From the WTF website:
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[TD]However, the Japanese colonial government totally prohibited all folkloric games including Taekkyon in the process of suppressing the Korean people. The martial art Taekkyon [Taekwondo] had been secretly handed down only by the masters of the art until the liberation of the country in 1945. Song Duk-Ki, one of the then masters testifies that his master was Im Ho who was reputed for his excellent skills of Taekkyon, "jumping over the walls and running through the wood just like a tiger." (explanation of taekkon techniques in muyedobo-tongji (general illustrations of techniques) (scene of contest).[/TD]
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and:
Upon liberation of Korea from the Japanese colonial rule after World War II, the Korean people began recovering the thought of self-reliance and the traditional folkloric games resumed their popularity. Song Duk-Ki, afore-mentioned master of Taekkyon, presented a demonstration of the martial art before the first republic of Korea president Syngman Rhee on the occasion of his birthday, clearly distinguishing Taekwondo from the Japanese Karate which had been introduced by the Japanese
Now, how do you reconcile the above "official history" with what is clearly known, and demonstrated in my post on page 2?
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Officials of the KTA, Kukkiwon and the WTF have stated, in writing that Taekwondo descends from multiple lines of martial arts lineage. Karate & Chuanfa being the most organized lines, and Taekkyon being the natural and indigenous line. From my many trips to Korea to specifically study Taekwondo, it's history and it's relation to Karate, Chuanfa and Taekkyon, I see no conflict. But maybe some of you and your exhaustive and extensive research surpasses my own. I would be interested in seeing the details of your findings.
What Glenn comparison of punching and wrestling being natural in western society, and kicking being natural in Korean society is correct. Korean people developed a natural use of their legs over millenia, walking up and down mountainous areas, daily. Korean people have a natural feel for using their legs in ways Westerners do not normal find natural. This is the root of Taekkyon. Taekkyon was a generic, Korean villager name for kicking, that is what it means in pure Korean, with no Hanja, it means simply kicking. There were two regions around Seoul that had groups who did focused training in Taekkyon in preparation for the Tanho Festival, there were no formalized dojangs, or even formalized training. It was a bunch of village guys who got together and traded techniques that were used successfully in the Taekkyon competition at last years festival. Those two regions of Seoul were called Woodae and Araedae. Those two groups were the two main rival groups at the Tanho Festival. Other competitions also took place at that festival, not just martial arts like Taekkyon and Ssiruum. The Tanho Festival continues to this day.
GM SONG Duk Ki was from Woodae and trained in the stable of IM Ho. What we know today of Taekkyon, 99% of it comes from GM Song. Taekkyon of today is not a modern creation, it is trained in a modern format, and organized in a modern structure to assist it's preservation and growth. The skills of Taekkyon today all descend directly from GM Song. GM Song had/has several dedicated students, some who started training with him as complete beginners, and some who came to him as experienced martial artist. A few of these students made a great effort to record everything that GM Song could teach them, which was a lot. However, GM Song stated to his scholarly disciples that he did not remember all of the skills or names of some skills that he had learned. There were also skills that GM Song remembered, but forgot their application. These scholarly students wrote it all done and created curriculum so that it could be saved.
One of GM Songs disciples, GM SHIN Han Seung, presented a collection of curriculum to the Korean Minister of Culture who after a study on the subject designated Taekkyon as an Intangible Cultural Asset of Korea. Recently the United Nations division UNESCO reviewed the validity of Taekkyon as an Intangible Cultural Asset of Humanity, awarded Taekkyon this official designation from UNESCO, making Taekkyon the first and only martial art in the world to get this qualification.
'Taekkyon,' 'tightrope walking' added to UNESCO intangible heritage list
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- Korea's martial art taekkyon and tightrope walking received world intangible heritage status from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Monday, the world body said.
In a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage added the Korean assets "taekkyon" and "jultagi" (tightrope walking) to the intangible list, it said."
So as Glenn pointed out, kicking (Taekkyon) has always been a part of Korea culture and it existed as a Korean methods of sport and self defense long before the arrival of Karate or Chuanfa, or other marital arts. When our Korean seniors meet with these martial arts of Karate, Chuanfa, etc, it was natural for them to blend it with the kicking they had already naturally grown up with.
Example: When face to face in an interview, I asked GM Chong Woo Lee, a founder of Jidokwan, KTA, Kukkiwon and WTF, and main proponent of "Olympic Sparring" --these questions, he told me that his teacher GM CHUN Sang Sup learned karate in Japan from Funakoshi Sensei, he also said that most of them had never taken any formal training in Taekkyon like they did Karate, but they had naturally liked to kick, saw Taekkyon skills and incorporated that experience into creating Taekwondo.
If we understood Korea a little better, we would understand what they are trying to tell us. The problem is, due to ignorance of Korean culture, some people express that ignorance by calling Korean's liars, thieves and cheats. But hate and ignorance are part of the same set of "defilements" which training CORRECTLY in martial arts is supposed to overcome, NOT magnify. If a person has been training CORRECTLY in martial arts for a long period of time, they would not have this sort of problem.