Alex Gillis is a university instructor, journalist and author of A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do. He has studied the art for 25 years in both ITF and WTF styles. Much like many of us who have studied Tae Kwon Do, he has heard fantastic stories of Tae Kwon Do from his instructors and other Taekwondoists. In this book Gillis grants us access to interviews and information from the early pioneers of the art. Along the way he also debunks a lot of the fantastic claims and dubious history that surrounds Tae Kwon Do.
Simple fact: Tae Kwon Do is not thousands of years old nor did it spring from the Hwrang warriors. Rather, it’s a derivative of Shotokan Karate that Choi originally learned while in Japan during the 1940′s. Nor, for that matter, is Choi the sole inventor of Tae Kwon Do. We have the art of Tae Kwon Do because of a poker game. The young and hot-tempered Choi Hong-Hi lost all his money on a game of poker and enraged a local wrestler by throwing a bottle of ink at him. This loss forced Choi to flee his village and later learn karate.
The books starts before the Second World War when Korea was occupied by the Japanese and Choi was a young man ready to set off to Japan to complete his education. From there we follow the story of Tae Kwon Do from Choi’s experiences of WW II, to the Korean civil war to the war waged between the ITF and WTF Taekwondo organizations. No political detail is spared as we learn how far Choi would go to keep control of his beloved ITF. Along the way we also learn how pioneers like Jhoon Rhee and others helped to develop the art.
Alex Gillis has written a biography of Tae Kwon Do and a gripping thriller that’s as worthy of a movie as the story of Ip Man! Included are Choi’s brushes with death and his involvement with the Korean CIA. What is also quite disappointing is the shear corruption and greed associated with Tae Kwon Do. As Gillis notes: “I am stuck on the path of Courtesy, which instructors in small gyms around the world know well but which is largely ignored by Tae Kwon Do’s leaders.”
The history of Tae Kwon Do is rightly titled ‘A Killing Art’ because it was created at a time when the martial art was used on the battle fields of Korea and Vietnam by the U.S. and South Korean military. This book is essential reading for karate players and taekwondoists and should be mandatory reading for both ITF and WTF styles.
-BCP
Could it be that TKD is a combination of all of the above? Shotokan Karate with some native Korean influence? With the fact that Gen. Choi was not the sole inventor of TKD I can only imagine that somewhere along the line that there were non-Karate stuff put into the TKD curriculum.
Korea does have its own martial arts history.
Derivative is accurate, I think. “Adapted from others.”
The base was Shotokan. Many of the early pioneers added new kicks, jumping kicks, turning kicks. Choi added sine wave to ITF style and also new forms. WTF moved away from punching the face during sport competition. Choi moved the down block from over the knee to over the groin — just to make it different than Shotokan!
When Choi unveiled it to the North Korean government he did not want to call it Tang So Do (aka Korean Karate). An official called it Taeykyon. Choi spent years re-branding it to Tae Kwon Do because of his hatred for Japan.
Every decade it’s evolved. Some styles are closer to Shotokan Karate than others. It just depends.
I’ve had two instructors tell the tale of ancient Hwarang warriors using Tae Kwon Do skills for assassination or for jumping in the air to kick enemies off their horses. That, my friend, is total bunk.
My brother in law who is a 2nd Dan TKD has read this book and thought it was very good. I would say with all respect to Andrew that it does not matter whether your art is mainly derived from Japan, ancient Korea, or Disneyland; TKD is what it is so enjoy it. TKD is no lesser an art today just because it may not have much influence from ancient Korean arts as previously.
Karate is the same, much of its history was conveniently re-written when the Okinawans took it to Japan. This is covered by the book Shotokan’s Secret, which Bob has reviewed else where.
As a Shotokan Karateka I have learnt to appreciate my art even more by knowing the real history behind it along with the fallabilities of the masters of old.
Bob: I hope you don’t mind, I intend to copy this review to my blog, with of course link back and credit to you
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Charlie,
I don’t mind at all; link and/or copy away! TKD can be a very effective martial art — whether you are looking for martial sport or self-defense. They key is to shop around!
In this article Alex Gillis talks about how the art may be dead or dying. I may have to contact him because I’m curious how he would propose rescuing it. Despite retiring from TKD it’s near and dear to me!
-BCP
Thanks Bob
I do think that there are plenty of people keeping it alive and kicking (if you’ll pardon the pun).
I think I may have shared this with you before, but this is my favourite TKD video which shows just how practical and devasting it can really be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFgHh1DRVS4.
This is Jason Burgess, 5th Dan TKD, based in Wells, Somerset, UK.
Hi Charlie,
Yes, I remember that one. Also there are plenty of instructors out there that are teaching an effective self-defense art. The trick, I think, is to find them.
To be honest, even if WTF would lose the Olympics (and I don’t think they will), TKD is here to stay. Be it ITF, WTF, or something in between which was what my old school taught.
I think there are plenty of GOOD instructors out there like Burgess, Gillis, and Tedeschi who continue to evolve the art.
Sounds interesting!
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