Korean History Books

[DWx]

Has anyone read of/know of a good book dealing with Korean MA history?

Anything to do with the history of Korean Arts in general or style specific would be helpful (it doesn't matter what style but I'd prefer something TKD based?). Or even if anyone's read a good book dealing with Korean culture or Japanese/Chinese influence on Korea.

Ran out of reading material so I thought I'd brush up on my history .

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks,

[bushido_man96]

The Muye Dobo Tongji is a very good read. There isn't much in it as far as TKD goes, but it is a good read on ancient Korean military arts.

You can find it here: http://www.turtlepress.com/Muye_Dobo_Tongji_hard_cover_p/mdtjh.htm

That is so cool, too! When I bought mine years ago, it was a soft cover, and I don't think they had the hard cover. Lucky for you!! This book should be just what you are looking for.

[YoungMan]

That's because Tae Kwon Do didn't exist when the Muye Tobo Tongi was written. What did exist was the precursors (subak, tae kyon) that eventually went into Tae Kwon Do later on. The section on empty hand fighting is actually pretty small. It was written for warriors, and warriors do not go into battle without weapons.

[DWx]

Thanks Bushidoman, looks like there's quite a range on Korean weaponary. Would have to see whether I can find it in the UK though.

[bushido_man96]

That's because Tae Kwon Do didn't exist when the Muye Tobo Tongi was written. What did exist was the precursors (subak, tae kyon) that eventually went into Tae Kwon Do later on. The section on empty hand fighting is actually pretty small. It was written for warriors, and warriors do not go into battle without weapons.

Yeah, I know. TKD didn't come along until 1955, and the kwans were mostly Shotokan re-designed.

That is one of the things that I liked about the book. There was no effort to try to mold TKD into the ancient Korean military arts.

[YoungMan]

Think of it like this: The Muye Tobo Tonggi was written almost 250 years ago as a military manual describing the methods of armed and unarmed combat in Korea for soldiers. Do we still use combat methods from 250 years ago in America? While there are certainly principles we can use that still work, for the most part times change and ways of thinking change. The Muye is to modern TKD what the black powder musket was to modern guns-obsolete compared to them

[bushido_man96]

Think of it like this: The Muye Tobo Tonggi was written almost 250 years ago as a military manual describing the methods of armed and unarmed combat in Korea for soldiers. Do we still use combat methods from 250 years ago in America? While there are certainly principles we can use that still work, for the most part times change and ways of thinking change. The Muye is to modern TKD what the black powder musket was to modern guns-obsolete compared to them

This may be the case. However, she said she was interested in history books. This book definitely fits the bill.

[DWx]

I'm definately looking into getting Muye Dobo Tongji. Looks quite interesting.

As for what I'm looking for in general, it does not have to be about TKD at all. I only mentioned TKD as it would be an added bonus to me but not really necessary. I'm kinda more interested in the development/orignal practice of the Korean MAs than learning about the history of the kwans anyway.

Thanks for the help though.

[bushido_man96]

As far as finding anything to really fill in the gaps between the Muye Dobo Tongji and anything current on TKD, I think will be really hard to find, due to the Japanese occupation of Korea.