Chapter 9: Joseon Dynasty

Treatises had been written on the most effective fighting techniques, defining them as sets. The first of them was Mooyae Chebo, written in 1599 AD, which included sets of pole techniques (used by Buddhist monks in Korea), sword and shield techniques (using "broom of wolf's tail"), long spear, trident, and long-blade sword. A second treatise, Mooyae Singbo, created about fifty years after the Manchus invasion, included bare-hand combat, exercises with Japanese and Korean swords, spear, military flail, and different blades with a long shaft. However, the greatest Korean book on the martial arts was the Muyedobo-tongji.

In 1790 AD, the King T'aejo ordered General Lee Duck Mu and scholars Back Je Ga and Back Dong Soo to compile an official textbook on all the current Korean martial arts, the Muyedobo-tongji, which is now considered a classic of Korean martial arts literature. It was the first book widely available on Taekkyon and it helped promote the art among the general population. Before this time, the art had been restricted primarily to the military nobility. The book used drawings made from carved wooden blocks and consisted of about forty pages of Korean style paper. It illustrated many facets of martial training, outlined the proper equipment and uniform, and recorded various empty hand and weapons hyung. The book described how Taekkyon enabled one to build strength by training the arms and legs, as well as the body, to be adaptable to any critical situation.

The Muyedobo-tongji included 18 techniques from the two previous treatises, four sets for horsemen (with double sword, spear, flail, and big sword), including horseback acrobatics, and a game similar to horse polo. Techniques using the shield and sword indicate the influence of the Chinese strategist Qi Jiguang and the empty-hand combat techniques are considered Chinese in origin.