On April 11th, 1955, the name Taekwon-Do was
officially adopted for
the
martial art General Choi Hong Hi had developed using elements of
the ancient Korean martial art of Taek Kyon and of Shotokan
karate, a martial art he had learned while studying in Japan.
The philosophical values and the goals of Taekwon-Do are firmly rooted in the traditional moral culture of the Orient. On the technical side, defensive and offensive tactics are based on principles of physics, particularly Newton's Law, which explains how to generate maximum force by increasing speed and mass during the execution of a movement.
Wanting to share the results of his philosophical reflections
and his
technical experiments, General Choi planned and wrote a unique
reference work, the Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do. In its fifteen
volumes, he explained in detail the rules and practices of this
art.
Always striving for excellence, General Choi presented Taekwon-Do as in a state of continuous evolution, open to changes that would improve its effectiveness. He wrote that anyone who believes he has fully discharged his duty will soon perish. Likewise, any undertaking that is perceived to have reached its objectives is likely to lose momentum, stagnate, and die.
Since the beginning, Taekwon-Do has never stopped evolving, driven by the strong will and a lot of hard work by its Founder. The leaders of the ITF today also recognize the need to evolve and they are equally passionate about the future of the organization.
