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c. Silla’s "hwarang" and Taekkyon The kingdom of Silla was founded on the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula under the circumstances of no immediate threat from outside, but along with the birth of Paekje kingdom on its west flank and the start of invasions by Koguryo from the north, Silla was impelled to arm itself with development of martial arts. In fact, "hwarangdo" is the typical example of Silla's martial arts, which is an assimilation of Koguryo's "sonbae" systems. The members of the youth group of hwarangdo were well trained with the senses of filial piety, loyalty to the kingdom and sacrificial devotion to society to become important personalities for the rein of kingdom. Notable among them were Kim Yu-sin and Kim Chun-Chu that made a definite contribution to the unification of those three kingdoms. The chronicle of old Chosun described the life of hwarangs, members of hwarangdo: "hwarang were selected by the kingdom through contests and, after selection, they lived together in a group, indulging themselves in learning, exercising subak (old form of Taekwondo), fencing and horse-riding, and sometimes they enjoyed various games of communities, working on emergency aids and construction of fortresses and roads, and they were always ready to sacrifice their lives at the time of war.” Hwarangs were particularly influenced by the Buddhistic disciplines and therefore the bronze statues of a warrior (a man of great physical strength) currently exhibited at the kyongju museum clearly indicates that martial arts were practiced at temples by showing a strong man's bare-hand defensive and offensive stances. Especially the shape of a fist shown on the statue of kumgang yoksa (diamond warrior: a strong man) exactly resembles that of a "jungkwon" (right fist) in the contemporary term of Taekwondo. The statue also shows today's "pyon jumok” (flat fist) and the use of legs, which are seen in today's Taekwondo. It is really noticeable that in that Silla epoch the terms of "subak" (hand techniques) and "taekkyon" appear together, signifying that both hand and foot techniques were used in martial arts as shown in today's Taekwondo. d. Taekkyon transmitted from Koguryo to Silla As the art of Taekkyon was popularized in Koguryo, it was also handed down to Silla, which is justified by the following points of view; (1) "hwarang" (or sonrang) in Silla has the same meaning with the word "sonbae" in Koguryo by indicating both the youth warrior's corps from their etymological origins (2) Both hwarang and sonbae had the same organizations and hierarchical structure with each other. (3) According to historical, as sonbaes in Koguryo used to compete in Taekkyon games at the time of their national festivals, hwarangs in Silla also played Taekkyon games (subak, dokkyoni or Taekkyoni) at such festivals as "palkwanhoe" and "hankawi," thus systematically developing the ancient fighting techniques into the Taekkyon (or sonbae) as the basis of martial arts by around A. D. 200. From the 4th century the hwarangs took the takkyon lesson as a systemized martial art at their learning houses to make it also popularized among ordinary people so much so that their techniques were depicted on the mural paintings of ancient warrior tombs. Again, it is also true that Taekkyon, coming down to Silla, was further developed into a school of martial art with the division of techniques, (i.e., bare-hand techniques and foot techniques), which can be proved by the fact that both hand and foot techniques are clearly shown in the ancient sculptures of Buddhistic statues.
The Middle Ages The Koryo dynasty, which reunified the Korean peninsula after Silla and lasted from 918 to 1392 A.D., had the Taekkyon developed more systematically and made it a compulsory subject in the examinations for selection of military cadets. The techniques and power of Taekkyon martial art grew to become effective weapons even to kill human beings. In the military, a pattern of collective practice, called "obyong-subak-hui (5 soldier's Taekkyon play), was introduced so that it might be used in a real war. In the early days of Koryo dynasty, martial art abilities were the only required qualifications to become military personnel because the kingdom utterly needed the national defense capabilities after conquer of the peninsula. A certain plain soldier who mastered the Taekkyon techniques was promoted to a general, young were invited to Taekkyon contests and the skilled ones were selected to become military officer. There were lots of other examples in which many Taekkyon-mastered youths were picked up in contests, which is proof that Taekwondo sport was originated in that epoch. The chronicles of Koryo dynasty said; "at a power contest of Taekkyon techniques, lee yi-min punched a pillar of the house with his right-hand fist, then some of the props of the roof were shaken. Another Taekkyon master had his fist pierce through the clay-wall.” Especially the kings of Koryo dynasty were much interested in "subakhui" (Taekkyon contest), making it a compulsory course of military training. Therefore, subakhui was also popular out for inspection tours in the villages. However, the Koryo dynasty in its latest years had gunpowder and new types of weapons available at hand, thus slowing down its support of martial arts as the folk games to be transmitted as such down to the modern Korea, Chosun.
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