Karate = Tae kwon Do??

[bushido_man96]

I have noticed that especially American martial arts schools tend to use the label "karate" to give more immediate meaning to their art. They tend not to differentiate as much as other countries.

TKD is in my opinion definitely not Karate-Do. Karate-Do possesses rich philosophical and inner strength syllabi. While TKD possesses something of the kind, the sheer richness and depth of both these syllabi seen in acceptable Karate-Do Dojo is not seen in TKD circles.

I find it interesting how TKD follows a "Kata" format similar to Shotokan. The kata syllabuses practised by both seems to be very similar. However, in Shotokan and similar styles of Karate-Do, much greater attention is paid to detail; the interchange between hard and quick kime; hip vibration, rhythm; breathing method, and so on.

TKD versions of the kata such as Heian (Pinan, I think, in TKD); Jion and so on, purely bore me.

Hm. Enough of my talk. Silence is more golden, afterall, and far more eloquent.

TKD has a lot in common with Shotokan because most of the Korean masters learned Shotokan in Japan, where they were usually educated. When Korea was no longer occupied, they modified it and gave it their own flavor, and called it TKD.

[Steve_K]

Karate basically means any japanese striking art. Similarly, Tae Kwon Do originally meant pretty much the same thing, until it became an olympic sport and there became a stark contrast between original and olympic TKD. Therefore, since TKD was greatly influenced by the japanese arts, it is certainly understandable that someone would market it as Karate, so people don't assume that since it's TKD, the school is just a bunch of people wearing vests and funny hats trying to kick eachother in the face, no offense to sport TKD practitioners.

I sometimes tell people that I do Karate, just so they have a better immediate idea of what I do.

[bushido_man96]

When TKD first came on the scene in the U.S., it got coined as "Korean Karate" in order to draw people to the name. Then later, they were told it is actually TKD.

[Rick_72]

The only thing silly about using Karate on the front of a TKD school is that isn't Karate a Japanese word for "Empty Hand"? Or Karate Do "the way of the empty hand"? So basically all it is is a Korean martial art being described by a Japanese word.

Of course none of that means anything until you learn those meanings. Its just funny is all.

[bushido_man96]

The only thing silly about using Karate on the front of a TKD school is that isn't Karate a Japanese word for "Empty Hand"? Or Karate Do "the way of the empty hand"? So basically all it is is a Korean martial art being described by a Japanese word.

Of course none of that means anything until you learn those meanings. Its just funny is all.

It is kind of funny that you mention this, because kara-te used to mean China Hand, until the Japanese changed the idiogram(??) to make it mean empty hand, to try to break its ties to China, and make it Japan's own, which is kind of what TKD has done with Shotokan!

Wow, the soap opera of the martial arts! We took that one full circle, didn't we?

[isshinryu5toforever]

PlasmaShock, you may call it disgusting, but that man would call it patriotism. Japan tried to wipe out Korean culture from 1910-1945. They weren't just colonizing Korea, they were trying to commit a cultural genocide. Koreans were forced to take Japanese names, they forced Korean women to become "comfort women" (look up the term if you don't know what it is), and they began schooling children in Japanese without allowing them to speak Korean. If someone wanted to become educated they had to learn Japanese and travel to Japan. Sorry, it's a big subject for me, and I'm a history major so...

And Tang Soo Do has been around since the Chinese Tang Dynasty in the 6-900s. It was brought to the Shilla dynasty of south-western Korea.

However, Korean martial arts existed long before that. The cultural purging by the Japanese nearly destroyed those arts. All that is really left is the game Tekkyon. It's more like a dance than anything resembling a true martial art. Korea's history has been found to parallel China's and predate Japan's. That's right Japan came after Korea. TaeKwonDo came from Shotokan, but the Taeguk poomsae have been created to eliminate the Japanese influence, although the techniques are primarily Japanese. If you look at ITF however, their patterns are a little more unique. They are also named after Korean heroes, events, and ideals to invoke a sort of patriotism.

[GOM]

However, Korean martial arts existed long before that.

Which MA would that be? Hapkido? No, as hapkido came from judo/ju jitsu. G/Kumdo? No again, that was also influenced from Iaido/Kendo. Sirrum? Nope, that was also from an older version of Sumo.

Tekkyon wasn't considered a MA until after the Japanese occipation, or so I believe.

[Zorbasan]

they should be reffered to separately, but they should also accept the fact that they both have a common ground.

hell, just look at the similarities of the ITF patterns and shotokan kata.

calling them the same is like saying that burger king and maccas is the same. they are both different but they are still both crappy hamburgers.

[bushido_man96]

they should be reffered to separately, but they should also accept the fact that they both have a common ground.

hell, just look at the similarities of the ITF patterns and shotokan kata.

calling them the same is like saying that burger king and maccas is the same. they are both different but they are still both crappy hamburgers.

Hey, man, c'mon! I love the Whopper!

But you are right. It would seem that TKD is kind of like Shotokan's little brother.

[jaymac]

they should be reffered to separately, but they should also accept the fact that they both have a common ground.

hell, just look at the similarities of the ITF patterns and shotokan kata.

calling them the same is like saying that burger king and maccas is the same. they are both different but they are still both crappy hamburgers.

Hey, I like Big Macs, and are you saying that ITF patterns and Shotokan kata are different but both crappy?