When someone says "martial arts", one of the first things that often come to mind for many are films starring Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee or perhaps The Karate Kid. These films can be a great introduction to martial arts, but there is so much more to learn about this art form. Each martial arts style has its own unique facets that make it different from other martial arts styles. Some martial arts are connected to spiritual or religious beliefs or philosophies such as Buddhism, Taoism or Shinto. Other forms of martial arts have their own forms of spiritual or non-spiritual honor codes. Another example would be their fighting style. A final example is the origins of the different martial arts. In this article I will discuss the similarities and differences between the origins of three martial arts forms: Taekwondo from South Korea, Shaolin Kung-Fu from China, and Sumo from Japan. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Taekwondo, originating in South Korea, became an official Olympic medal sport about 20 years ago. It was first included as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and then again at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. It was not until 2000, during the Sydney Olympics, that Taekwondo officially became an Olympic sport. Despite how well known Taekwondo is now, its origin still causes disagreement. The official and most popular belief is that Taekwondo originated 2000 years ago as an indigenous fighting method. However, some recent publications attest that the true origin dates back to Japanese karate during the Korean colonial period from 1910 to 1945. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence indicating that this is the true origin, but most Korean taekwondo and academic institutions they insist on this point. ancient martial arts are the true origin. With the exception of Hwang Ki, all of Taekwondo's founding fathers studied at Japanese universities where they first learned karate. They established the first five major martial arts academies or Kwans in the Seoul area from 1944 to 1947. Other Kwans were created during and after the Korean War, however, they were not unified in teaching methods, styles, or employment of many techniques. Because of the disunity, different names were coined based on their martial arts style: Mooduk Kwan, Jido Kwan, Changmu Kwan, Chungdo Kwan, and Songmu Kwan. In April 1955 Kwan leaders, historians and prominent members of the society met to select a single name, in hopes of unifying the schools. After a long struggle, they agreed on the name: Taekwondo. The name comes from the Korean word "Tae" meaning foot, "Kwon" meaning fist and "Do" meaning way of. However, it was not universally accepted until 1965. During the 1970s, the Korea Taekwondo Association disbanded the single Kwan to unify the martial art. Some leaders moved abroad to maintain their original Kwan and some even retained their former names. Today, Taekwondo is an international art and sport practiced in over 190 countries. Kung-fu commonly refers to martial arts in China, but this form of martial arts is thought to have originated outside of China. Kung-Fu can be translated as "the effort and time required to complete a task or master a skill". Another translation is “perfection achieved through effort”. Kung-Fu is believed to originate from an Indian monk called Bodhidharma. He was a disciple of Mahayana Buddhism who left India around 520 AD and went to China. At first Bodhidharma was warmly welcomed.