Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

606 T’aek’kyŏn
section consisted of competition, and the fourth a form, which was a compendium
of all the fundamental techniques involved in competition.
Sin was criticized for some aspects of his system, particularly the form.
Some claimed that it altered the original style of t’aek’kyŏn, as taught by
Song Tŏk-ki, too much. Several of these critics, who had also studied with
Song, went on to establish their own associations. Even so, Sin is generally
given credit for having done the most to preserve and spread t’aek’kyŏn. It
would never have attained government recognition without his efforts.
Song Tŏk-ki and Sin Hhan-sŭng both died in 1987, twenty days apart.
There are two ways to approach the influence of t’aek’kyŏn on Korea
and Korean fighting arts. The first is the view that it had direct, technical
connections with the modern styles. The second is to concentrate on its
conceptual influence—that is, the associations and images that the name
t’aek’kyŏn evoked. The first view has generated controversy. The most disputed
is the view that taekwondo grew directly out of t’aek’kyŏn. In Korea,
the leaders of the present t’aek’kyŏn associations disavow any direct
connection with taekwondo. Experiential knowledge of t’aek’kyŏn can be
conclusively traced to a very few individuals, and none were linked to those
who later went on to establish taekwondo.
T’aek’kyŏn’s conceptual influence is a much different matter. Those
who grew up during the Japanese occupation and immediately after may
have heard of t’aek’kyŏn through older relatives, but probably never saw it.
Hence, the notion of t’aek’kyŏn as the Korean way of fighting grew in the
popular imagination, even among those who had never seen it. People knew
that at one time there had been a way of fighting called t’aek’kyŏn that specialized
in kicking. References to t’aek’kyŏn had the effect of calling up associations
with Korean life before the occupation and the war, a life of
which only traces remained. Song Tŏk-ki himself, as a survivor from that
time, evoked the old life as well. T’aek’kyŏn still retains these associations.
It is this sense of history embodied in the name t’aek’kyŏn that has most influenced
modern Korean martial arts. When the name taekwondo was suggested
as the new name for the martial arts practiced by the various Korean
schools in the 1950s, it was to connect these arts with the popular memory
of t’aek’kyŏn and the associations that it called up. In these references, Korean
fighting meant fighting mostly with the legs, a notion that probably
contributed to the emphasis on kicking in modern taekwondo.
Whatever its presence in memory, t’aek’kyŏn itself is still somewhat
obscure in Korea, and there are relatively few schools teaching it. Many
Koreans identify the name with taekwondo, associate it with Chinese martial
arts, or simply are unaware of what it might be. There are signs that it
is growing more popular, with t’aek’kyŏn clubs in most large universities
and competitions broadcast on national television.