Taekkyeon: Korean Intangible Cultural Asset # 76

Today I came across this traditional Korean martial art for the first time. This was likely depicted in Kokuryo murals possibly originating in the Three Kingdoms period (over 2000 years ago). Song Duk Ki (1893-1987) kept this form alive as it was almost lost during Korean Independence. I continue to be touched by traditions that are almost lost but kept alive by the passionate devotion of an individual or a small group of people. This is the same feeling I have for the Korean folk art and embroidery that inspire my paintings and in my practice of Tai Chi as a martial art. It's the knowledge that these practices and objects are ancient, precious and carefully passed from one generation to another. I want to treasure them and make them alive.