Taekkyon

Taekkyon is an old, traditional Korean art. The art, which may sometimes be written taek kyon, taekyon, taekgyeon, or taekkyeon, uses no wapons.

The book Manmulbo (or: Jaemulbo), written by Sung-Ji Lee around 1790, is probably the first source to mention this Korean art. Other sources claim that Koryusa (Korean history book written in 15th century) is mentioning the art to be "widely encouraged and practiced from the king himself to farmers".

The martial art/sport is said stemming from subak, and it may be one of the forerunner to the modern art of taekwondo (Japanese karate is one of the major influences here). Many exponents of the art claim that it has nothing to do with taekwondo.

Traditional Korean martial arts was banned during the Japanese colonial period in Korea. As a result it almost vanished.

This art is done in a traditional Korean white robe which was commonly worn in the past of Korea.

The dance-like movements are very fluid and is sometimes said to be a little like (Brazilian) capoeira in that respect.

Taekkyon moves are described as soft and curved. The players bend their knees and bodies. The kicks (the art rarely uses punches) are not aimed straight at the opponent. Straight kicks with no bending and cushioning are considered a foul. All moves in the art are based on what is called neun attacks.

Neun (meaning soft and slow in Korean) attacks knock the opponent to the ground without hurting them, something which require advanced power control skills. Taekkyon does not allow the attacking of vulnerable parts of the body. Rather, the sides, thighs, forehead and shoulders are the targets - the aim is to attack the opponent's hard and safe body parts using one's own softer body parts.

Typical techniques are flowing cresent like high kicks, and sweeps with straight forward low kicks using the ball of the foot and the heel. You will also find moves like slide stepping, inward trips, tempo shifts, and fake outs.

A practitioner moves in the form of a triangle (or an inverted triangle). The center of gravity is changing among the three points of the triangle. The arms are used to maintain balance.

In Korea - along with ssireum (traditional Korean wrestling) - matches are usually a part of village festivities.