Korean Martial Arts

Although the most well known is Tae Kwon Do, other Korean martial arts include Hapkido, Kuk Sool Won, and Tang Soo Do, in addition to Korean martial arts that involve martial arts weapons, including swordsmanship and archery. Korean martial arts trace their lineages back hundreds of years, even possibly two thousand. Modern Tae Kwon Do was influenced by the Japanese martial arts of Karate.

Another of the Korean martial arts is Hapkido, which is a self-defense system similar to Jujitsu that uses joint locks, pressure points, throws, kicks, and other strikes to counter the techniques of other martial arts as well as other common attacks. Traditional Hapkido martial arts weapons include a short stick, cane, rope, nun chucks, a sword or a staff, depending up on the particular style of Hapkido employed.

There are also many modern Korean martial arts that are hybrids that incorporate techniques from both traditional and foreign arts. Many of these modern martial arts have more of a Chinese flavor than other Korean martial arts. The most traditional of the Korean martial arts is Taekgyeon. There are also new Korean martial arts influenced by martial arts boxing, Muay Thai, and/or Brazilian Jujitsu. These new styles of Korean martial arts include Gongkwon Yusul and Kyuktooki.

Today, the Korean martial arts are taught and practiced around the world. Tae Kwon Do is even an Olympic sport, unlike the Japanese martial arts of Karate.