- P-ISSN0023-3900
- E-ISSN2733-9343
- A&HCI, SCOPUS, KCI
ISSN : 0023-3900
Evidence of Taekwondo’s Roots in Karate: An Analysis of the Technical Content of Early Taekwondo Literature
Abstract
The taekwondo establishment presents taekwondo as the descendent of ancient Koreanmartial arts. However, during the last two decades, some scholars have begun toquestion this presentation, contending instead that taekwondo is the product ofKoreans who studied karate in Japan during the Japanese colonial years, and thenintroduced karate to Korea after coming home. A comprehensive survey of the existingKorean martial arts literature published between 1945 and 1970 strongly supportsthe argument that early “taekwondo” had in fact been Japanese karate, or morespecifically, Funakoshi Gichin’s Shotokan karate. Therefore, the assertion that earlytaekwondo had its roots in Korean martial arts is difficult to sustain.
- keywords
- taekwondo, karate, quanfa, gwan, Korean martial arts, literature review
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