I am working on a project and I could use some assistance from the MAP community. I am writing a paper on the Hwarang Warriors of Korea and I have not been able to find a single shred of (credible) evidence for the existence of such a warrior class in old Korea. If any of you could help out, then it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
A LOT of the whole Hwarang thing was made up to give TKD some history before 1955 help Korean patriotism after the end of Japanese occupation. I remember when I was younger I did some research in to it and from what I can remember the Hwarang were basically sons of noble people who got access to special education which involved going off and learning to read write, poetry and religion, alone with horse riding and archery and sword play. Think more, posh kids at boarding school and less, worriers in an old shaolin style training camp.
I disagree. Much of Hwarang theory relating to TKD is taken from authentic Korean historical texts such as Hwarang Segi ("Records of the Hwarang", 8th Century) and Samguk Sagi ("History of the Three Kingdoms", 12th Century). Much (I'd say all) of what we know about the Hwarang was established long before TKD was created; as TKD spread in popularity, more people were exposed to the history of Korea. I don't know how you can justify your original statement? Yes they had a good education. But they were also very capable soldiers, and were a driving force behind the unification of the Korean peninsula.
I think you are both right. It does appear that there was a HwaRang group. From my understanding historical records from that period are limited. What I do know is that those who developed TKD into a KMA of SD starting in the 50s & those who developed it into a Korean martial sport in the 60s both used embellished accounts of the HwaRang youth group to show same vague reference or connection of TKD to KMAs of older times, as TKD was a modern development that started post WWII by Koreans that were trained in Karate. If I have time I will try to read what Dr. He Young Kimm says about it in his History of Korea & Hapkido. I also have found it difficult to find reliable info on this topic, but never persued it more deeply as it was apparent that it or they had nothing to do with TKD. The alleged connection was made for national indentity purposes after a dark period that Korea suffered at the hands of the Japanese
Wow, thanks a million, guys! Bigboss, I understand what you are saying, and the reasoning that you give is why I have found it so hard to gather reliable information on the group. Most of the bogus claims seem to come from the TKD side of things, where they are constantly trying to lay claim to the Hwarang as part of their own lineage. Maybe a lot of it is made up, or maybe a lot of people took what was there and grossly exaggerated it. I am still searching to find out. BB, my original understanding was also that the Hwarang were the sons of nobility and that the organization was something akin to the boyscouts in America. They were supposedly trained in the fine arts, philosophy, strategy, and the Chinese classics, along with archery, swordsmanship, and spear work. I don't know about them being soldiers or such, despite their training, I question the logic behind sending a royal heir into combat where death was a major possibility. Perhaps the training was just in case of a worst case scenario. Superfoot, thanks for the link! I really appreciate it. A lot of what was presented matched up with I have learned about them. The Hwarangdo thing, I don't know so much about. Not so much the art, but more like, why would an indigenous Korean philosophy use a distinctly Japanese suffix. It certainly helps, though.
