Taekkyon

Taekkyon

Also known as	Taekgyeon, Taekkyeon, Taekkyon
Focus	Self-defense with a focus on kicks, trips, throws in competitions
Hardness	Light-contact (pushing hands) Full-contact (strikes, kicks, throws, takedowns etc...)
Country of origin	Korea
Parenthood	Subak
Official website	Four associations: http://www.koreataekkyon.com/ http://www.krtga.com/ https://www.taekyun.org/ https://taekkyeon.net/ https://wtkf.org/

Taekkyon^[1][2], Taekgyeon, Taekkyeon, or Taekyun (Korean: 태껸; 택견; Hanja: 托肩, Korean pronunciation: [tʰɛk̚k͈jʌn]) is a traditional Korean martial art.

It is characterized by fluid, dynamic foot movement called pum balki, or "stepping-on-triangles". Taekkyon includes hands and feet techniques to unbalance, trip, or throw the opponent. Taekkyon has many leg and whole-body techniques with fully integrated armwork. A taekkyon practitioner is called a "taekkyon-kkun".

Since the twentieth century, taekkyon has come to be seen as a living link to Korea's past. As such, it has provided historical references for modern Korean martial arts and is often considered as the oldest martial discipline of Korea.^[3] It was almost wiped out during the Japanese Occupation, before being rediscovered after the Korean War. It has influenced the name and conceptualization of Taekwondo.^[4]

Taekkyon was the first martial art enlisted in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is also the 76th Intangible Cultural Property of South Korea.^[3][5][6]