Undoubtedly, you have seen the Tae Kwon Do sign in English and Korean written right to left:
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Tae (“태”) means “foot” |
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Kwon (“권”) means “fist” |
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Do (“도”) means “way of” (this word is phonetically spelled as “doe”) |
So why do you almost always see Taekwondo or Tae Kwon Do (태 권 도) written left to right but on certain occasions, see them written backwards?
According to “Taekwondo: From a Martial Art to a Martial Sport” written by Udo Moenig suggests that:
…the founder of Mudok Kwan (predecessor to today’s Taekwondo) published what is thought to be the first modern Korean martial arts book titled “Hwasudo” textbook.
From early on, he preferred to use Korean names for his art, and the “hwa” (i.e. flowers) refers to the long ago “hwa-rang” (‘flower youth’ or ‘flower boys’).
The book was written in the traditional top to bottom, and right to left direction, and employs extensive use of Chinese characters…
