Taekkyon is a traditional bare-hand martial arts developed by the Korean people and is recognized as the original form of bare-hand martial arts in Korea.

Before the 6th century, Taekkyon was practiced by the ruling classes and from the 9th to 12th century, became very popular, even among the common people. According to the Koryusa, a Korean history book written in the 15th century, Taekkyon was widely encouraged and practiced by everyone from the king himself to farmers. This trend continued until the early Chosun Dynasty.

But as the society moved toward a system that encouraged education and literary pursuits and discouraged military pursuits, the practice of Taekkyon declined. By the 13 century, Taekkyon was considered a folk custom rather than an actively practiced martial art.

During the Japanese colonial period, Taekkyon was banned and nearly vanished. Fortunately Song Duk-ki (1893-1987) preserved the art and handed it down to modern day Koreans. After the independence of Korea, the practice of Taekkyon became considerably less popular than the practice of Japanese based arts. The establishment of Taekwondo after the Korean War and its subsequent popularity served to further overshadow the practice of Taekkyon.

Taekkyon began to rise in popularity again in the early 1980s. It was designated by the government as Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 76 on June 1, 1983 owing to the extensive efforts by Shin Han-seung (1928-1987), who learned Taekkyon from Song Duk-ki. After the death of both masters, Lee Yong-bok, who learned Taekkyon from these two masters in 1984, established the Korea Traditional Taekkyon Institute to revive Taekkyon. Through his efforts, a resurgence in Taekkyon practice resulted and on June 30, 1985, the first Taekkyon game in 80 years took place in Kooduk stadium located in Pusan.

On Jan. 1, 1991, the Korea Taekkyon Association was established and on Nov. 30, 1998, Taekkyon became an official member of the National Sports Council for All. On Feb. 2, 2001, the Korea Taekkyon Association entered officially into the Korea Sports Council and Taekkyon (under the auspices of the Korea Taekkyon Association) has been approved as a specialty sport by the Korea Sports Council. The Korea Taekkyon Association now has clubs and schools throughout Korea and supports more than 160 institutions, 110 university circles and 120 citizens’ clubs. It also has about 10 nationwide Taekkyon championship games every year.

Kyolryon Taekkyon

Kyolryon Taekkyon is also called Kyolryontae. It was a folk custom in which villagers were divided into two groups. Until the end of Chosun Dynasty, the citizens of Seoul divided themselves in a western group, called Woodae, and an eastern group, called Araedae, to play. On Tano day (the 15th day of the 5th lunar month), the two groups gathered in a large field at dusk and began to play.

First, children matched up. This was usually called Aeki-Taekkyon. Afterwards, the adults played. Of these people, the people with lower skills took turns first and those with higher skills followed. The winner of each match could choose any new challenger. In this manner, the matches became more exciting and interesting as they progressed. The winner of the final match was called An-mageum Chang-sa, which means the best player. No award was given to the winner, but he was celebrated as a hero by both teams.

To win a match, the player has to take his opponent down by throwing or kicking the opponent's head. The loser has to tap the ground with the palm of his hand to admit that he has lost. The playing ground was usually made by laying two straw mats. People also played on sandy grounds or on grass. This game was banned by the Japanese police during the Colonial period and later vanished.

The practice of Kyolryon Taekkyon was been revived by Lee, Yong-bok (Chairman of Korea Traditional Taekkyon Institute) in 1995 at Kyongbok palace with a large scale competition and has been demonstrated regularly on Tano day (15th day of Lunar month May) since that time.

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