Among martial arts, many masters consider taekwondo to be the most effective. What is taekwondo, what are the history and subtleties of this method of fighting, described in the article.
Description
Taekwondo is a martial art without the use of weapons. His homeland is Korea. The literal translation from Korean means "the path done by bare feet and hands." Moreover, the legs play a special role, they are more actively involved in blocks and strokes than the hands.
When Choi Hong Hee, the one who revived this ancient skill, was asked: “Taekwondo - what is it?”, He replied that this is not just a powerful fighting technique without weapons to defeat one or more opponents, it is a cult, a way of life.
The main principles of Korean martial art are high spirituality, conscience, endurance, determination.
History
We already know what taekwondo is, what such a concept means. But few people know that the first mention of hand-to-hand combat, whose elements are very similar to taekwondo, dates back to the 1st century AD. Images of warriors are found on the imperial tombs of the Kogure dynasty. This period historically dates back to the era of the Three States. It was in this period that the birth of Korean martial art took place.
The next stage of its development took place during the heyday of the state of Koryo, when for the first time a separate school of taekwondo was allocated, accumulated knowledge was systematized, the studies of students, mainly soldiers and officers of the army, were organized.
The third period dates back to the existence of the Joseon state from the 14th century until the Japanese occupation in 1910-1945. Taekwondo was forbidden during this period, but clandestine teachers still trained students.
The fourth period is from 1945 (liberation from Japanese occupation) to the present day. Revived the Korean martial arts tradition of Choi Hong Hee.
Current state
Today, Korean martial art is the most common martial art, including children's taekwondo, which is widespread. 3 international organizations have been formed, headquarters in Vienna (Austria), GTF, office in Toronto (Canada), WTF, headquarters in Seoul (Korea) - this association is the main association, it has 206 branches around the world, and has nearly 30 million athletes.
It is noteworthy that the masters mainly rely on the development of martial art techniques from a scientific point of view. Maybe it was the scientific approach that determined the fact that today taekwondo sport is the most powerful martial art, in its arsenal there are a lot of spectacular tricks:
- hand breaking two bricks;
- breaking a leg in flight of boards fixed at a height of 3 meters;
- kick in flight through 11 people standing in a line;
- knocking out two goals in succession with a foot in a jump (this is one of the most difficult tricks);
- knocking a rider out of the saddle of a horse (another super-task for sports masters).
Competitions
Taekwondo has been a member of the Olympic Games since 2000 . The competition involves men and women in the categories of super lightweight, light, medium and heavy weight.
From 2000 to 2012, Korea received the most awards - 10 gold medals, 2 silver and bronze each.
The second place was shared by China, the United States and Taiwan. They collected only 8 medals, of which Chinese athletes - 5 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze, American fighters - 2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals, Taiwanese participants, respectively, 2 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze medals.
Mexico, Turkey and France took 6 medals each. Russian athletes were able to earn only 3 medals, and they did not take a single gold.
Taekwondo Belt System
As in other martial arts, the athlete’s skill level is determined by the belt system. Taekwondo school has 10 levels (kyp) of color belts. Starting at level 10 - white, white-yellow, yellow, yellow-green, green, green-blue, blue, blue-red, red and 1st kyp - the red belt - shows the highest level of skill in this category.
The next level after the colored ones is black belts, which correspond to 9 dan. Athletes under the age of 15 are not allowed to wear a black belt. A new dan is assigned, including for the accumulated number of training hours.
Dress
During training and competition kimono is used as a type of sportswear. For taekwondo, there are 3 types of it, depending on membership in a world school:
- ITF - students wear a velcro-wrap jacket. The kimono is trimmed with a black trim on the bottom. Material - cotton or blended fabric. ITF is embroidered on the back, chest and trousers. The belt is tied in 1 revolution.
- GTF - athletes wear the same taekwondo kimonos as ITF participants, only the fringing is colored and the emblem on the jacket has its own abbreviation.
- WTF - a sports jacket is included in the kit of a sports uniform in the form of a vest, which can be white, black or black and red. Bottom on the back and front of the jacket is embroidered WTF. The belt is tied 2 turns.
Combat technique
Taekwondo - what is it? This is a world famous martial art. The combat technique consists of many elements - 12 racks, 19 blocks, 13 types of punches, 25 types of punches (frontal, lateral, “scissors”, with a substep, with a bias, circular and others), punches with an open hand, fingers and others.
One of the unique taekwondo techniques is thyl. Represents multiple repetitions of one movement. It is done in a concentrated manner, conjugated with proper breathing, a kind of meditation practice. As a result, the development of techniques moves to an unconscious level, the body works independently, reflexively reacting to attacks of the enemy.