Hangul
Are you wondering what all those funny symbols are?
Both TaeKwonDo and Hapkido are Korean names for Korean martial arts. All of the original instructors were Korean, and the documents they issued were written in the Korean language. It has become traditional for many schools practicing Korean martial arts to continue to use Korean language for official documents or decoration. Even though our school is in America and all of our students speak and read English, we also continue this tradition to demonstrate our lineage.
History and Structure
The written Korean language is called Hangul. According to history, Hangul was created in 1446 under King Sejong of the Choson Dynasty, in order to spread the benefits of writing to the Korean people. As a (relatively) new, designed, language, Hangul is widely regarded as well made and easy to learn. Source: Korean Online
What might at first appear to us as letters are actually syllables. If you look closely at the syllables, you can begin to pick out repeated elements; these are the actual letters, of which there are usually three, sometimes two per syllable. Going into detail is a distraction from our purpose, (teaching martial arts) but here is a hint: long horizontal and vertical lines are usually vowels.
Hangul On This Site
Sidebar
The sidebar at the left, which is taken from the lapel of a senior instructor's uniform, reads as follows: Tae-Kwon-Do Hap-Ki-Do Ho-Sin-Sul. (The words probably repeat, depending on your browser size.) Loosely translated, "The way of kicking and punching", "The art of coordinated power", and "Self defense technique". See the martial art pages for more detail.
School Stamp
![[picture of our school stamp]](../graphics/dojo.jpg)
Our school stamp reads "Ho-Sin-Sul Do-Jang". Hosinsul is defined above. Do-Jang, sometimes written DoJo, is a school or training area.
Instructor Stamps
The instructor stamps, found on their biographical pages, simply transliterate the instructor's name.
School Logo
The characters in the center of our school logo, however, are of Chinese origin. In Korean the characters are called Hanja. There are two characters. The upper, 'A' like, one represents a fist, whereas the lower one represents hand. Together they are loosely translated as "Chinese Hand", because of the strong Chinese influence in martial arts history.
More Information
Here are some other resources for the interested:
- Korean Online includes a lot of information on Hangul and the Korean Language, as well as some more general information.
- An Introduction to Korean provides more of a step by step tutorial for leaning Hangul.