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thcentury, it has received influences from other arts, it now exists as both a sport and a self defence martial art.
At the turn of the 20th
This is one of the few arts that emphasises kicking above the waist, many other systems deem this to be inappropriate for street fighting as it takes a long time to develop effective high kicks and also it takes a split second longer to execute a high kick than it does a punch. Tae Kwon Do, nevertheless is a spectacular and dynamic art and understandably, for this reason many of the techniques in movies today derive from Tae Kwon Do and indeed many stunt men are familiar with the Tae Kwon Do practice.
Some of the unique and acrobatic style kicks incorporated into the Tae Kwon Do regime are the 360 degree spinning round kick, extremely devastating when placed accurately on target it often results in a knockout. The practitioner spins and jumps (as the name suggests) 360 degrees into a turning roundhouse kick placed onto the temple or jaw of an opponent with devastation results.
Two important movements in modern Tae Kwon Do are the International Tae Kwon Do Federation (ITF) and World Tae Kwon Do Federation, (WTF). The ITF is located at the Tae Kwon Do Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea, splintered into three groups located in Austria, Canada and North Korea respectively. The WTF, founded in 1973, has its headquarters in South Korea. The WTF coordinates international competitions, namely the events which take place at Olympics.
Under the WTF rules, as commonly practiced in the west, two competitors fight on a square matted area of 10m x 10m, three rounds, colour belts fight one minute rounds with 30 seconds breaks in between each. Black belts fight two minute rounds with a minute break in between. Kicks or punches must make contact with their targets with a good, reasonable amount of force in order to score points and a kick or punch scored to the body is one point, a kick to the head scores two points. Punches to the head, however, are not allowed and if an opponent is knocked to the ground by a good, clean technique an additional point is awarded to the attacker. To win a match one must either have a seven point lead over the competitor, be the first one to get a total of twelve points, or in the event of a tie, be the one to score first in a sudden death match.
The monk named Won Kwang Bupsa. left in his legacy the five comittments which practitioners were expected to abide by, and these expectations still form an important part of the philosophy of Tae Kwon Do today. They were:
- be loyal to your country
- honour your parents
- be faithful to your friends
- never retreat in battle
- use good judgement before killing