A photograph of a Korean archer representing a Silla Hwarang, taken in 2006. The Hwarang (Flower Knights) were highly trained group of elite warriors who fought for the Silla kingdom during the unification of the three kingdoms of Korea in the seventh century and lasted up until around the tenth century as a fighting unit.

Source: wikipedia.org
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Garcia II Nkanga a Lukeni a Nzenze a Ntumba, also known as Garcia Afonso, was the king of Kongo from 1641 to 1661. He is considered by many as Kongo's greatest ever leader for his religious piety and his near expulsion of the Portuguese from Angola.

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Taekwondo Kids

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An 18 year old Bruce Lee practicing Tai Chi with his father Lee Hoi-Chuen in 1958.

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A practitioner of Kun Gek Do, (a form of Korean kickboxing) demonstrating a high side kick.

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This mural was painted at Kak-Je Tomb in Koguryo, one of the ancient Three Kingdoms of Korea. Produced in the age of San-Sang, the tenth king of the realm who ruled Koguryo from 197–227 CE, it shows combatants sparring in the early Korean martial art Soo Bak-Gi, a precursor to modern taekwondo.

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Cheung Lai Chuen, (born around 1880) was a kung fu legend who mastered Lei Ga (Lee Style), Lung Ying (Southern Dragon Style), Lau Man Gaau (Vagabond or Wanderer's Style) and Pak Mei (White Eyebrow Style), which he adapted and took out of secrecy, popularizing the art in Hong Kong around the turn of the 20th century.

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Title:  Sasaki kojiro

Date:  c. 1815

Artist:  Ashihiro Harukawa

Infomation:  This painting depicts the Kabuki actor Ohtani Tomoemon, playing the role of samurai warrior Sasaki Kojiro who meet his end in his famous ill-fated duel with Miyamoto Musashi on Ganryu Island. Kojiro was everything a samurai warrior was expected to be and followed the local Bushido code to the letter. However he was infuriated by his opponent’s lack of respect when Musashi turned up late, was dressed like a tramp and f...
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Title:  koshiate
Date:  1735
Artist:  Hayakawa Kyuukei
Info:  This woodblock from the Edo period depicts a series of Japanese samurai swords on their koshiate
(Sword Hangers) and is from a Japanese book on samurai armour called Tanki Yoriaku: Hi Ko Ben
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Major Nam Tae Hi with some of his students from the Vietnamese Army in the early 1960's

Nam Tae Hi is a modern day Taekwondo Legend who was instrumental in the formation of the art in its current form. Born in Seoul, Korea in 1929 he began his martial arts training as a school boy. After demonstrating the art to the President of South Korea (Syngman Rhee) in 1954, it was introduced to the military and five years later, Nam and a team took Taekwondo oversees for the first time when they demonst...
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Song Duk Ki demonstrating his art in Seoul in 1964

Song Duk Ki was a master of taek kyon, (a precursor of taekwondo), who was instrumental in preserving Korean martial arts in the first half of the 20th century. Taek kyon and soo bak were the main forms of art being practice at the time and they would later go on to be blended together along with moves from karate and kung fu, to help create modern taekwondo.

However this would have been impossible without a group of masters, led by Song Duk K...
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During the Yi dynasty (1392 – 1910), interest in learning martial arts in Korea faded considerably, partly as a result of a growing emphasis on classical learning on subjects such as music, art, literature and poetry, as opposed to physical pursuits that were favoured in earlier periods.

By 1790, the martial art forms that would later develop into Taekwondo were at risk of dying out so in a bid to retain their knowledge, King Chong Jo ordered Lee Duk Mu, one of his generals and a martial ...
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One of the earliest influences on taekwondo history and philosophy was the twenty-fourth King of Silla, Chin Heung. He organised a special fighting unit for his army who were well trained, elite warriors known as the HwaRang who were prolific with weapons as well as an unarmed combat system called SooBak.

They became taekwondo history legends because their whole lives were dedicated to protecting their realm. They were also taught spiritual matters and they were expected to live by an honou...

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