Korean Culture and the Martial Arts

Alex Bernier

9/7/15

Korea, one of the oldest societies in the world, has a rich and illustrious heritage leading back to 57 B.C., eventually ending 668 A.D. Because of its many long-lasting customs, there are many foundational aspects of their lives that have since evolved to the for-front of eastern-Asian life today. In this essay, I hope to explore those aspects, their origins, and why they have had such an impact on martial arts and the future generations of both themselves and neighboring cultures.

Interwoven within the lives of the Korean people, martial arts has demonstrated to be a product of their own necessity. Our journey begins in 2333 B.C in a country on the Korean peninsula called KoChoSun. King Chumo established the Koguryo Dynasty, and gave the poor and weak society direction and success. Like other Korean societies, their tactic of survival was established through the spreading of their territory. Lacking much fertile land and having poor agriculture, their military needed to be strong in order to expand their resources. This coupled with them being surrounded by enemies evolved their war-like spirit and formed the beginning of what would eventually become a huge part of their culture martial arts. Mural paintings in Koguyo have been recovered, indicating that the establishment of their fighting techniques went back several thousand years, the murals being between 3 and 427 A.D. These murals, located in tombs, gave great insight towards the origins of many martial arts. They provided pictures of warriors in martial arts stances, punches, kicks, and uniforms similar to the gi. Eventually competitions were held in March (10th) to find the most skilled warriors. The oldest form of unarmed fighting was called ssireum, which was a form of wrestling that would be held in matches. Their was pride in winning, but most importantly were the prizes that they received livestock and government posts. The government holding these competitions was a huge catalyst to the evolution of martial arts in Korea. Ssireum, however, was not the only martial art to be used in competition. Because of its deep origins, ssireum eventually became Korea's national sport.

After this time there was a group established by the Korean government of warriors with a particular set of skills sunbae. Almost like the national guard, they protected their people at all cost. Their name meaning a man of virtue who never recoils from fighting gave bearing to their cause. Their mastery of the sword, archery, foot (taekkon) and hand (subak) techniques provided tools for the what would eventually would form the foundation of Tae Kwon Do. Tae Kwon Do has a long history leading back 2000 years ago. Also having contests held to determine the best warriors, it was used for both recreation and training. Meaning The art of kicking and punching, it emphasized on low kicks and leg sweeps. Specific to its geographical origins, leg strength was a necessity because of the rough terrain of the mountains. Around 18 B.C., Subak, an unarmed fighting style, was developed through the combination of techniques used by the three kingdoms, creating a mixed array of ways to defend against outside invaders. The murals that I previously mentioned had depictions of the Subak fighting style, which is now known to be a precursor of Tae Kwon Do.

All of these different styles of combat were incubated within the societies and cultures that their government had ruled, and that had great influence on how they developed throughout the centuries. Koguryo was a centralized feudal kingdom, meaning that they were ruled by kings in a class-based society. You had the king, aristocrats, commoners and slaves; each holding a separate role in both their economical and cultural hierarchy. As you might guess, kings held the most privilege (having total reign over their kingdom), followed by wealthy aristocrats. Though aristocrats still had to fight in times of war, they were greatly distinguished from the likes of commoners, who usually at the very most were tenants of land. Lastly, slaves were the bottom of the barrel, forced into labor for the misdoings of either themselves or their families. These classes, however, were not set in stone. The classes were dynamic, and people went both up and down depending on their ability to excel in the society. This centralized, feudal government had a huge effect on the growing use of martial arts in the kingdom. Unless a ridiculous grain tax was paid, military service was mandatory this helped spread the martial toughness of its citizens, as well as the use of martial arts. When the use of metal became popular in Koguryo culture, you can probably guess what it was used for. Metal workmanship became very advanced and were used for farming tools, castle walls, and tombs. More importantly, they were used for steel weapons and gi-like articles of clothing.

Silla adopted a group of highly trained, elite warriors named the Hwa Rang Do; their name meaning The Way of the Flowering Manhood. You can think of them as special operations taking particular focus on mental discipline. The martial arts that they used, a combination of Yool Sool and Tae Kyon, would eventually become the basis of a popular martial art called Hapkido. Yool Sool comes from Daito-Ryu Aiki-Jutsu, a Japanese art, and Tae Kyon. Tae Kyon being a Korean kicking skill was also taught during the three kingdoms, again emphasizing the use of their legs from their rough mountainous terrain. Much like the sunbae, they defended their country from invaders. The difference, however, was their Buddhist philosophies and control over their minds. Breaking down the name Hapkido gives insight towards more specifics of their practices. Hap means coordination, Ki means energy, and Do signifies the art. Ki was a large part of the art, and was interwoven into both offensive moves and for healing. Many of these techniques use puncture points that were used in moxibustion and acupuncture. Moxibustion, being thought to predate acupuncture, involved burning herbs at the same points as acupuncture to stimulate the flow of ki. Acupuncture is the practice of putting needles in very specific points on the body for the same reasons of moxibustion and for relaxation. There are many effective health benefits that can be had by these techniques, but in the medical community they are thought of more as a less proven science in western culture.

These spiritual concepts were developed through Buddhism and the dimension of metaphysical ideologies that came with it. Tae Kyon training gave great merit to this understanding of Buddhism and developed many fighting techniques around this way of life. Along side them were monks, who also spent many countless hours focusing and devoting themselves to their use of mediation, ki, breathing and focus. The monks were proficient in martial arts as well and were thought to be the noble masters of those techniques.

As I hope I have accurately demonstrated, the feats that Korea has endured in the thousands of years prior is unprecedented. Change is based on cause and effect in Korea, the evolution of many aspects of both eastern and western life today have deep-seated origins within the three kingdoms. More specifically, the martial arts that have been established are a product of the necessity of their people. The government, culture and religion all have a part in this unique evolution; it goes to show that something as seemingly trivial as martial arts could actually be the byproduct of thousands of years of the blood, sweat and tears of an entire nation.