actually graded in TKD, not a high grade but I train with a friend of mine every so often just for fun and of course _he's an invaluable source of information_ if I need to know anything about TKD. I spar with his students, they use as many hand techniques as I do, I use as many kicks ( if not more actually my style has a wide repertoire of kicks) as they do.



EvanWinther said:


> Bowing to sibbum at start of class etc.



Karate classes bow to the instructor at the start of class,


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## RTKDCMB (Jun 28, 2016)

EvanWinther said:


> Tae Kwon do:
> Korean
> Poomsae/Taeguk
> Sparring focuses on landing kicks


That's a narrow definition.


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## senseiblackbelt (Jun 28, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> No, you don't get to do that. This is a martial arts site with martial artists, you don't get to cite the general public as experts. Even the general public can tell the difference between arts such as Judo and karate.
> 
> We have kicks in our kata so all karate doesn't focus on hand techniques. Our second kata onwards has kicks in it. The TKD equivalent has many hand techniques if you are going to regard kata as the sole component to judge a style by which of course it's not, many styles don't use kata at all.
> 
> ...



not at the one i go to....


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## Tez3 (Jun 28, 2016)

senseiblackbelt said:


> not at the one i go to....




That's random, not what at where you go to do what?


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## senseiblackbelt (Jun 28, 2016)

?


Tez3 said:


> That's random, not what at where you go to do what?


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## senseiblackbelt (Jun 28, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> That's random, not what at where you go to do what?



i get u know.. someone said in karate schools we bow down to our instructor in the beginnning but i was saying @ d 1 i go 2 we dont do tht.


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## Tez3 (Jun 28, 2016)

senseiblackbelt said:


> i get u know.. someone said in karate schools we bow down to our instructor in the beginnning but i was saying @ d 1 i go 2 we dont do tht.



Er... which language are you posting in?


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## RTKDCMB (Jun 28, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> That's random, not what at where you go to do what?


And how come?


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## senseiblackbelt (Jun 28, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> Er... which language are you posting in?



english but with a lot of abbreviations....


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## Tez3 (Jun 28, 2016)

senseiblackbelt said:


> english but with a lot of abbreviations....



Humour us, use whole words.


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## Dirty Dog (Jun 28, 2016)

EvanWinther said:


> Tae Kwon do:
> Korean



Sort of. With strong Japanese roots. 



EvanWinther said:


> Poomsae/Taeguk



Not necessarily. I'm familiar with a half dozen different sets of poomsae used in different TKD systems. It's a mistake to assume that your experience of a single school is indicative of TKD as a whole.



EvanWinther said:


> Sparring focuses on landing kicks



Only if you're in a school that focuses on the sport of TKD. Places that teach the entire art focus on kicking and punching and sweeping and throwing and...


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 28, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> We have kicks in our kata so all karate doesn't focus on hand techniques. Our second kata onwards has kicks in it. The TKD equivalent has many hand techniques if you are going to regard kata as the sole component to judge a style by which of course it's not, many styles don't use kata at all.


My style has kicks in its katas too but like I said before the vast majority of the techniques used in the katas are hand techniques, at most a kata has only 25% kicks. And I never said karate doesn't use kicks what I said is that it emphasizes hand techniques more or at least the style I train in does with the katas and while katas might not play a big role or any role at all in some styles they do play a big role in my main style. So in my style while katas aren't the sole component to it, they're a very big and important component.



Tez3 said:


> I have actually graded in TKD, not a high grade but I train with a friend of mine every so often just for fun and of course _he's an invaluable source of information_ if I need to know anything about TKD. I spar with his students, they use as many hand techniques as I do, I use as many kicks ( if not more actually my style has a wide repertoire of kicks) as they do.


So have I. I did TKD for about two years and got a few belts and I've also got friends who've done it for a really long time. From my experience TKD is primarily a kicking art and they also place an emphasis on high kicking. That's not to say TKD doesn't use hand techniques and there are TKD schools that do incorporate hand strikes from different styles into the material but TKD mostly emphasizes kicks at least where I did it they do. Maybe your experiences are different and every school does stuff differently but these are my experiences.


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## oftheherd1 (Jun 28, 2016)

I think there has been a lot of blending of arts, or things being taught at a lower level than in previous years.

My experience in TKD goes back 50 years.  Back then we used to believe TKD preferred kicks.  We justified that by saying our legs were longer than our arms.  For most people, legs longer than arms is true.  Of course, there are other things that make a difference.  We learned from those of our school who participated in local tournaments, that the Japanese focused more on hand techniques, and when they got in closer, our TKD was at a disadvantage.  Of course, the most we know about Karate was probably from some word-of-mouth, or Black Belt magazine.  ;-)

EDIT:  It doesn't relate to this thread so much, but some, that Korean martial arts have change over the years.  I studied a little bit of Mu Duk Kwon, under a 2nd degree BB.  We learned forms, but also multiple attacker defense techniques.  I would have loved to follow up on that.  But when I was in Korea the second time, I couldn't find any MDK.

Tang Su Do was separate from TKD as well.  It had some interesting drills where two students would go through the same set of attacks and defences, as mirror images of each other.  Interesting to watch them move in their distinct slow motion drills.

I don't know much of the attempt by TKD to take over all Korean MA, but I understand that TSD and Hapkido were the only ones who continued to resist.  I think TSD has now also aligned itself more with TKD

Just for what it may be worth, and others may feel free to agree or disagree.


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## Grenadier (Jun 28, 2016)

*Admin's Note:*

This is a quick reminder, that posts are to be made in English, with a reasonable level of clarity.  Posting in "Leetspeak" (or various forms of gibberish), is not permitted.


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## Tez3 (Jun 28, 2016)

PhotonGuy said:


> TKD mostly emphasizes kicks at least where I did it they do.



Yep where you do but that doesn't mean worldwide everyone does.



PhotonGuy said:


> Maybe your experiences are different and every school does stuff differently but these are my experiences.




Rather than posting up as a fact that karate is hand focussed and TKD is foot focus why not just say, that where you went it was like that? Why make statements as if they were true when in fact it's just in your experience and opinion, not actually a fact. Saying that it's your experience is fine, it's informative, making false statements isn't.


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## Paul_D (Jun 28, 2016)

senseiblackbelt said:


> what is the is the difference between taekwondo and karate?


As you have chosen to ask this in the self defence seciton, in what way is this question relevant to self defence?


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 28, 2016)

oftheherd1 said:


> I think there has been a lot of blending of arts, or things being taught at a lower level than in previous years.
> 
> My experience in TKD goes back 50 years.  Back then we used to believe TKD preferred kicks.  We justified that by saying our legs were longer than our arms.  For most people, legs longer than arms is true.  Of course, there are other things that make a difference.  We learned from those of our school who participated in local tournaments, that the Japanese focused more on hand techniques, and when they got in closer, our TKD was at a disadvantage.  Of course, the most we know about Karate was probably from some word-of-mouth, or Black Belt magazine.  ;-)
> 
> ...



How about Tae Kyon? It's an art similar to TKD although they use more low kicks supposedly. There are some other subtle differences as well.


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## Dirty Dog (Jun 28, 2016)

PhotonGuy said:


> How about Tae Kyon? It's an art similar to TKD although they use more low kicks supposedly. There are some other subtle differences as well.



Taekkyon was a game. There is no real reason to believe that we have real understanding of the subtleties of that game.


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## RTKDCMB (Jun 29, 2016)

oftheherd1 said:


> For most people, legs longer than arms is true.


I have never seen a person with their arms longer than their legs.


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## Flatfish (Jun 29, 2016)

RTKDCMB said:


> I have never seen a person with their arms longer than their legs.


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## Dirty Dog (Jun 29, 2016)

RTKDCMB said:


> I have never seen a person with their arms longer than their legs.



It happens, but it's certainly not normal. There are all sorts of odd deformities that crop up periodically.


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## PhotonGuy (Jul 3, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> Why make statements as if they were true when in fact it's just in your experience and opinion, not actually a fact. Saying that it's your experience is fine, it's informative, making false statements isn't.



So what you're saying is that claims I make, that I shouldn't state them as being the truth I should state them as being my take on it.


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## Tez3 (Jul 3, 2016)

PhotonGuy said:


> So what you're saying is that claims I make, that I shouldn't state them as being the truth I should state them as being my take on it.



Exactly right. I've only done a small amount of Judo so I would say that _in my experience_ Judo can be hard to learn if you are older because of the break falls which younger people seem to find easier to learn. I wouldn't state that 'Judo is hard to learn because of the break falls' because I don't know whether it is or not.


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## PhotonGuy (Jul 3, 2016)

Alright, fair enough.


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## Dirty Dog (Jul 4, 2016)

PhotonGuy said:


> So what you're saying is that claims I make, that I shouldn't state them as being the truth I should state them as being my take on it.



Depends. There are things that are facts. These can be stated as facts.
Smoking crack is bad for you.
There is no reason to state that as an opinion.


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## Tez3 (Jul 4, 2016)

Dirty Dog said:


> Depends. There are things that are facts. These can be stated as facts.
> Smoking crack is bad for you.
> There is no reason to state that as an opinion.



If anyone posts up 'but someone told me that it is good for you' you'll be sorry lol.


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## Dirty Dog (Jul 4, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> If anyone posts up 'but someone told me that it is good for you' you'll be sorry lol.



Not nearly as sorry as anyone foolish enough to believe such rubbish will be...


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## Koshiki (Jul 23, 2016)

Straying from crack back to the original post...

As someone from a "TKD" lineage, let me just say that we do Japanese kata with very few kicks (maybe 5%, probably less), use mainly Japanese terminology, and practically focus largely on close range striking and grappling with lots of takedowns, and again, very few kicks, and those generally low. I feel much more at home with Goju Ryu stylists than with WTF, ITF, ATA or whoever else.

While it's probably more a matter of national pride that our style ever became titled "Taekwondo" it does go to show that there is almost nothing truly cohesive about the range of martial arts going by the name. Karate is probably only slightly less fractured...


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## JP3 (Jul 23, 2016)

And here I thought it was the difference between Korea and Japan...


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## Koshiki (Jul 27, 2016)

JP3 said:


> And here I thought it was the difference between Korea and Japan...


 
A fair amount of what's known today as Taekwondo could perhaps more accurately be termed Tang Soo Do, Korean Karate, or even just straight up Karate. But, for a variety of legal, political, and post-occupation nationalistic reasons in Korea, many schools began calling whatever they were teaching Tae Kwon Do out of pride and a not-undeserved urge to distance themselves from things Japanese.

Today, beginning mainly in the later 20th century, there is an internationally popular combat sport called Taekwondo. But, there are also a variety of schools teaching a range of things on a spectrum that ranges from that highly specialized kicking sport, to stuff that's honestly, basically just karate, all of them also flying the banner of Taekwondo.

Karate is equally varied, when JKA Shotokan and Goju Ryu are both major systems.

So yeah, you may be right; perhaps the only consistent distinction that can be drawn across all styles of TKD and Karate is the country which claims them and names them.


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## KangTsai (Aug 19, 2016)

With the evolution of performance and sport taekwondo, modern taekwondo has heavy emphasis on agile kick techniques. Non-sport taekwondo is more spread out in terms of emphasis, while karate mostly retains its form since development. Honestly I only see a difference in leg techniques: you never see a demonstration of a flying leg head corkscrew or a 1080 degree jumping spinning hook kick (Ingun Yoo, google him) in Karate c:


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## KangTsai (Aug 19, 2016)

Zack Cart said:


> A fair amount of what's known today as Taekwondo could perhaps more accurately be termed Tang Soo Do, Korean Karate, or even just straight up Karate. But, for a variety of legal, political, and post-occupation nationalistic reasons in Korea, many schools began calling whatever they were teaching Tae Kwon Do out of pride and a not-undeserved urge to distance themselves from things Japanese.
> 
> Today, beginning mainly in the later 20th century, there is an internationally popular combat sport called Taekwondo. But, there are also a variety of schools teaching a range of things on a spectrum that ranges from that highly specialized kicking sport, to stuff that's honestly, basically just karate, all of them also flying the banner of Taekwondo.
> 
> ...


Last time I checked taekwondo was developed as a hybrid of older traditional Korean martial arts in the mid 20th century.


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## Touch Of Death (Aug 19, 2016)

KangTsai said:


> Last time I checked taekwondo was developed as a hybrid of older traditional Korean martial arts in the mid 20th century.


While I don't doubt there are Korean Arts, the way I heard it, is TKD was put together, as an answer and an alternative to the Japanese and Okinawan stuff. They even use the same forms. Just remember, Americans were fueling, the sport aspect; so, I say you were mis-informed.


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 19, 2016)

KangTsai said:


> Last time I checked taekwondo was developed as a hybrid of older traditional Korean martial arts in the mid 20th century.



Then you were misinformed. Taekwondo was derived primarily from Shotokan Karate, with some influence from Judo and Northern Chinese styles.


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## WaterGal (Aug 19, 2016)

KangTsai said:


> Last time I checked taekwondo was developed as a hybrid of older traditional Korean martial arts in the mid 20th century.



I'm sure every Taekwondoin has heard some version of the legend that Taekwondo was based on ancient Korean striking arts secretly kept alive during the Japanese occupation by masters who trained in secret in some remote mountain monstaries.

That story is, at best, greatly exaggerated.


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## cloud dancing (Aug 24, 2016)

General Choi founded TKD and was Master level in Shotokan karate.After 15 years of Military Japanese rule and Korean slavery --there is such HATRED for all things Japanese-name was changed and forms were changed {slightly9-24} Even in Korean Aikido'/Hapkido black skirt-Hakama is not allowed to be worn.Instead all students were simply white uniforms /same as most Karate schools.Anyone saying there is no HATRED for the 15 years of Japanese Occupation of Korea is ? somewhat misinformed.if Thousands of your women were forced into sexual slavery and your ancient swords destroyed - then perhaps there might be the HATRED that now still exists for many in Korea towards Japan.
One friend is a Shotokan Master who studied 6 years in Japan said they are both the same.Sports RKD is a ,should I say a modified style w/o Pyong./{kata}
When Light shines darkness leaves.


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## Red Sun (Aug 24, 2016)

cloud dancing said:


> General Choi founded TKD and was Master level in Shotokan karate.After 15 years of Military Japanese rule and Korean slavery --there is such HATRED for all things Japanese-name was changed and forms were changed {slightly9-24} Even in Korean Aikido'/Hapkido black skirt-Hakama is not allowed to be worn.Instead all students were simply white uniforms /same as most Karate schools.Anyone saying there is no HATRED for the 15 years of Japanese Occupation of Korea is ? somewhat misinformed.if Thousands of your women were forced into sexual slavery and your ancient swords destroyed - then perhaps there might be the HATRED that now still exists for many in Korea towards Japan.
> One friend is a Shotokan Master who studied 6 years in Japan said they are both the same.Sports RKD is a ,should I say a modified style w/o Pyong./{kata}
> When Light shines darkness leaves.



Han (한)  Han (cultural) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## KenpoMaster805 (Aug 24, 2016)

I choose karate Emty hand better than Taekwondo their more concentrate on kicking karate used both im taking American Kenpo karate and i used to take shotokan


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 25, 2016)

cloud dancing said:


> General Choi founded TKD



No, he did not. He founded the Oh Do Kwan and the ITF. He was one of many people who were fundamental in the development of what eventually became TKD. He certainly did not do it alone, and exactly how much each pioneer contributed is highly debatable.



cloud dancing said:


> and was Master level in Shotokan karate.



No, he was not. General Choi was ranked at 1st or 2nd Dan in Shotokan (I think 1st, but memory fails....) and had an HONORARY 4th Dan from the Chung Do Kwan, which was later revoked. That doesn't decrease his contribution to TKD, but the fact is that the only Master level rank he held was self-awarded.


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## paitingman (Aug 25, 2016)

As a korean guy who loves taekwondo and has done it almost all my life
(and this opinion isn't really too special or unique)
Taekwondo did not have direct influence from korean martial arts or what people argue are not even martial arts. 
It is a combination of foreign arts that has been influenced very heavily by Korean culture. (mainly its subtle fascination with kicking and leg movements). Multiple games involve mainly or exclusively kicking with the feet and such whether it's a sparkly ball, or another Taekkyon player. 
basically: Taekkyon as an activity I don't believe had much formative influence on Taekwondo. BUT the part of korean culture made koreans invent and enjoy activities like Taekkyon are what have brought us Taekwondo as we know it today. 
A very awesome and unique combination of mainly karate and korean culture.


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