International Taekwon-Do Federation
One of the two major Taekwon-Do organisations, the other being the World Taekwondo Federation or WTF. The International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) was founded on April 11, 1955, by General Choi Hong Hi, who was central to the modern systemization of Taekwon-Do.
Nine countries were involved in its founding: Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, West Germany, USA, Turkey, Italy, and Egypt. Taekwon-Do is now taught in almost every country in the world, and General Choi is recognized as the father of ITF Taekwon-Do. It is estimated that there are currently 40 million people in 140 countries practicing ITF Taekwon-do.
ITF Taekwon-Do is dedicated to promoting and preserving Taekwon-Do in its original form, as a martial art and self defence, while the WTF is more focused on its form as a sport.
When General Choi died on the June 15 2002, there was a political split between the different Masters within TaeKwon-Do, and the creation of three ITF groups was the result. General Choi's son, GrandMaster Choi Jung Hwa, is currently the head of the ITF-C, based in Canada. Mr Chang Ung heads the ITF-NK, based in North Korea and ITF-V is lead by Master Tran Trieu Quan in Vienna.
Patterns
Patterns or forms (equivalent to the kata in karate) are considered by many to be one of the most important aspects of training in Taekwon-Do. The patterns practised by members of the ITF are very different from those performed by the WTF, forming one of the major differences between the two styles.
There are 24 patterns (틀) in the official ITF syllabus, all of which were developed by General Choi. The names of these patterns typically refer to a patriotic instance or person of Korean history. They are as follows (with Hangul/Hanja names), and with related articles:
- Chon-Ji (천지/天地)
- Dan-Gun (단군/檀君)
- Do-San (도산/島山)
- Wonhyo (원효/元曉)
- Yul-Gok (율곡/栗谷)
- Joong-Gun (중근/重根)
- Toi-Gye (퇴계/退溪)
- Hwa-Rang (화랑/花郎)
- Choong-Moo (충무/忠武)
- Kwang-Gae (광개/廣開)
- Po-Eun (포은/圃隱)
- Ge-Baek (계백/階伯)
- Eui-Am (의암/義菴)
- Choong-Jang (충장/忠壯)
- Juche (주체/主體)
- Sam-il (삼일/三一)
- Yoo-Sin (유신/庾信)
- Choi-Yong (최영/崔榮)
- Yong-Gae (연개/淵蓋)
- Ul-Ji (을지/乙支)
- Moon-Moo (문무/文武)
- So-San (서산/西山)
- Se-Jong (세종/世宗)
- Tong-Il (통일/統一)
Originally there was another pattern called Kodang but this has been replaced by Juche in the current official syllabus of the ITF.