Korean martial art Taekwondo (한국의 무술 ‘태권도’)
Taekwondo is a martial art that anybody can easily learn!Taekwondo is an internationally accredited sport that uses only the hands and the feet to attack and defend, without the use of any weapons.It’s a representative martial art of East Asia, alongside Chinese kung fu, or wushu, and Japanese karate.It has been called "taekwondo" since 1957, and has been continuously developed by combining the hand movements of Korea’s traditional subak martial art, and the feet movement of Korea's traditional taeggyeon martial art. Together, they form the taekwondo of today.There are many martial arts around the world, and they were mostly created to prepare against invasion. The same applies to taekwondo, and it's currently being practiced by people all over the world as a sport that trains both the body and mind.Traditional martial arts were developed during a time of tribal states and became a religious ceremony. During the Three Kingdoms of Korea, martial arts were directly related to defense as they were a major combat skill. Along with the changing times, martial arts transformed from a skill for fighting to one of training the body and mind. A poomsae, or series of movements, is the base of taekwondo. The trainee battles a virtual enemy, and gains more and more skills by connecting the basic movements of offense and defense.The name "taekwondo" means “a martial art that uses the hands and feet.” As such, it displays an array of skills using the hands and feet. Taekwondo hand movements are the most basic of actions. The following skills are directed to attack the vital points of the enemy. The jireugi uses the front of the fist. The chigi uses the back of the fist, and the jjireugi involves using the ends of the hands to attack the pressure points of the opponent. The makgi uses the outer and inner arm to block an attack.The balchagi is a kick, and is considered a beautiful movement.In international tournaments, it’s the move that garners the most points.Once proficient, the kick holds enough power to break hard materials, such as pine boards, roof tiles and even bricks.The forward kick is the most basic kick, and is predominantly used to attack the opponent’s faceor torso.The side kick attacks the opponent using the blade of the foot and heel, rotating the body sideways.Unlike the front and side kick, the thrashkick involves a rotating, spinning kick.These basic actions can be used on their own, but by combining these moves in various combinations, the attack power and artistic beauty of the martial art increases.Taekwondo originally began as a martial art, but it’s currently widening its horizons to become a performance art by incorporating a wider variety of cultural content.Based on the practitioner's restrained and splendid skill, taekwondo is now garnering attention again as a performance art worth seeing.With 209 countries as members of the World Taekwondo(WT), more than 100 million people are learning taekwondo worldwide.Taekwondo is continuously developing as a martial art that trains bodies and minds all around the world. 2017.12.30