The Kwans

Chapter 2 found a documented older tradition but no unbroken line from it to the modern art. The modern art's own story starts in the 1940s, with a handful of schools in Seoul and a long argument about what to call what they taught. This chapter reads that story: who founded the kwans, what training they had, how the name "taekwondo" was chosen, and how it was spread through the army and the government.

What a Kwan Is

The Kwan article gives the word as Korean for "building or hall", which in martial arts "can also refer to a school or clan of martial artists who follow the same style or leader". The Taekwondo article says that "beginning in 1945, shortly after the end of World War II and the Japanese occupation, new martial arts schools called kwans opened in Seoul", founded "by Korean martial artists with backgrounds in Japanese and Chinese martial arts". It adds that the founders "who were able to study in Japan were exposed to Japanese martial arts, including karate, judo, and kendo, while others were exposed to the martial arts of China and Manchuria".

The Original Kwans

The Kwan article lists "five kwans" and then "nine kwans". The five, as it describes them:

The "nine kwans" are the five plus four opened in the 1950s: Han Moo Kwan (1954), Oh Do Kwan (1955, founded by Choi Hong-hi), Kang Duk Won (1956) and Jung Do Kwan (1956). The article says that by 1960 there were 40 kwans, that by 1974 the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) "had succeeded in consolidating the 40 schools into nine major schools", and that by 1978 a "Unification Proclamation" had all nine agree to abide by Kukkiwon-style taekwondo and rank promotions, though "many of the schools split during this period, with some factions still practicing (even today) their original martial arts styles".

Karate and the Question of Roots

Chapter 1 set out the two schools of thought: traditionalism ("the origins of taekwondo are indigenous") and revisionism ("the prevailing theory", that it "is rooted in karate"). The kwan table is the evidence the revisionist view leans on. Three of the five founders are described as having studied karate in Japan (Shotokan and Shudokan are named), and the Taekwondo article states that before 1955 "Tang Soo Do" was "the term used for Korean karate", written with the characters for the Japanese word karate-dō. The Choi Hong-hi article says Choi studied karate in Japan, reached first dan in 1939, and "combined elements of Oh Do Kwan Karate and Tang Soo Do to develop a style of the martial art known as 'Taekwondo'".

The kwan table also shows the traditionalist side's evidence, because several founders are said to have trained in taekkyeon or in Chinese arts. Hwang Kee is described as having "discovered Soo Bahk, a traditional Korean martial art from Muyedobotongji" in 1957, and in 1960 the Korean Soo Bahk Do Association was registered "as the traditional Korean martial art". That is the same manual and the same word met in Chapter 2. So the sources show founders drawing on Japanese, Chinese and older Korean material at once; the argument is over which was the main root, and I do not decide it here.

How the Name Was Chosen

The Taekwondo article describes how a single art was sought and how the name emerged:

1. 1952. President Syngman Rhee saw a demonstration by Army officers Choi Hong-hi and Nam Tae-hi, "misrecognized the technique on display as taekkyon", and "urged martial arts to be introduced to the army under a single system".
2. From 1955. The kwan leaders "began discussing in earnest the possibility of creating a unified Korean martial art". Until then "Tang Soo Do" was the term for Korean karate, and "Tae Soo Do" (tae "to stomp, trample", su "hand", do "way") was also used for a unified style.
3. The new name. Choi advocated "Tae Kwon Do", replacing su "hand" with kwon "fist". The article says the name "was also the closest to the pronunciation of 'taekkyon'". It was "initially slow to catch on among the leaders of the kwans", but when taekwondo "was also adopted for use by the South Korean military", that "increased its popularity among civilian martial arts schools".

The Choi article adds a specific date: the style was "so named on 11 April 1955". Note that the Taekwondo article gives only "beginning in 1955" for the discussions, so the 11 April date is a single article's claim.

The Fight Over One Style

The Korea Tae Soo Do Association was set up in 1959 "to facilitate the unification of Korean martial arts". The article says Choi "wanted all the other member kwans of the KTA to adopt his own Chang Hon-style of Taekwon-Do, as a unified style", but "this was, however, met with resistance as the other kwans instead wanted a unified style to be created based on inputs from all the kwans". It gives two reasons for his break with the KTA in 1966: that disagreement, and "political disagreements about teaching Taekwon-Do in North Korea and unifying the whole Korean Peninsula". Chapter 4 picks up from there with the two organisations that resulted.

Who Counts as Founder?

The Choi article says he is "regarded by many as the 'Founder of Taekwon-Do'", most often "by organizations belonging to the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF)", while "others, such as World Taekwondo, portray Choi as either an unimportant or a dishonorable figure in taekwondo history because of his defection to North Korea, either by omitting him from their versions of taekwondo history or through explicit statements". The article says ITF organisations "have consistently claimed that ITF-style taekwondo is the only authentic style". So even who counts as the founder is a claim with an owner on each side. The article also credits Choi, "together with other Korean martial arts instructors", as "a major contributor to the global expansion of taekwondo", which Chapter 6 takes up.

Reading Rules From This Chapter

1. Founders' histories are accounts. A founder's own origin story can change (Choi's taekkyeon story), and rank claims are also claims.
2. Count carefully. "Original kwans" can be five or nine depending on the source; the same goes for the date a school opened.
3. One source, one date. A precise date such as 11 April 1955 that only one article gives is worth marking as such.
4. Mixed training is the norm. The sources describe Japanese, Chinese and Korean strands in the founders' backgrounds. A question like "which root?" has to say what it is measuring.

Exercises

Next chapter: Two Organisations, which looks at the split between the International Taekwon-Do Federation and World Taekwondo, the role of the Kukkiwon, and what the sources say about politics, with a short factual note on North Korea.