What is traditional Taekwondo?

One of the most compelling statements to make about traditional Taekwondo is that it has a tradition of change. Over the years, Taekwondo has changed and developed based on social and political environments from the original Kwan’s that opened after Japanese occupation ended and before and after the Korean War. Even today, the Kukkiwon changes the methods of techniques based on changes to the sport or the refinement of technique from a new persons point of view.

The art in these original Kwan’s was extremely close to hard style Karate, although they did have some unique training methods. They did have their own variations in their forms, but the techniques and much of the art was the same as hard style Karate. They had the same uniform, same rank system, same forms etc. The techniques favoured straight linear power strikes, and the art was very "simple" compared to today’s focus on high kicks, intricate footwork and acrobatics. The modern mainstream WTF Taekwondo is indeed something entirely different from the Taekwondo from the original Kwan’s from the 40s to 50s. In the journey from "self-defence combat art" to "martial sport" many traditional training methods have fallen out of favour or disappeared all together.

One of the traditional training methods from the old Kwan’s was a device called “Dallyon Joo”. It used to be an important part of training but has disappeared with the change of focus for Taekwondo globally. Dallyon Joo means “forging post” and is the Korean equivalent of Karate’s Makkiwara. It is a post that you strike continuously to develop power in your strikes, blocks and kicks. A lot of early books on Taekwondo mention this type of training and it’s important in developing powerful techniques. Today it is mostly forgotten.

Most mainstream Dojang’s today teach the basic techniques of Taekwondo, Poomsae (patterns) and sparring although the sparring is most likely to be competition style. If you are lucky, your club may also teach self-defence and breaking although breaking is becoming less of a focus for power and more focused around flashier demonstrations. The five main foundations of traditional Taekwondo though in my view are Basic Techniques, Poomsae, Sparring, Self Defence and Breaking. That is not to say that people who only teach two or three of the above are not teaching “traditional” Taekwondo. The whole phrase traditional Taekwondo is open for interpretation. These are merely my beliefs on traditional Taekwondo.

Maybe there is no "Traditional Taekwondo" left. Personally I think the tradition in Taekwondo is change. Maybe for the better or maybe not. I guess it all depends on what you want out of your journey. That being said, the label "Traditional Taekwondo" should be used only by those who at least as a minimum practice all the "foundations of Taekwondo" and whose practice methods are in line with the art as taught in the old Kwan’s.

Over the next few weeks, I will go into the foundations in more detail from my viewpoint.


Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia