Korea
Another major source of martial arts found in America today comes from Korea. The Korean schools usually place a great emphasis on kicking techniques. The general term for Korean kick�ing and striking arts is Tae Kwon Do. Formerly these arts were called Tang Soo Do with various schools such as Mu Duk Kwan. Some of the schools founded prior to 1970 still retain the older names.
By the 1960's the Korean arts were reorganized and unified under the name Tae Kwon Do. Under Japanese domination from 1905 to 1945, the Koreans had patterned much of their arts upon Japanese judo and karate. In their reorganization they eliminated some of the more obvious Japanese characteristics, such as the Okinawan type kata system which was entirely replaced in the early 1970's.
Although the major early influences on Korean military arts come from Mongolia and China, Koreans trace the origins of their empty hand arts back to an early type of foot fighting called Tae Kyon. In the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. a military and religious movement developed a philosophy called Hwarang-do. The Hwarang-do movement died out long ago but its influence remained and some modern Korean styles use this name for their training methods.
Tae Kwon Do is the national sport in Korea and with this support has spread rapidly through�out the world in the 1960's and 1970's as Japanese karate did in the 50's and 60's.
Southeast Asia
There have been many forms of martial arts developed in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, most greatly influenced by Indian, Moslem, and Chinese migrations into these areas. Some of the arts from these areas have played an important role in the development of other mar�tial arts (e.g., see Okinawa above). The most well known to Americans are probably the tough sport of Thai kick boxing, which has been seen but not widely practiced in the States, and Filipino arts under the names of Escrima, Kali, or Arnis which have just recently become quite popular and are beginning to be taught more widely. Unlike most other modern martial arts, which begin with the empty hand and move to weapons later, the Filipino arts begin with a large arsenal of bladed and wooden weapons and then move to empty hand and grappling techniques. This was probably true of most other traditional martial arts in their earlier stages when real combat was more likely.
