Tek-yon

[Jay]

I recently heard of this korean martial art and i would like to know more about it if possible, some history, techniques, forms etc

[bushido_man96]

I assume you are discussing Taek-yon, which was a predecessor to TKD in ancient times. The Taekwondo Textbook (from Kukkiwon) states that taek-yon was the hand and foot fighting style that formed the basis of the young fighting corps (the Hwarang and Sonbae groups) of the three nations on the penninsula at that time. There are murals and painting dating back to between 57 and 37 B.C.

[Sam]

not to be a pain but... im sure if u go to search and type

taekyon or some other form of that then ull find it theres loads of really good posts on this...

[Kill Jill]

There was a post on Taekkyon not so long ago if I recall...

Taekkyon is based on Kwon Bop, a Chinese martial art, and incorporates a mainly kicking-based approach. Taekkyon was outlawed by the time of Japanese occupation between 1910 and 1945, and has only recently been revived in Korea as a 'heritage sport.' Revival has been mainly channeled through the sports universities here. You can occasionally watch some televised tournaments on local channels. Partipants will wear traditional dress. Westerners might look a bit funny in such clothing, and I've never seen any female participants as yet. It's hard to re-stimulate its popularity. Ask any young Korean kid what Taekkyon is, and they won't know.

[mtheiss]

I think it is appropriate to recreate "heritage sports", especially if they are genuine percursers to modern national sports. I think it is appropriate for TKD sports universities to consider a traditional base such as what you are talking about before actively teaching TKD. Not knowing how serious TKD sparring matches are like in Soul and the other cities, I can not say what level of consideration one should have to doing as much training as possible before being ready. However, knowing your reaction to one of our American athletes, I would not challenge a Soul resident to traditional TKD without at least considering that such percurser sports are at least on your history books.

Martin

[Tomcat]

Kill Jill, you haven't seen ANY female players? I have seen a handful female Taekkyon practicioners, but I would say that is normal ecause I think that only around 5% of all practioners are female. I am surprised that you have seen none.

I am also surprised that you would state that any Korean kid wouldn't know Taekkyon. I would imagine a great amount do. Of course everyone in Korea knows TaeKwonDo, but a TON of people also know and are proud of Taekkyon.

I would like to know what everyone's opinion on Taekkyon are as a serious martial art. To me it is people trying to revive the good old days, something such as accordion-playing.

[Tomcat]

Kill Jill, you haven't seen ANY female players? I have seen a handful female Taekkyon practicioners, but I would say that is normal ecause I think that only around 5% of all practioners are female. I am surprised that you have seen none.

I am also surprised that you would state that any Korean kid wouldn't know Taekkyon. I would imagine a great amount do. Of course everyone in Korea knows TaeKwonDo, but a TON of people also know and are proud of Taekkyon.

I would like to know what everyone's opinion on Taekkyon are as a serious martial art. To me it is people trying to revive the good old days, something such as accordion-playing.

[aefibird]

If anyone in the Uk gets "TKD & Korean Martial Arts" magazine then there's a good article about Taekkyon in this month's issue.

[Kill Jill]

http://I would like to know what everyone's opinion on Taekkyon are as a serious martial art. To me it is people trying to revive the good old days, something such as accordion-playing.

How do you define a 'serious martial art'?

In my opinion, it seems that despite it's 'antiquity', you still need a high level of training for taekyon at competition level. If a certain training form is giving you satisfaction, you devote a reasonable amount of time to it and you are developing your physical skills, to me that is serious martial arts for an individual. I think accordion playing has an equal value to the electric guitar. If you like the look of Taekyon, then you should take it up. If you want the bone crushing, battering to death of the K1 circuit, then you should opt for that. The more variety of martial arts, the better.

No, I've still not seen any females participating, although I'm not doubting that there are any at all. Just that Korean TV hasn't devoted any slot to female taekyon rounds as far as I've noticed.

From what I've heard, Taekyon has ironically seemingly gathered greater revival in the States than in Korea.