1500 YEARS OLD – HAS MORE THAN 3000 TECHNIQUES
TAE KWON DO – The art of striking with the hands and feet.
TAE KWON DO is a Korean martial art that has rich historic roots.
TAE KWON DO developed from the ancient Korean martial art known as TAEK KYON (foot fighting)
TAE KWON DO is a combination of Taek Kyon and Japanese karate
TAE KWON DO was developed by S. Korean General Choi Hong Hi (General Choi)
General Choi was born in 1918 in North Korea during the time of a brutal military occupation by the Japanese. He was expelled from school for being anti-Japanese. His father then sent him to learn the ancient art of calligraphy (beautiful writing). It is under the calligraphy master Hon Il Dong, also a master of Taek Kyon, that Choi learned Taek Kyon. (Korean martial arts were forbidden by the Japanese government).
Choi was sent to Japan to further his education. After being threatened by a physically imposing Japanese wrestler, Choi began to study Japanese karate from a fellow Korean, Mr. Kim. Choi practiced every free minute he had.
Choi was forced to join the Japanese army during World War II. While at his post in Northern Korea he was arrested by Japanese authorities for planning the Korean Independence Movement. During his imprisonment, Choi refined his Taek Kyon and Japanese karate skills and laid the foundation for the Tae Kwon Do we know today.
After World War II Choi joined the S. Korean army and was rapidly promoted to General. In 1953 he created the 29th Infantry Division which is mentioned in the definition of HWA-RANG hyung.
In 1955 TAE KWON DO was officially recognized in Korea.
In 1960 Choi convinced Jhoon Rhee, a Korean Master teaching in the US to drop the term karate and begin using TAE KWON DO to describe his martial art style. This is the true start of TAE KWON DO in America. Grand Master Rhee is a living legend of the martial arts.
In 1966 the International Tae Kwon Do Federation (ITF) was formed. It is the ITF patterns (hyungs) we study.
General Choi died in 2002.
ITF practitioners study 24 patterens/hyungs/tuls/forms. One for each hour in the day.
CHANG HO (CHON JI) this is the formal name of the patterns of the ITF. These patterns are named for Choi’s pen name as a calligrapher.
CHANG HO means Blue Cottage