 The first time I was given to think about the sporting and artistic elements of Taekwondo was when a friend of mine was telling me about her theory questions she was given during her black belt grading. This woman had prepared like no other; you should have seen the size of the folder she had organised, filed and absorbed that in it self would have been a deadly martial weapon if she had walloped someone over the head with it! However, one must always expect the unexpected when taking your black belt grading and that is what she got when she was asked the following question: “explain the difference between Taekwondo the art and Taekwondo the sport.” Well sir, have you got all day? Fortunately for my friend, she is extremely quick witted (never enter into a battle of one-liners with her, you will lose!) and she managed to give a clearly defined answer equating patterns with the art and competition sparring with the sport but it did lead me to delving deeper into the idea of Taekwondo as both a martial art and a sport, are they two different martial systems and can they co-exist and complement each other?
The Debate
Looking around the internet and reading recent books and magazines, I’ve noticed that there seems to be a debate about the differences and worthiness between traditional Taekwondo, hereto referred to as the ‘art’ and the sport side of Taekwondo. Up until now and within the ITF system, this tension was not something that I was particularly aware of. However, when I looked outward towards WTF and other martial arts, there have been some quite vitriolic views offered regarding the place of sport Taekwondo and its worth within the martial art as a whole.
The late Jane Hallender in her article (taken from “Traditional Taekwondo by Doug Cook”) “Is Taekwondo a sport or a self-defence system?” says: “There is more to Taekwondo that just tournament competition…..The most difficult part will not be learning the self-defence techniques, but finding a Taekwondo instructor who still teaches them.” Even General Choi himself in his book “Taekwondo, The Art of Self-Defense” states: “I cannot help but despair over the tainted image of Taekwondo recently created by practitioners of sham Taekwondo, who have nothing in common with the origin and art form except for a borrowed name.” What type of Taekwondo General Choi is referring to is unspecific but one could assume that this includes competition sparring, be it ITF or WTF. Conversely, I would like to argue that there is a place for both the traditional and the sport within the same martial art, that it is possible to be good at both and that this tension between the two sections within Taekwondo are not to do with the worthiness of either activity but rather a difference in cultures between the East and the West.
What Is a Martial Art?
At this point, it may be useful to define what exactly a martial art is and why Taekwondo is included in this category. We assume that to identify a martial art that it has to be of oriental origin, which of course many of them are, but why are Taekwondo, Karate and Kung Fu as well as countless others considered an ‘art’ as opposed to martial sports such as boxing, wrestling, fencing or the unarmed combat systems used by special forces? It cannot be down to history, yes, the East Asian martial arts have roots in antiquity but so do the Western martial activities, in fact wrestling is one of the oldest recorded sports in the ancient Greek Olympics of 708 BC. All of these activities, both Western and East Asian have their roots in the term ‘martial’ that is, the fighting systems evolved through a need of either self-defence or war but in the West we chose to turn these systems into sport and in the East, an art. So what’s the difference? Well, from how I see it, the Western martial sports are much more results oriented. The emphasis is on winning more points or knocking out the opposition with less regard to how the technique looked. Yes, there are good techniques and styles to admire but they generally don’t award points for looking good and with the combat systems that are intended for war there is one result intended; killing your enemy in the quickest and least tiring time possible. Style is not considered here, just the result of eliminating the foe.
The East Asian martial arts place more emphasis on the aesthetics of the techniques, they want them to look a particular way and you can spend months or years perfecting a technique to make it not only effective but pretty as well. They also perform pre-determined series of techniques in training with an imaginary opponent, be they labelled patterns, katas or forms, which while training for a martial purpose also have an aesthetic, historic and philosophical virtue. Basically, to me it is the patterns that stand the martial arts apart from the martial sports and this is the final key in their definition. In a martial art the importance is placed upon the journey, spiritual development and learning process rather than the result of either winning or death.
Taekwondo as a Martial Art
So how does Taekwondo fit into the mould of martial art? Well, its roots are very old dating back thousands of years in Korean history with the martial arts Tae Kyon and Subahk and anyone about to take their black belt will tell you there are plenty of patterns to remember along side their meanings steeped in Korean history and philosophy. There is also a code of conduct in the tenets we recite at the beginning of class emphasising modesty and self restraint, with its roots based in Confucianism and its goal of developing the superior man and dislike of showing off. Tinkle, jangle, ping, aahh!! That was the sound of the penny dropping as I cotton onto why there is the tension between the tradition or art of Taekwondo and the sport.
Generally, East Asian cultures, possibly due to their strong Confucian influence, dislike immodesty, showing off and losing face in front of others, particularly if they are deemed to be of a higher social rank to them. So therefore the Western idea of competing for sport may not seem so fun to them when it contravenes one of their basic principles in society. I remember when I was teaching English as a foreign language and having problems with the East Asian students who would never put up their hand to answer questions or enter into an unstructured conversation in class. They were too scared to make a mistake and of losing face in front of their peers and me, their teacher. Of course to a Westerner like me, mistakes are part of the learning process and therefore necessary but to my East Asian students they were unacceptable and perhaps, so would losing in a martial arts competition or being pleased when they win.
Martial Sports
I discovered there are exceptions to the East Asian martial arts and one is the Japanese sport of Sumo. In a nutshell, it is Japanese wrestling with its roots in the same form of a combat sport developed as a sport, not a martial fighting system. It is full of ritual and pageantry and there are winners and losers with the winners getting rewards and typically, the girls as well! I am sure there are plenty more examples readers can tell us about on the forum but the point is that there is the concept of combat sport in East Asia and it is has a long tradition and is hugely popular.
As much as the East Asian martial arts are spiritual and virtuous in their modesty, the Western martial sports are part of our heritage and reflect our culture and temperament providing us with a combative outlet when we are at peace and developing the idea of sportsmanship, a value we should be proud of. This is where I have to respectfully disagree with Master Doug Cook in his 2002 article in the Taekwondo Times entitled, “Taekwondo: martial art vs. martial sport” when he speaks of the’ “debate between both traditional and modern factions of the art.” By modern faction, I assume he means competition sparring but I would argue that this is not a modern concept. We’ve been fighting each other for fun for thousands of years in both the West and in parts of the East and that it has a valuable place within the martial art of Taekwondo.
Tournament Sparring
When you watch a Taekwondo tournament, of which my experience is in ITF, you will see people competing in the next best thing we can experience to actual combat. Of course, we wear pads and we cannot use all of the techniques and the scoring areas are limited for safety but what we do experience are the anxiety and adrenaline rush when faced with an opponent and the effect of the energy drain nerves can give us. We learn speed and the spontaneity of attack as well as increasing our fitness levels. Although some may argue that competition sparring precludes anyone who isn’t young and talented, then they would be wrong as within Taekwondo and its competitive element there is something for everyone including patterns (typical Westerners, we even make a competition out of the most artistic element of a martial art!) and this is the key. To gain your black belt in Taekwondo you have to show proficiency in all areas of the martial art including patterns, theory and the various forms of sparring, no one gains this through competitions alone. Also, as martial artists and intelligent adults we are aware that competition sparring is not the same as a self-defence situation and that we have a lot more techniques we can use when forced into that situation but we know the difference and will train for that in class.
Taekwondo is a truly holistic martial art and it has grown and developed through time including its fusion to the West so there is room for both traditional and sport within it. It is possible to be good in both areas and when you see the best practitioners in the world perform; their patterns and sparring are equally impressive and who says there is not art or beauty when you see the greats spar together? If anyone ever sees Alan Jackson fight with his pin point precision and graceful moves, they might see what I mean when I describe him as and example of martial poetry in motion.
Bibliography
Choi, Hong Hi, “Taekwondo, The Art of Self-Defense” (1965) Currently out of print.
Cook, Doug, “Traditional Taekwondo” (2006) YMAA: Boston
Cook, Doug, Taken from “Taekwondo Times”, “Taekwondo: Martial Art vs. Martial Sport” (September 2002) Tri-Mt. Publications Inc:Iowa
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