A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do [Hardcover]

Alex Gillis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 20, 2008

Obscure documents, Korean-language books, and in-depth interviews with tae kwon do pioneers tell the tale of the origin of the most popular martial art. In 1938, tae kwon do began at the end of a poker game in a tiny village in a remote corner of what is now North Korea by Choi Hong-Hi, who began the martial art, and his nemesis, Kim Un-Yong, who developed the Olympic style and became one of the most powerful, controversial men in sports. The story follows Choi from the 1938 poker game where he fought for his life, through high-class geisha houses where the art was named, and into the Vietnam War where the martial art evolved into a killing art. The techniques cut across all realms—from the late 1960s when tae kwon do-trained Korean CIA agents kidnapped people in the U.S. and Europe, to the 1970s when Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and other Hollywood stars master the art’s new kicks. Tae kwon do is also a martial art for the 21st century, one of merciless techniques, indomitable men, and justice pumped on steroids.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alex Gillis is a university writing instructor and a professional journalist specializing in literary nonfiction and investigative research. He has trained in tae kwon do for 25 years and is a third-degree black belt. His instructors were some of the pioneers of the martial art, and he had rare access to these men and their families and disciples. He lives in Toronto.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

When I need a break from my life, when I need to confront stress, fear, and madness, I flee to a place of power, to a room where meditation meets brute force. I climb to a third–floor studio or descend to a basement gym, and as I feel a hardwood floor or a padded cement slab under my bare feet, I smell the sweat and effort of those who came before me, and I hear their laughter and yells, and, occasionally, I remember the blood that fell. I find reprieve in sweat and struggle.

This is not a hobby for everyone, and it is perhaps odd to call it a “break,” especially because the Korean martial art that I practise, Tae Kwon Do, is extremely difficult to master and can lead to real breaks — bone breaks. Its creators embedded innumerable tests within its techniques, but the training is usually safe, and I always look forward to going. I walk into my dojang, the Korean name for a martial arts gym, hoping that my instructor, Mr. Di Vecchia, will be there with his old stories and wisdom, that Floyd will be stretching and preparing for one of his spectacular jumping front kicks, that Marc will show us the mid–air split kick once again, and that Martin will push us with his spirited sparring at the end of class. Anyone can begin the fundamentals of the art, but few can stick with it as these men have. I began Tae Kwon Do when I was a teenager, twenty–five years ago — when the art peaked in many ways — and I met these martial artists over the decades, as the physical moves hardened my muscles and strengthened my heart and mind.

The Koreans who created the martial art consciously set out to strengthen individuals and, eventually, entire nations. Tae Kwon Do is an art of self–defence, but if you enter the closed rooms of its history, you realize that it is the art of killing and if practised with care and intent, an art of empowerment. It can empower more than the body. The best martial artists apply physical techniques to mental states; they can erode or raise emotional substrata; they can build or destroy reputations, careers, friends, families, and countries. The complex paths they take — for better or worse — often depend on age–old loyalties and new–found betrayals.

I discovered this the hard way many years ago. On April 20, 2001, in the year of the Snake, I walked into the Novotel Hotel in Toronto, Canada, to wait for the “Father of Tae Kwon Do,” General Choi Hong–Hi, who would lead a three–day seminar for black belts. I was naive then, and revered the eighty–two–year–old Choi and the other founding members of Tae Kwon Do, including a man named Kim Un–yong, and I felt intimidated walking into the seminar room, partly because Choi was a hard taskmaster. He had become a major–general in the South Korean army at the age of thirty–three, and even though he had retired from the military in 1962, he was still known as “the General.” He and his men had sacrificed their bodies, careers, and families to perfect a martial art now practised by more than 70 million people in nearly 180 countries.

I can picture the first day of his 2001 seminar as if it were today: I wait in the Amsterdam Room of the Novotel with 100 black belts from the United States, Canada, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Honduras. Standing among the bowing, whispering martial artists, I feel as though I could be waiting within a palace of the Chosŏn dynasty in 1394 — I imagine the ancient warriors waiting for dynastic rulers, the floors heated in the old style (invisible and underground), and the Korean geisha girls ready to sing the p’ansori verses that praise Confucian values and sagacious leaders.

The General and his men are extremely late, however. He is upstairs, talking and arguing with his son and the masters and grandmasters who will help during the seminar. These men once fought, parted, and threatened to kill one another over politics and, in some cases, over personal matters, but the masters and grandmasters know they owe their fortunes and reputations to the General, and everyone is trying to reconcile past threats with present ambitions.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: ECW Press (November 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550228250
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228250
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic and In-Depth Look At the Real History of Tae Kwon Do, November 4, 2008

By 

Shawn Kovacich "Shawn Kovacich" (The Greatest Little City in the World) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do (Hardcover)

Well, I guess the best way to start off this particular review is to list what my particular qualifications are in relation to this particular review, and why that is relevant to writing a review about this particular book.

I am currently a 4th Dan black belt in the Korean martial art of Tae Kwon Do and I am certified by the Kukkiwon out of Seoul, South Korea. I am also a 4th degree black belt in Japanese Karate (basically Shotokan/Kyokushin) and certified through one of my original instructors, Shihan Dennis Dallas.

Now before I go any further, I feel that I must emphatically state that I was fortunate enough to learn the actual martial art of Tae Kwon Do, and not the sport version which is so prevalent today, although in my original school we did often compete in numerous tournaments throughout the year. However, the primary emphasis on what we learned and practiced was the practical and realistic use of the techniques, not just how to "score a point" with a particular punch or kick. My original instructor, who was Japanese, taught me and numerous others the arts of Korean Tae Kwon Do and Japanese Karate, and if you know anything about the relationship between the Koreans and the Japanese, you can see the significance of this and how difficult things were at times, not only for my original instructor, but also his students.

And it is with this background and train of thought that I write the following review.

I have been eagerly anticipating the release of this book for quite some time now, and imagine my surprise when it arrived in the mail yesterday when the release date was listed as November 20th, 2008. I just couldn't wait to start reading it. Well here it is approximately 10 hours later and I not only have read it through in its entirety once, but also went back over several different chapters and read them a second time.

Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed at all in this book. As a matter of fact, this book was like a breath of fresh air, and some of the material that is in this book I had heard years ago by various instructors who had told me even then that there was a lot more to the art than what was known by most instructors, let alone the general public that were currently taking lessons in Tae Kwon Do.

Now this book is definitely going to stir the pot of controversy and there is no doubt in my mind that there are going to be a lot of Tae Kwon Do practitioners on both sides of the equation that are going to scream and holler and try and dispel the author and the material in this book as trying to mislead the reader, or even out and out call him a fraud.

Well let me assure you that the author is anything but, and in fact, is actually shedding a lot of light on an art that although it may be the most popular martial art currently practiced throughout the world, still gets a bad rap from many in the martial arts community for its focus on Olympic sport instead of following its true heritage of being a very deadly and effective martial art, which is what the true art really is.

The author has obviously done his research on the subject and has been fortunate enough to gain the trust of men who were either directly involved in the formation of the art of Tae Kwon Do, and/or those who were close to those very same men. The history is not always pretty, and as a matter of fact, is rarely so, and in some cases is downright ugly and repulsive, but therein lies the beauty of it. The author doesn't "sugarcoat" the events and people that created the art, he is straightforward, blunt, and to the point in relating the various stories and events that created the men that in turn created the art.

This book is very well presented and the material in it has been well researched and laid out for the reader to follow and understand. The author had included a lot of very significant historical photographs that really added to the overall appeal of this book and the incredible history that it conveys.

I can not recommend this book highly enough and I only ask that each reader approach this book with an open mind and an empty cup in order to read the material presented without any preconceived notions or biases towards Tae Kwon Do, and/or a particular branch or style. If you can do that, then you will truly realize the significance that this book has not only in the history of Tae Kwon Do, but also all of the martial arts.

Shawn Kovacich
Martial Artist/Creator of numerous books and DVD's.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NOT FOR THE FAINT AT HEART, November 25, 2009

By 

Douglas Cook "Master Doug Cook" (Warwick, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do (Hardcover)

This book is not for the faint at heart, nor is it for those new to the martial arts. If you harbor any preconceived notions regarding the virtues of taekwondo, this work will quickly relieve you of them. However, this story must be told and Mr. Gillis does it well. His research is deep and heavily annotated. I have read this book several times with great enthusiasm since it contains many valuable details and reads like a novel. Yet, being personally familiar with several of the protaganists portrayed, I feel a more balanced treatment would have resulted in an even more accurate work. This is the only reason I rated the book four stars rather than five. I have written three books focusing on traditional taekwondo and, regardless of information within this book, continue to feel that there are those both locally and in Korea, the homeland of taekwondo, who support the true heart of traditional taekwondo. So...read with care and maintain an open mind.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I was skeptical, but this is a good read., January 7, 2009

By 

Aaron Brown (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do (Hardcover)

I've been doing TKD for over 20 years. My background is actually much like the authors and I could immediately relate to him as I read. What I was worried about was that this book would repeat so many of the foundation myths (ancient Hwarang warriors and the like) that have been dismissed long ago.

But this is a well researched and informative book. Most of it fit in with rumors I'd heard over the years, but instead of hearsay you had interviews, etc from the actual participants.

If you have an interest in TKD, particularly in the ITF variety, this is a must have. I recommend it to my students all the time.