How did TKD get publicly known as a Korean version of Karate?

[Equilibrum32]

I was trying to think how I first came to know of TaeKwonDo. The answer is that I probably wouldn't if I didn't buy some Hong Kong DVD and googled a star. There aren't that many TaeKwonDo flicks out there like there is for Karate.

I remember asking way back in 2001 to a friend at at birthday party - what's the difference between Taekwondo and Karate. He replied: more kicking (in TKD). He wasn't even a martial artist, nor a sports fan. So he must have learned it somewhere.

How did TaeKwonDo get equal name recognition as Karate with no media attention? It was a famous martial art long before the Olympics.

 

[dvcochran]

I was trying to think how I first came to know of TaeKwonDo and the answer is that I probably wouldn't if I didn't buy some Hong Kong DVD and googled a star. There aren't that many TaeKwonDo flicks out there like there is for Karate.

How did TaeKwonDo get equal name recognition as Karate with no media attention? It was a famous martial art long before the Olympics.

Media Attention or I would more say a 'grass roots campaign'. This is Exactly how TKD became mainstream. A very concerted effort was initiated about the same time as the unification to spread TKD globally. Hundreds of accomplished instructors were sent out to start schools. And probably as many instructors who did not align with the unification left Korea to keep doing their respective TKD style (usually an original Kwan).
All this was way before any type of social media and television was not greatly used as it was with Kung Fu and Karate.
Instead, TKD choose to get involved in the Olympics as it better aligned with TKD being their national sport and engrained into their government system. I would not say it gained 'famous' status until around 1982-1984 when it was announced that TKD would be an Olympic sport. Sport is a very, very key word here.

Criticisms aside, World Taekwondo & Kukkiwon have done an excellent job of the marketing of the Korean National version of TKD. Is it the 'perfect' style? No. But one hell of a machine globally.

Just guessing but your first exposure to TKD may have been seeing a sign on a local school.

Along the same vein, I opened my first school in 1986. Even though it was/is a TKD school I named it Midstate Karate Studio thinking no one would know what the heck Tae Kwon Do was back then. I changed names after two years.

 

[Earl Weiss]

" How did TaeKwonDo get equal name recognition as Karate with no media attention? It was a famous martial art long before the Olympics." Not only was the name "TK-D" generated in 1955 or so, but along with the need to synthesize various root arts practiced by Koreans into a single system that could be taught and practiced on a large scale not unlike what Kano and Funkoshi had done, General Choi also used the military and government resources to train and dispatch demo teams, to numerous countries as well as dispatch instructors to teach throughout the world, plus recruiting Korean instructors already teaching prior systems in various countries to adopt the TK-D moniker and system. With Bruce Lee and TV shows like Kung Fu generating interest in Martial Arts Storefronts stared popping up with the TK-D moniker. This was going on for almost 2 decades and then General Choi was on the wrong side of the fence and the SK government decided it should be in control of Tkd and used it' resources to train, instructors, hold demos, and recruit Korean instructors throughout the world to it's system, as well as influence the IOC to have TKD in 1988.

 

[Equilibrum32]

" How did TaeKwonDo get equal name recognition as Karate with no media attention? It was a famous martial art long before the Olympics." Not only was the name "TK-D" generated in 1955 or so, but along with the need to synthesize various root arts practiced by Koreans into a single system that could be taught and practiced on a large scale not unlike what Kano and Funkoshi had done, General Choi also used the military and government resources to train and dispatch demo teams, to numerous countries as well as dispatch instructors to teach throughout the world, plus recruiting Korean instructors already teaching prior systems in various countries to adopt the TK-D moniker and system. With Bruce Lee and TV shows like Kung Fu generating interest in Martial Arts Storefronts stared popping up with the TK-D moniker. This was going on for almost 2 decades and then General Choi was on the wrong side of the fence and the SK government decided it should be in control of Tkd and used it' resources to train, instructors, hold demos, and recruit Korean instructors throughout the world to it's system, as well as influence the IOC to have TKD in 1988.

You could say in a party in the mid 70s that you are a TKD practitioner and they would know what you were talking about?

I actually still ask myself how many people know what TKD is, so I sometimes say "Karate". Also due to me distancing from Olympic TaeKwonDo, which emphasizes completely different content of TKD than what I do...

 

[MadMartigan]

I actually still ask myself how many people know what TKD is, so I sometimes say "Karate". Also due to me distancing from Olympic TaeKwonDo, which emphasizes completely different content of TKD than what I do...

I'm in a similar boat. It may be partially the fault of people like me.
When people ask about how my 'karate' or 'judo' is going; it's usually not worth the time to correct them...

Then I often confuse things more when people are actually interested. In order to explain the version of TKD that I teach (the Chang Hon forms, but in the old karate-like style); I usually say something like,
'I teach TKD, but it's actually closer to Shotokan Karate than what you see in the Olympics or on YouTube'.

 

[Equilibrum32]

I'm in a similar boat. It may be partially the fault of people like me.
When people ask about how my 'karate' or 'judo' is going; it's usually not worth the time to correct them...

Then I often confuse things more when people are actually interested. In order to explain the version of TKD that I teach (the Chang Hon forms, but in the old karate-like style); I usually say something like,
'I teach TKD, but it's actually closer to Shotokan Karate than what you see in the Olympics or on YouTube'.

I think the proper response would be Korean Karate, if it were not for the fact that we already have a system for that with that which is Tang Soo Do. I do consider TSD folks TKD however (some don't).

General Chois system did evolve and breed a different type of athlete IMO, but the overlap is obviously massive and there's no way you're good at one and bad at the other.

So if somebody says Karate with regards to me, it's close enough that I won't correct it. But true to Choi and intellectual honesty I should....There are some things we plainly do better than them, and vice versa.

 

[elder999]

"Korean Karate?"
That's what it was, in the beginning.

 

[Equilibrum32]

"Korean Karate?"
That's what it was, in the beginning.


View attachment 26804

Yeah but how did it get known to the extent that random people know about it? Karate and Judo had far more exposure and advertisement through movies

 

[Buka]

I’ll get back to this later, got a couple of stories to tell you about TKD in New England in the seventies.

 

[MadMartigan]

Yeah but how did it get known to the extent that random people know about it? Karate and Judo had far more exposure and advertisement through movies

Anecdotally I'd say it's probably the simplest answer being the right one. How did Subway or Starbucks become household names. They put one or 20 in every town until everyone knew what it was.

 

[dvcochran]

I'm in a similar boat. It may be partially the fault of people like me.
When people ask about how my 'karate' or 'judo' is going; it's usually not worth the time to correct them...

Then I often confuse things more when people are actually interested. In order to explain the version of TKD that I teach (the Chang Hon forms, but in the old karate-like style); I usually say something like,
'I teach TKD, but it's actually closer to Shotokan Karate than what you see in the Olympics or on YouTube'.

I think the proper response would be Korean Karate, if it were not for the fact that we already have a system for that with that which is Tang Soo Do. I do consider TSD folks TKD however (some don't).

General Chois system did evolve and breed a different type of athlete IMO, but the overlap is obviously massive and there's no way you're good at one and bad at the other.

So if somebody says Karate with regards to me, it's close enough that I won't correct it. But true to Choi and intellectual honesty I should....There are some things we plainly do better than them, and vice versa.

At some point in time the term Karate became the same as saying Martial Art; a very generic term. But certainly more recognizable in the 70’s & 80’s. Not so much today I do not believe.
Our main school has always went by a Martial Arts name. It is largely a TKD school and if you ask any student that would be their answer.
We are fortunate to have a broader range of experience and training, adding more in the SD realm (much more than KKW) plus a smattering of Chinese and Japanese influence.
I will even add a little Filipino from time to time.

 

[Urban Trekker]

"How did TKD get publicly known as a Korean version of Karate?"

Isn't that what it is? My understanding is that the lineage is shotokan > tang soo do > tae kwon do

I remember seeing some TKD dojangs in the early 90's advertising themselves as "karate." Not sure if it's because they actually see themselves as karateka, or because they're using a term that they believe people are more familiar with (there's a hapkido dojang in Virginia Beach that uses the word "karate" for this purpose).

 

[WaterGal]

There were some influential early TKD masters who came to Western countries and worked really hard to promote TKD. In the US, for example, there was Joon Rhee, who opened his first TKD school in the Washington DC area in the '60s, which became a big chain. I grew up in the mid-Atlantic, and I still remember the TV ads they used to run - "call USA-1000! Fight for right, Joon Rhee!".

 

[Equilibrum32]

There were some influential early TKD masters who came to Western countries and worked really hard to promote TKD. In the US, for example, there was Joon Rhee, who opened his first TKD school in the Washington DC area in the '60s, which became a big chain. I grew up in the mid-Atlantic, and I still remember the TV ads they used to run - "call USA-1000! Fight for right, Joon Rhee!".

But the US is a huge capitalistic country. TKD became known world-wide in a short amount of time, despite very little movie advertisement. Whether it was TKD on screen or not, it was rarely labelled as such

 

[elder999]

Yeah but how did it get known to the extent that random people know about it? Karate and Judo had far more exposure and advertisement through movies

It was, literally, karate.

Shotokan karate.

Korean Shotokan karate.

 

[dvcochran]

There were some influential early TKD masters who came to Western countries and worked really hard to promote TKD. In the US, for example, there was Joon Rhee, who opened his first TKD school in the Washington DC area in the '60s, which became a big chain. I grew up in the mid-Atlantic, and I still remember the TV ads they used to run - "call USA-1000! Fight for right, Joon Rhee!".

Our school number is 446-KICK.

 

[Earl Weiss]

You could say in a party in the mid 70s that you are a TKD practitioner and they would know what you were talking about?

I imagine it was different in different areas. By the mid 1970' there were many storefronts with TK-D on them on the north side of Chicago and suburbs. Perhaps because pioneers Han Cha Kyo and Nam Tae Hi had opened schools in 1970 or so and KS Shin in 1968 and various of their progeny then opened schools. My instructor then was affiliated with Han Cha Kyo at the time and also a high school teacher so TKD was spreading like crazy. But at the end of the day most have no clue what difference if any there is between TK-D, Judo , Karate etc.

 

[Urban Trekker]

But the US is a huge capitalistic country. TKD became known world-wide in a short amount of time, despite very little movie advertisement. Whether it was TKD on screen or not, it was rarely labelled as such

I'm sure that waves of Korean immigration and what appears to be a greater propensity for Koreans starting brick-and-mortar businesses than most other immigrant groups has a lot to do with it.

One thing I've noticed about Korean martial arts is that their dojangs are more likely to be owned by Koreans than is the case with martial arts of other nationalities being owned by an immigrant from that country.

 

[angelariz]

I was trying to think how I first came to know of TaeKwonDo. The answer is that I probably wouldn't if I didn't buy some Hong Kong DVD and googled a star. There aren't that many TaeKwonDo flicks out there like there is for Karate.

I remember asking way back in 2001 to a friend at at birthday party - what's the difference between Taekwondo and Karate. He replied: more kicking (in TKD). He wasn't even a martial artist, nor a sports fan. So he must have learned it somewhere.

How did TaeKwonDo get equal name recognition as Karate with no media attention? It was a famous martial art long before the Olympics.

Many soldiers came back from deployment to Korea during the Korean War.
Many soldiers came home with TKD Shodans and started spreading it all over.

 

[lklawson]

How did TaeKwonDo get equal name recognition as Karate with no media attention? It was a famous martial art long before the Olympics.

By being repackaged Shotokan that was rebranded because of the twin influences of nationalism and post-WWII hate for the Japanese.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk