Taekwondo Forms

The World Taekwondo Federation, or WTF, relies heavily on Poomses for the instruction of their style of Taekwondo. These Poomses originate from a book named I Ching, a Chinese oracle. The I Ching has a total of 64 hexagrams with a combination of two sets of three lines that are either closed or broken. The closed lines represent the Yang, while the open ones represent the Yin. The unity of these two is called Taeguk in Korean.

Taekwondo forms, or Taeguk, are all related to the various Poomses. There are eight Taeguk: Il Jang, Ee Jang, Sam Jang, Sa Jang, Oh Jang, Yook Jang, Chil Jang and Pal Jang. Each of these represents different elements or approaches, such as heaven, lake, fire, thunder, wind, water, mountain and earth. These forms truly reflect different philosophies or mental and emotional states. Il Jang, for example, reflects the greatness of heaven, while Ee Jang represents man’s limitations and how he can overcome them.

Learning Taekwondo forms properly is at the core of this martial art. Most martial arts are not simply methods of self-defense, they also incorporate and espouse a philosophy of life. In this sense, learning an art such as Taekwondo is as much a spiritual process as it is physical. More importantly, it provides practitioners with a connection to a different culture.

MartialArts-101.com offers a new source for Taekwondo instruction. For the first time on the Web, practitioners can download, watch and learn Taekwondo forms from the comfort of their homes. For beginners, this is an excellent introduction to the sport, while veterans will enjoy the detailed instructional videos and articles as a reference.

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