Tae-Kwon-Do - (Contributors: Dakin Burdick, Ray Terry)

Intro:  
One of the most popular sports and martial arts in the world.

Origin: Korea

History:       
The five original Korean Kwans ("schools") were:
Chung Do Kwan
Moo Duk Kwan (the art of Tang Soo Do)
Yun Moo Kwan, Chang Moo Kwan
Chi Do Kwan. 

These were founded in 1945 and 1946.  Three more Kwans were founded in the early 1950's:
Ji Do Kwan
Song Moo Kwan
Oh Do Kwan.

After fifty years of occupation by Japan (which ended in 1945) and after the division of the nation and the Korean War, Korean nationalism spurred the creation of a national art in 1955, combining
the styles of the numerous kwans active within the country (with the exception of Moo Duk Kwan, which remained separate - therefore Tang Soo Do is still a separate art from TKD today).  Gen. Hong Hi Choi was primarily responsible for the creation of this new national art, which was named Tae Kwon Do to link it with Tae-Kyon (a native art). Earlier unification efforts had been called Kong Soo Do, Tae Soo Do, etc. Many masters had learned Japanese arts during the occupation, or had
learned Chinese arts in Manchuria.  Only a few had been lucky enough to be trained by the few native martial artists who remained active when the Japanese banned all martial arts in Korea.  Choi himself had taken Tae-Kyon (a Korean art) as a child, but had earned his 2nd dan in Shotokan Karate while a student in Japan.
               
Description:
Primarily a kicking art.  There is often a greater emphasis on the sport aspect of the Art. Tae-Kwon-Do stylists tend to fight at an extended range, and keep opponents away with their feet. It is a
hard/soft, external, fairly linear style.  It is known for being very powerful.

Training:
Training tends to emphasize sparring, but has forms, and basics are important as well.  There is a lot of competition work in many dojongs.

The World Taekwondo Federation is the governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee, and as a result WTF schools usually emphasize Olympic-style full contact sparring.  The WTF is represented in the U.S. by the U.S. Taekwondo Union (USTU).

The International Taekwondo Federation is an older organization founded by Hong Hi Choi and based out of Canada. It tends to emphasize a combination of self-defense and sparring, and uses forms
slightly older than those used by the WTF.

The American Taekwondo Association is a smaller organization similar in some ways to the ITF.  It is somewhat more insular than the ITF and WTF, and is somewhat unique in that it has copyrighted the forms of its organization so that they cannot be used in competition by non-members.

There are numerous other federations and organizations, many claiming to be national (AAU TKD has perhaps the best claim here) or international (although few are), but these three have the most
members.  All of these federations, however, use similar techniques (kicks, strikes, blocks, movement, etc.), as indeed does Tang Soo Do (another Korean art, founded by the Moo Duk Kwan, that remained independent during the unification/foundation of Tae Kwon Do).

Sub-Styles: 
None(?)

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