Tae Kwon Do

The Birth of Tae Kwon Do
Man has been endowed with the natural impulse to survive dangerous situations, using whatever tools are available. If caught in such a situation, man could possibly wield a weapon to defend himself, but weapons are not always available. Therefore, man needs to learn how to use his own body as a weapon. Thus opens the history books on the martial arts.
Traditional Roots:
Tae Kwon Do has endured a dramatic history, beginning with the three rival dynasties in early Korea: Koguryo, Silla, and Baekjae.
The oldest Korean ancestor of taekwondo is an amalgamation of unarmed combat styles developed by three rival kingdoms in the earliest days of known Korean history.Young men were trained in unarmed combat techniques to develop strength, speed, and survival skills. The most popular of these techniques was subak, and taekkyon being the most popular of the segments of subak.
Ranking:
Like many martial arts, taekwondo has ten student ranks (called a gup, also romanized as geup or kup) and nine or ten black belt ranks (dan). New students begin at 10th gup (white belt) and advance down in number to 1st gup. At many schools, students then advance into an intermediate rank called cho dan bo or dan bo, meaning "black belt candidate". After some prescribed amount of time has passed, the student takes a dan test, after which the student becomes a 1st dan.
The colored belt system is an artifact of Japanese influence on Korea during the occupation, and thus ultimately from Jigaro Kano, the founder of judo. Some organizations' leaders, like General Choi, assigned meanings to the various colors of the ranks, representing the progression of a student from the snows of winter (white belt), through a cycle of the seasons representing the student's growth (yellow, green, blue, red), into the maturity of the black belt. The interpretation of the colors of the belt vary from school to school, and are sometimes omitted from instruction, as they did not have meaning when they were originally chosen. Neither the World Taekwondo Federation nor the Kukkiwon assign official meanings to the colors.
The correspondence of belt color to gup varies drastically from school to school, and can even change within the same school over time. Belt colors are most useful in allowing students and instructors within a school to quickly determine rank. The traditional and most common rank-color correspondence found in both Kukkiwon and ITF schools are:
gup Color
10th White Belt
9th varies
8th Yellow belt
7th varies
6th green belt
5th varies
4th blue belt
3rd varies
2nd red belt
1st varies

Dan belts
The black belt system is more formal and standardized across the different schools of taekwondo. Generally, a dan black belt is either an unadorned black belt (the same for all ranks), or has a stripe across the tip for each rank (usually gold, silver, red or white). For example, a 5th dan could have five lateral gold stripes across the end of the belt. Many black belts also have the name of the school on the right side of the belt, and the taekwondo practitioner's name on the left. The names can be written in any language, though having the school's name in Korean and the practitioner's name in his native language is common. According to General Choi, "The reason for nine black belt degrees is that the number three is a powerful number in the orient, and therefore three threes must be the most powerful." The 10th dan is a very rare rank, generally awarded posthumously only to persons who have made great contributions to taekwondo. It should not be confused with the honorary dan. The Kukkiwon has only awarded four standard 10th dan, all posthumously, to the following men: Byong Lo Lee, Chong Soo Hong, Il Sup Chun and Nam Suk Lee. The WTF has also awarded two "honorary" Kukkiwon 10th dan, both to individuals who were members of the IOC. The WTF, WTF Member National Associations and the Kukkiwon issue many honorary dan to political and non-political persons who make a contribution to the growth of taekwondo.
Generally speaking, one must wait one year per current dan level to progress to the next level. For example, a 3rd dan must wait three years before he can progress into 4th dan. There can also be an age requirement. For example, one must be at least 30 years old to qualify for 6th dan in the Kukkiwon. The Kukkiwon allows shortened promotion times for exceptional accomplishments. For example, a practitioner who wins the World Championships is accorded an 80% discount on both the minimum time to advance and minimum age requirements,up to a maximum promotion of 7th dan.
History of the sport
During the Koryo Dynasty the sport Soo Bakh Do, which was then used as a military training method, became popular. During the Yi-dynasty (1392 A.D. - 1910 A.D.) this emphasis on military training disappeared. King Taejo, founder of the Yi-dynasty, replaced Buddhism by Confucianism as the state religion. According to Confucianism, the higher class should read poets and play music. Martial arts was something for the common, or even inferior, man.
Modern-day Taekwondo is influenced by many other Martial Arts. The most important of these arts is Japanese Karate. This is because Japan dominated Korea during 1910 until the end of World War II. During WWII, lots of Korean soldiers were trained in Japan. During this occupation of Korea, the Japanese tried to erase all of the Korean culture, including the martial arts. The influence that Japan has given to Taekwondo are the quick, straight-line movements, that characterize the various Japanese systems.
After World War II, when Korea became independent, several kwans arose. These kwans were: "Chung Do Kwan", "Moo Duk Kwan", "Yun Moo Kwan", "Chang Moo Kwan", "Oh Do Kwan", "Ji Do Kwan", "Chi Do Kwan" and "Song Moo Kwan". The Kwans united in 1955 as Tae Soo Do. In the beginning of 1957, the name Taekwondo was adopted by several Korean martial arts masters, for its similarity to the name Tae Kyon.
General Choi Hong-hi required the army to train Taekwondo, so the very first Taekwondo students were Korean soldiers. The police and air force had to train Taekwondo as well. At that time, Taekwondo was merely a Korean version of Shotokan Karate. In 1961 the Korean Taekwondo Union arose from the Soo Bakh Do Association and the Tae Soo Do Association. In 1962 the Korean Amateur Sports Association acknowledged the Korean Taekwondo Union and in 1965 the name is set to Korean Taekwondo Association (K.T.A.). General Choi was president of the K.T.A. at that time and was asked to start the I.T.F. as the international branch of the K.T.A. The southern government was overthrown in 1961. General Choi Hong-hi left for America and established I.T.F. (International Taekwondo Federation) Taekwondo, as a separate entity, two years later.
After fifty years of occupation by Japan (which ended in 1945) and after the division of the nation and the Korean War, Korean nationalism spurred the creation of a national art in 1955, combining the styles of the numerous kwans active within the country (with the exception of Moo Duk Kwan, which remained separate - therefore Tang Soo Do is still a separate art from TKD today). Gen. Hong Hi Choi was primarily responsible for the creation of this new national art, which was named Tae Kwon Do to link it with Tae-Kyon (a native art). Earlier unification efforts had been called Kong Soo Do, Tae Soo Do, etc. Many masters had learned Japanese arts during the occupation, or had learned Chinese arts in Manchuria. Only a few had been lucky enough to be trained by the few native martial artists who remained active when the Japanese banned all martial arts in Korea. Choi himself had taken Tae-Kyon (a Korean art) as a child, but had earned his 2nd dan in Shotokan Karate while a student in Japan.