What Is A Military Art?

The widely-used term "martial art" has no generally-accepted meaning in the contemporary world. This term is used to encompass a spectrum of human activities ranging from Olympic sports on one end to fighting systems with no ethical component on the other end.

The term "military art", as used herein, describes a system, school, or style in the Korean tradition, whose primary objective is success in individual self-defense. The secondary objective of which is the development of an ethical “warrior within”, with knowledges and skills appropriate to the threats facing contemporary society.

Historically the military arts included horsemanship, fencing, archery, weapon-making, and even underwater swimming.  Ironically, they still do, and more.

This is where the martial arts begin to diverge from the martial sports.  In contemporary usage, the martial arts place their primary focus on effective and practical self-defense, or rigid adherence to traditional form, as opposed to emphasizing beauty of movement and the scoring of points.  The mark of the martial sports.

The military arts begin to diverge from the martial arts, when we begin to examine the scope of the subjects taught.  The martial arts, especially in the United States and Europe, are based upon the Japanese model.  The model for their content and instruction was the instruction of the Samurai warrior.

It is instructive therefore, to remember that the samurai were suppressed by the Emperor of Japan a little under a century and a half ago.  Indeed, the continued development and progress of the Japanese arts themselves was formally ended by the Japanese government in 1945.  Thus what is now taught is reflected glory and tradition.

In Korea, the redevelopment of the traditional Korean military arts began in 1945.  The ensuing half-century of academic and scientific study and research into the military arts have produced a new standard in unarmed self-defense training which is distinctly Korean.  It should also be remembered that the Republic of Korea is a nation still technically at war.  The ability of the Korea nation, and people, to defend themselves remains a national priority.

South Korea also has a universal male draft.  The Korea Hapkido Federation, of which Chung Tong Yudo is a member, incorporates the basic military training received by male Koreans directly into the curriculum and requirements of the military art.  Advanced military training is also interwoven into the curriculum and requirements as one progresses through the black belt degrees.

The traditional Korean military arts also include other subject matter areas not found in the Japanese martial arts or in the pseudo-Korean martial arts found outside Korea.  These include, but are not limited to, anatomy, physiology, use of herbs,  accupressure, acupuncture, massage, meditation, disaster preparedness, and a number of other subjects.  The study of the traditional  Korean military arts is a life-long, and life-prolonging study, of which fighting techniques comprise only a small, although vital, proportion.

The traditional Korean military art of ChungTongKwan Yudo represents a multi-disciplinary field of legitimate academic study and research, representing both art and science. Encompassing history, lineage, ethics, philosophy, applied science, self-development, and service to family, community, and nation, the true Korean military arts are anything but a simple collection of fighting techniques, as is being falsely taught around the world by unlicensed instructors not under the supervision of the governing bodies in Korea.