“American Taekwondo” as Karate?

[Michele123]

This is something that kind of bugs me, but maybe shouldn’t?

When I first started looking to get back into martial arts I looked around a 30 min radius of my home. *Most* of the schools had “karate” in the school name but didn’t specify on their website what style they were. Inquiries through social media messages revealed that they were all “American Taekwondo.”

First of all, huh? And second, Taekwondo is a martial art, but not a type of karate. If your art is legit, why hide your style?

I don’t get it. It was also very frustrating as I was trying to find something close to my original art. I found MMA, BJJ, one KKW Taekwondo, and a bunch of “karate” schools that were “American Taekwondo” (oh, and had astronomical tuition fees compared to the non American Taekwondo schools, like you have to put several thousand dollars down to even start). There are no *real* karate schools anywhere near me. Can anyone enlighten me as to this strange phenomenon where there is an Americanized version of Taekwondo that calls itself a karate and doesn’t advertise its actual style? I still find it rather annoying.


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[skribs]

This is something that kind of bugs me, but maybe shouldn’t?

When I first started looking to get back into martial arts I looked around a 30 min radius of my home. *Most* of the schools had “karate” in the school name but didn’t specify on their website what style they were. Inquiries through social media messages revealed that they were all “American Taekwondo.”

First of all, huh? And second, Taekwondo is a martial art, but not a type of karate. If your art is legit, why hide your style?

I don’t get it. It was also very frustrating as I was trying to find something close to my original art. I found MMA, BJJ, one KKW Taekwondo, and a bunch of “karate” schools that were “American Taekwondo” (oh, and had astronomical tuition fees compared to the non American Taekwondo schools, like you have to put several thousand dollars down to even start). There are no *real* karate schools anywhere near me. Can anyone enlighten me as to this strange phenomenon where there is an Americanized version of Taekwondo that calls itself a karate and doesn’t advertise its actual style? I still find it rather annoying.


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My Master was asking me to help me search optimize his website (something I know nothing about and wasn't able to help with), he wanted "Taekwondo" and "Karate" and "Martial Arts", etc. to show up in the search. For a lot of Americans, there isn't a real distinction between Taekwondo and Karate, and to some degree either of those and Kung Fu. My opinion is that in some areas - sometimes the most important areas - there is a significant overlap in these three arts anyway.

So it might just be to get people in because a lot of people think "karate" is "Martial Art" just like "Xerox" means "copier" and "Skribs" means "awesome person".

 

[Azulx]

It's a western thing. Karate and TKD are seen as the same thing . My original instructor taught American TKD and called it karate all the time. It really bugged me , but then over time I stopped getting hung up on names. Now I feel that unless you are in ITF or KKW you can call either karate or TKD.

 

[JR 137]

I’ve never heard TKD caller American Karate before. I’ve heard it called Korean Karate though.

It aggravates me when it’s called karate. I know it shouldn’t bother me, but it just does. It really bothers me when a horrible TKD McDojo call itself karate. I always think “just when karate was cool again, these guys had to come along and undo everything.” I’m not saying all TKD is bad and/or McDojo.

 

[Mitlov]

Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Korean knows that "Hyundai" is not pronounced "Hun-day," but the car company runs ads in the US where they call themselves "Hun-day." Why? Because sometimes name recognition matters more than technical correctness.

My school has "Karate" above the door. It's actually a chun kuk do school. Chun kuk do is an offshoot of tang soo do. Tang soo do is derived from karate do (and in fact, is the Korean pronunciation of karate do). Is it correct? I dunno, maybe. Either the school is good or it isn't. The name isn't how you tell.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Taekwondo is nothing more or less than the Korean pronunciation of the kanji that the Japanese pronounce karate. The roots of TKD are very firmly planted in Shotokan karate, in which nearly all of the founders were ranked prior to the liberation of Korea.
So why would it be shocking to hear TKD referred to as a type of Karate?

 

[Mitlov]

Taekwondo is nothing more or less than the Korean pronunciation of the kanji that the Japanese pronounce karate. The roots of TKD are very firmly planted in Shotokan karate, in which nearly all of the founders were ranked prior to the liberation of Korea.
So why would it be shocking to hear TKD referred to as a type of Karate?

Actually, it's tang soo do, not taekwondo, that's the Korean pronunciation of karate. Karate do (with the original kanji) and Tang Soo Do both mean "the Chinese hand way." Taekwondo means "the foot fist way."

 

[Jaeimseu]

It’s all about recognition. My school is called United States Taekwondo, but our website is budakarate.com. I don’t think most prospective students have a really good grasp of the differences between arts, especially arts that use uniforms and belts.


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[Michele123]

Ok. So I guess I can understand the marketing aspect. But then why don’t they post their style anywhere on the website? The other styles’ websites around here list (for instructor) the style(s), their rank(s) in said style(s), and who they studied under.


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[jobo]

Ok. So I guess I can understand the marketing aspect. But then why don’t they post their style anywhere on the website? The other styles’ websites around here list (for instructor) the style(s), their rank(s) in said style(s), and who they studied under.


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Because The use of " American "as a prefix denotes it as something different to ordinary Tkw, or karate. The American have been making up their own meaning for English words for two hundred years, I'm not sure why people are getting irate that they are doing the same for other languages.

 

[mrt2]

My former school taught, and teaches Tang Soo Do. But they also say Karate in their school name and on their website. My guess is that like others, when the school opened over 40 years ago, nobody knew what Tang Soo Do was, but lots of folks heard of Karate. My current school advertises itself as TKD. T

Just for laughs, I did a Google search of "karate" studios in my area. Out of the more than two dozen martial arts places including TKD, MMA, kickboxing, etc... was one place that actually taught Japanese Karate.

 

[CB Jones]

If your art is legit, why hide your style?

The school my son trains at refers to itself as Korean Karate.

It’s founder trained in Korea in the late 40s and early 50s. He returned to the US and started his school in 1954 under the style name Korean Karate.

After unification of the kwons and the decision to call the style TKD, he remained independent.

He also helped Robert Trias start the United States Karate Association.

So it is Karate.....not hiding anything.

But in reality, what is important, the name or the content.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Because The use of " American "as a prefix denotes it as something different to ordinary Tkw, or karate. The American have been making up their own meaning for English words for two hundred years, I'm not sure why people are getting irate that they are doing the same for other languages.

We learned it from the English making up new uses for French words.

 

[pdg]

We learned it from the English making up new uses for French words.

Oi, I'll have you know we stole were generously given words from all over the world tyvm.

Perks of empire

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Oi, I'll have you know we stole were generously given words from all over the world tyvm.

Perks of empire

As Eddie Izzard says, "with the cunning use of flags."

 

[WaterGal]

Ok. So I guess I can understand the marketing aspect. But then why don’t they post their style anywhere on the website? The other styles’ websites around here list (for instructor) the style(s), their rank(s) in said style(s), and who they studied under.

They may figure "most parents don't know anything about martial arts anyway, so why confuse them with details about the relatively obscure branch of TKD that we teach". We have "Taekwondo" everywhere, on our website, our windows... and still get people contacting us every week asking about karate classes for their kids, because to them "karate" means "martial arts".

 

[Michele123]

They may figure "most parents don't know anything about martial arts anyway, so why confuse them with details about the relatively obscure branch of TKD that we teach". We have "Taekwondo" everywhere, on our website, our windows... and still get people contacting us every week asking about karate classes for their kids, because to them "karate" means "martial arts".

Fair enough, I would just expect that somewhere on the “about us” page the style would be indicated for those who want to know. It’s just strange to me. I don’t remember this being a thing in the 90’s when I first trained in karate. I’m in a different geographic place as well though. So maybe that plays a part.


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[WaterGal]

Fair enough, I would just expect that somewhere on the “about us” page the style would be indicated for those who want to know. It’s just strange to me. I don’t remember this being a thing in the 90’s when I first trained in karate. I’m in a different geographic place as well though. So maybe that plays a part.


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Yeah, It's not the choice I'd make - I think it's good to mention what you actually teach.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Actually, it's tang soo do, not taekwondo, that's the Korean pronunciation of karate. Karate do (with the original kanji) and Tang Soo Do both mean "the Chinese hand way." Taekwondo means "the foot fist way."

This is correct. I've said this many times, but I'm old and posted in the middle of a brain fart.
However, the real point was that given that the art is firmly rooted in karate, it's not surprising to find schools with karate in the name. And especially in the web page, to increase hits on search engines.

 

[Mark Lynn]

This is something that kind of bugs me, but maybe shouldn’t?

Hi Michele
I don't think it should bug you or at least irritate you. I teach American karate/TKD but I call it American karate. In a nut shell it is not that we are hiding our art, it is for marketing purposes. I even know of one school that teaches Modern Arnis and he uses the term "karate" on his school since people wouldn't know what Modern Arnis is. One of the influences in Modern Arnis was Filipino karate so it is karate in that sense but he uses the term for the same reason I do. Marketing

When I first started looking to get back into martial arts I looked around a 30 min radius of my home. *Most* of the schools had “karate” in the school name but didn’t specify on their website what style they were. Inquiries through social media messages revealed that they were all “American Taekwondo.”

First of all, huh? And second, Taekwondo is a martial art, but not a type of karate. If your art is legit, why hide your style?

Karate is a catch all term like MMA has become. When you think of karate you think of people in uniforms learning kata or doing unifrm drills like the opening scene in "Enter the Dragon" when you hear the term MMA you think of learning to fight like in UFC.

I don’t get it. It was also very frustrating as I was trying to find something close to my original art. I found MMA, BJJ, one KKW Taekwondo, and a bunch of “karate” schools that were “American Taekwondo” (oh, and had astronomical tuition fees compared to the non American Taekwondo schools, like you have to put several thousand dollars down to even start). There are no *real* karate schools anywhere near me.

Years ago when I first started teaching at a YMCA (in the mid 90's), I advertised (what little I did back then) with fliers and such as American TKD. However around where I live in TX, American Karate has pretty much taken over as the common term for the art as I and the association I belong to teaches.

As to astronomical fees I teach in a Rec. Center and my fees aren't astronomical, not cheap but not high either. All of the higher tuition schools are 1 Olympic style TKD school, 1 ATA franchise school and the MMA gym in town.

It could be that the higher tuition rates are the stand a lone school programs that offer more class times, more equipment, more programs etc. etc.

Also I find that the Olympic style schools are more expensive because the focus is on competing in the Olympics therefore there is a lot of competition expenses that aren't factored in to monthly fees. Plus you are training with the former Olympic or world champions too.

Can anyone enlighten me as to this strange phenomenon where there is an Americanized version of Taekwondo that calls itself a karate and doesn’t advertise its actual style? I still find it rather annoying.

I'll try

Unlike what we were taught back in the day (80's and prior) that TKD was some martial art that existed for 1000's of years, today there is enough research to make the case that 1950's/1960's era TKD was heavily influenced by Japanese karate. So much so that art's like Tang Soo Do kept the older Japanese kata and Gen Choi's TKD forms were cut and paste Japanese kata with a little Korean kicking (flavoring adding to them). Then in the late 60's/70's the Korean government became more involved and TKD moved further from it's karate roots. People began to research more in the 1980's and onward and the more modern view of the Japanese karate influence became more pronounced.

American Karate around here in TX became it's own type of art as it moved away from it's 50's/60's roots it split into two camps; it's all about the fight, and it's more so about the art. In both camps though as Jhoon Rhee moved from the area the connection with Korea was lost. So it became more independent in nature and took on the name "American" karate.

The it's all about the fight line looked at kata as being basically being useless and really just needed for tests to belt rank up. Over time there appears to be a disconnect between forms, basics, (the art) and sparring. With the emphasis being on sparring. As one instructor from this line or lineage told me he was recently talking with his instructor and the senior instructor told him "you mean there is meaning to those kata", because the junior instructor and his senior were talking about a recent seminar/class the junior instructor on bunkai. Granted the junior instructor owns his own school and has been in the martial arts for 30+ years, so I'm referring to the junior as in their teacher student relationship. I have no clue about the senior except that he comes from the 1960's/70's era.

Where as the other line (it's about the art) tends to mix in other arts to make their curricula more eclectic. This is the camp that I fall into. For myself I de emphasize the sparring (or tournament) aspect and focus more on the self defense side of the line. I blend in in the advanced class weapons defense from my studies in the FMAs, empty hand sparring type drills that are influenced by JKD and the FMAs (Modern Arnis). I teach bunkai applications (or techniques) that I learned from or inspired by the late GM Remy Presas and Iain Abernathy. I use drill concepts that I learned from Hock Hochheim and so on. I also teach Kobudo this based on our associations Kobudo program but is again filtered or influenced by my study of the FMAs.

Our association also conducts black belt level monthly training classes exposing instructors to subjects like Judo throws and take downs, knife defense, bunkai, etc. etc. all with a blend of influences (Japanese Karate, Filipino martial arts, Aikijujitsu, Judo, military, etc. etc.). I've taught on FMA type subjects in these types of classes for them as well over the years.

So really my only connection to TKD is my forms. My instructors were all American, my influences are from various martial arts and systems, and since karate has become a common catch all name I use it for marketing purposes. Hope this helps you understand why we use the term American Karate and what it is.