Who invented tae kwon do forms?

Answer 1

When Taekwondo was first being organized into a standardized curriculum of Korean Martial Art (1944 - 1961), the majority of the philosophy, techniques, and tactics were drawn from various traditional forms of Korean Martial Art.

Many of the pioneers of Taekwondo were the founders of the original nine Kwans (family of schools under one founder). Each of them contributed a wide range of backgrounds from China, Korea, and Japan. A few of them were previously certified Black Belts and instructors of Japanese Karate-do since the Japanese occupation restricted much of their freedom to openly teach native Korean traditions. Kata (prearranged forms) was one of the training tools that was a part of Karate-do which came from the Okinawa-te (hand fighting), but did not previously exist in Korean Martial Art systems.

The Korean Kwan founders borrowed the concept of forms and its basic framework, but redesigned them for the application of Taekwondo techniques and tactics. The first version created and published in written text was called the Chang Hon (Blue Cottage) system developed by Korean Army General Hong-Hi Choi who founded the Oh Do Kwan, and later the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF). Some of the early Taekwondo schools used variations of the older Karate forms, while others adopted Choi's Chang Hon "tul" (patterns).

The Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) was formed in 1961 to unite the various Kwans. In 1972, the Kukkiwon building (National Academy and World Taekwondo Headquarters in Seoul, Korea) was built. Taekwondo was named by the Korean government as the national Martial Art of Korea, and Taekwondo competition was named as the national sport of Korea. The Korean government recognized nine Kwans, created a 10th administrative Kwan, and numbered them to unify and replace the Kwan system.

After years of research and development, a panel of Korean Grandmasters at the Kukkiwon completely redesigned the practice of forms into "Poomsae" and developed the Palgwae set of 8 forms, and Black Belt forms for each of the nine degrees. A few of the Kwan founders were not consulted on the creation of the Palgwae, so a new panel representing all of the original Kwans was formed, and the Taegeuk poomsae were developed. These are the official forms of Taekwondo at the Kukkiwon, and for Olympic competition as approved by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).