Our Philosphy

Family Karate is committed to the development of ourselves and our students to be strong, caring and responsible people.  Being responsible and caring means being strong enough to stand for our beliefs, and may involve protecting ourselves and others.

Family Karate is committed to the philophy that we can do the hard work necessary to become to be strong, caring and responsible people in a place that is emotionally and physically safe.

Family Karate is committed to supporting parents in raising strong, caring and responsible children, and every parent is welcome to every class, every activity, and every event we have for their children.

Family Karate is committed to earning the loyalty of our students and the trust of parents in every class, every day.

Our Ancient Heritage

While Family Karate's curriculum is constantly being refined to provide our students with the best possible self-protection skills and self-development tools, our formal roots are in the Korean martial art of Taekwondo.

Although Taekwondo is a modern martial art, its origins can be traced back over 1,400 years to the  the ancient kingdom of Silla on the southern tip of the Korean peninsula.

This kingdom was the subject of constant attack from its two neighbors, Baek Je and Koguryo. Silla needed to build a powerful fighting force that had strong leadership to keep its independence.

It formed an elite warrior class called the Hwa-rang (Way of Flowering Manhood). These men practiced strict mental and physical discipline, following a code of conduct created by a Korean Buddhist monk, Won Kang:

1. Be loyal to your King
2. Be obedient to your parents
3. Be honorable to your friends
4. Never retreat cowardly in battle
5. Never kill unjustly

This ancient pledge of the Hwa Rang became the foundation for our modern Tenets of Taekwondo and Taekwondo Pledge.

The Hwa-rang warriors practiced traditional weapon arts using the spear, bow, sword and the hook. They also established forms of unarmed hand and foot fighting.  They studied stragegy, tactics, and logistics.

Many of these young warriors grew up to become important generals for Silla and gained respect among their enemies on the battlefield, eventually defeating the other two kingdoms and uniting the Korean peninsula.

From 1905-1945 Korean martial arts were banned in Korea because of the Japanese occupation in the country. Despite the fact that they were banned the art of taek kyon was secretly kept alive.

After Korea was liberated form the Japanese General Choi Hong Hi joined with the new Korean army and dedicated himself to teach the martial arts to his men. He realized that they would need a complete Korean art. He then developed his own style based on taek kyon, soo bak-gi and karate. He named this new art Taekwondo literally translating to "way of the foot and fist". On April 11, 1955 at a special conference this name was accepted.

The moves in Taekwondo are directed more towards defense rather than offense. Not only does the art teach self-defense but beauty of form and mental development.

The History and Heritage of the Taekwondo "Pledge"

Before every class a pledge is said by the students and the Instructor. Based upon the Code of the Hwa Rang warriors of the Silla Dynasty. It was during the Japanese occupation that Korean martial arts were banned were kept alive only in secret. Once Korea was liberated from Japanese domination, the arts flourished. In 1954 a new name was given to the martial arts practiced by the Koreans-Taekwondo. General Choi Hong Hi was one of the first founders of Taekwondo and updated the Hwa Rang Code into a student oath, and for decades Taekwondo students around the world pledged to:

1. Observe the tenets of Taekwondo
2. Respect instructors and seniors
3. Never misuse Taekwondo
4. Be a champion of freedom and justice
5. Build a more peaceful world

Today, the promise we make before every Family Karate class today is a precis of General Choi's:

"I will keep the Tenets of Taekwondo to bring honor upon myself, my family, and my instructors."

After class we remind ourselves of the Tenets of Taekwondo that we pledged to keep as martial artists:

Courtesy

Integrity

Perserverance

Self Control

Indomitable Spirit

American Flag

Every class at Family Karate begins and ends with a salute to the flag of the United States. Our short, silent pledge of allegiance is a bow, the traditional Taekwondo demonstration of honor and respect. In saluting the flag we are indicating that we are proud to live in the United States and that we are grateful for its tradition of liberty and its laws that allow peaceful assembly to study Taekwondo.

The Stars and Stripes of the United States is probably the best known symbol in the world today, but there is some mystery surrounding its origins. Congressman Francis Hopkinson claimed to have designed it and Betsy Ross's grandson claimed that she made the first one, but historians doubt both claims. Also there is no direct record of why the colors red, white and blue were chosen. Five years later the same colors were chosen for the Great Seal of the United States, and the meanings of its colors were listed as red for hardiness and courage, white for purity and innocence, and blue for vigilance, perseverance and justice. 

What is clear is that on June 14, 1777 the Continental Congress resolved that "the Flag of the united states be 13 stripes alternate red, white and the Union (replacing the British Union Jack) be 13 stars white in a blue field representing a new Constellation. George Washington said of the stripes "The red from our mother country (England), divided by the white stripe of liberty to show that we are separated from her". 

The flag has come to be known by several terms of endearment. The "Red, White and Blue" and "Stars and Stripes" are distinctive nicknames. Francis Scott Key first came up with the "Star-Spangled Banner" in 1814 when he wrote the poem that became our national anthem. William Driver was a 21 year old sea captain leaving on his first command in 1824 when his mother and friends gave him a United States flag as a farewell present He named his flag "Old Glory" and proudly flew it on voyages the world over.

The flag went through many transitions, including having stars and stripes added when new states joined the Union. In 1818 the number of stripes was set back to the original 13 and a new star was to be added to the flag on the Fourth of July after a new state joined the Union. During the Civil War, President Lincoln refused to have the stars for the southern states removed from the flag. Since 1960, the United States flag has had 13 stripes and 50 stars.

Winston Churchill said that "democracy is an abominable form of government, but it is far superior to any other yet devised!" Recent events in Asia, Eastern Europe and Central America show that people everywhere yearn for the freedoms that we enjoy. Freedom's symbol world-wide is the flag that we salute.

The Flag of Taekwondo's Homeland

The Korean flag is very unusual in its design. It does not represent any great event or person in Korean history. It does not portray Korean geography or politics. Instead it prompts us to think about our relationship with our fellow man, our world and our universe. 

The central symbol is the yang/um in Korean, or yang/ying in Chinese. This ancient symbol represents all that is opposite but complimentary in perfect balance. It portrays harmony between the concepts that cannot exist without their opposite - light and darkness, masculine and feminine, good and evil, active and passive, construction and destruction, hot and cold, and so on. 

The symbol in each of the four corners continues the same theme. The symbol in the upper left represents "heaven" and the symbol in the lower right represents "earth". The symbol in the lower left corner represents fire. The symbol in the upper right represents water. The Taegueki's theme of the continual struggle for balance and harmony is vital to the student of Taekwondo. Too much rain will destroy a crop as surely as too little. Too much pride will destroy a martial artist as surely as too little.