Styles

Discussion in 'Tae Kwon Do' started by merlinmsk, Mar 10, 2004.

  1. merlinmsk

    merlinmsk Yeah....

    On the way back from classes Monday, a friend and me got into a discussion about how many different styles there were of Tae Kwon Do. so I was wondering if any of you knew how many there are.
     
  2. shinguards

    shinguards Valued Member

    i do hwarangdo
     
  3. blessed_samurai

    blessed_samurai Valued Member

    Okay, you have the first 5 kwans, which are: Chung Do Kwan, Jidokwan (1946), Moo Duk Kwan (1946), Chang Moo Kwan (1946), Song Moo Kwan (1946).

    From these, four more emerged: Oh Do Kwan, Kang Duk Won (1956), Han Moo Kwan (1956), Jung Do Kwan (1954).

    Those are the first 9 kwans of TKD. I'm not sure of other banners that TKD has come to fall under at the present time. If there are others that practice different styles than the ones listed above, they would be of more help.

    I, myself, have followed the paths of Jidokwan and Han Moo Kwan.
     
  4. Kenpo Kicker

    Kenpo Kicker New Member

    itf tkd. We are offered other arts to cross-train with. I do kickboxing and bjj follows right after at my dojang. We do freestyle sparring. Pretty soon we will be having classes with tkd and bjj sparring togeither. I have seen gtf, wtf, ustf, and itf at the last tournament I went to. I have also seen a student of a system that has no belts and dunno what it is mixed with. It looked like capoeira mixed with tkd.
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2004
  5. Guy Mendiola

    Guy Mendiola New Member

    It probably was Capoeira mixed with TKD or that student might be part of the XMA or some kind of Wushu,Capoeira, and TKD mixed together.
     
  6. nekogami13

    nekogami13 Master of all I Survey

    "Combining the styles of
    numerous Kwans active within the country since 1945, the name Taekwondo
    was eventually settled upon and began being used throughout S.Korea
    about 1964. Names frequently used prior to that were Tang Soo Do, Kong
    Soo Do, Kwon Bup, Hwa Soo Do, and Tae Soo Do. The name Taekwondo was
    apparently selected because of its similarity with the name Taek-kyon, a
    martial art native to Korea.

    The kwans, or schools, previously mentioned that were
    most involved were:

    School
    Chung Do Kwan
    Song Moo Kwan
    Moo Duk Kwan
    Yon Moo Kwan
    Chang Moo Kwan
    Chi/Ji Do Kwan
    Oh Do Kwan "-from Martial Arts Resource http://www.martialartsresource.com/korean/korframe.htm
     
  7. blessed_samurai

    blessed_samurai Valued Member

    Don't get schools of thought or styles confused with federations.

    ITA, WTF, ITF and etc are federations within TKD.

    The kwans are the different schools, styles, or philosophies.
     
  8. RonR

    RonR Valued Member

    There are only two styles of Taekwon-do (that I know of), Traditional and sport. Those two styles make up several federations and organizations world wide.
    RonR
     
  9. Kenpo Kicker

    Kenpo Kicker New Member

    nope there are more than that.
     
  10. RonR

    RonR Valued Member

    Maybe your right. I only know of 2. How many Kenpo Kicker. Let me know.
    RonR
     
  11. Kenpo Kicker

    Kenpo Kicker New Member

    I dunno how many myself. I think of it as the korean karate. There are many forms of it. I know there is sport itf and normal itf. Most itf is taught differently. There is wtf, gtf, ustf, ita, and itf federations mentioned before. There are freestyle forms of tkd that allow some uniqueness. I have seen a version of wtf that punched and didn't do as many fancy kicks but had alot of them. There are some schools that cross-train for effectiveness. There are also schools that will train for flash.

    edit: Oh yeah I have seen a school train for mma rings with other arts added into it. I guess you cannot call that tkd though. I have also heard on this forum some teachers will teach pressure points and stuff of that nature as well. It is evolving. My school is freestyle and does not join the itf federation but is itf based. My master does not do the new correction in hand postions in itf tkd, because of it giving bad habbits and is not logical (I forgot exactly but remember it didn't make sense). You can cross-train at our dojang with bjj and kickboxing if ya wanted to. I dunno what style I am lol. I try not to think about it. What would ya consider my dojang's style?
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2004
  12. blessed_samurai

    blessed_samurai Valued Member

    It seems we are all talking about different things. I don't to nit pick...just want some clarity.

    Are we referring to federations or organizations (itf/wtf/ita/etc) or are we referring to the different schools of thought (the kwans) or are we referring to training techniques (traditional vs progressive vs sport)?

    Each one is completely different and so when you say styles and I spout off the different kwans and someone else mentions the different federations and etc it seems we're all on different pages. The two largest organizations are the ITF and the WTF, and generally the difference between the two can be seen at tournaments...such as, how many events are prevelant (sparring, breaking, forms, etc) and the style of sparring.

    The Kwans or schools of thought came way before there was any organizations and each kwan had it's own significant "style" to it that made it it's own while still being under the TKD banner.

    All that's basically a nut shell version.

    If you are confused, go ask your instructor under which federation you belong to and which kwan you study under.
     
  13. merlinmsk

    merlinmsk Yeah....

    yeah guys thanks for your input, so far its a pretty big list of how many there are.
     
  14. hanbang

    hanbang Banned Banned

    Maybe it was taek kyon?
    I've got a great site with videos and stuff but it's down at the moment..http://www.taekkyon.de once it gets back up.
     
  15. Kenpo Kicker

    Kenpo Kicker New Member

    Oh no, from the looks of the gallery that is way different. We have boxer like guards when kicking and do not expose ribs since they will get broken. Very tight guard for the ribs actually since we like to sneak side kicks under lose guards. Or did you mean "capoeira mixed with tkd." He had no ranking system and had a good roundhouse. I saw him do some kicking on the ground looking like break dancing so assumed it was a mix with tkd. He had a lousy guard but liked to kick hard.
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2004
  16. hanbang

    hanbang Banned Banned

    If ground kicks, then I guess it's not taek kyon no ;)
     
  17. mattsylvester

    mattsylvester One proud daddy!

    I teach a version of Chang Hun Tul based TKD. It's a work in progress.
     
  18. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    People have already mentioned the various "kwans" and the various federations. I think that we are also seeing Taekwondo schools beginning to operate differently, sort of like specializing based on the instructors' or the students' desires and/or strengths and weaknesses. In my own personal opinion, I would say there are the following general types:

    (1) Sport-oriented Taekwondo school - focuses on competition style sparring and has aspirations to do well in tournaments. Plusses to these schools is that you get lots of sparring, great footwork drills, and lots of kicking (and punching) practice. You work lots of forms and will probably get a great workout. Minuses to these schools would be a possible lack of attention to self defence and sparring/fighting beyond the rules of tournament TKD.

    (2) Traditional style school - focuses on the traditions and character training of the Korean arts. May work a great deal of repetition of deep stances, punches, blocks and etc. Forms practice will be intense with a focus on power generation instead of flash. Self defence will probably be covered fairly well, from a striking set of skills. Plusses - students will develop good basic skills and will be able to generate good power and speed through heavy repetition of the basic skills. Minuses - Some of these schools may not be open to new ideas, especially from other styles.

    (3) Progressive schools - may have started as one of the first two and for some reason has opened up to more cross training, realistic self defence and other "popular" skills sets. May even included options for ground grappling, free fighting, and so on. Plusses - Students should develop a strong set of skills that have been practiced against resisting opponents. Will have access to current trends in martial arts and ease of cross training. Should have solid self defence system. Minuses - May not be accepted as "real" TKD nor as a "real" Cross training (or MMA) school by peers and colleagues. May de-emphasize tournament skills, especially in fast footwork and kicking techniques. May get away from some of the "traditional" character development that makes TKD systems appealing to parents, teachers, and other character education people.

    The above is just my opinion based on schools I've trained in or watched. If anyone wants to add something or debate a point, please do so.

    (In case you're wondering, I would consider my school a #3, but also a school that began as a combination of #1 and #2 and which has evolved into a #3. I see no problems with schools evolving to fit the times and still remaining "Taekwondo".)
     
  19. mattsylvester

    mattsylvester One proud daddy!

    I feel I must say that I think this is one of the best and most open-minded posts I've seen on any forum.

     
  20. Kenpo Kicker

    Kenpo Kicker New Member

    Me too and I agree with it. My school falls under #3. Nicely summed up too. We spar alot but only compete sometimes and are not taught tournament drills just given some tips. In the bjj we ground fight every class after work out and going over techniques. The kickboxing is mostly punching drills and has a intercepting focus. We do one round of pure punching then everything allowed in our sparring rules. Without this teacher I do not think my punches would be as good. This is actually my favorite class since it has hard contact and tough ppl in it.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2004

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