history of kuk sool won:
1:1 Introduction

The Roots of Kuk Sool
There are virtually no surviving written records relating to ancient Korea and its martial arts prior to the 11 th century CE.** However, we are fortunate in having two works of reference compiled during the KORYO Dynasty (935-1392 CE), whose authors, although not contemporary with the events they describe, appear to have had access to far more ancient documents as their source of information. Unfortunately, those ancient documents have either disappeared or have been destroyed.

The first of these works is the SAMGUK SAGI- History of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea - which was compiled and written by KIM PU SIK (1075-1151 CE). He was a high court official of the KORYO court, and his work was sanctioned as the official history of that period. The second work of reference is the SAMGUK YUSA - Legends of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea- compiled and written by the Buddhist monk, ILYON (1206-1289 CE), who was the National Priest of KORYO.

Unfortunately, scant reference is made in either book to the martial arts. In the SAMGUK SAGI, there is mention of Korean swordsmanship and in the SAMGUK YUSA, mention of Royal Court martial arts contests. Nevertheless, together, these two chronicles of Korea's ancient past are rich in historical fact, legend, folklore and mythology and interested scholars from both East and West study these books in order to understand and gain insight into the historical culture and development of the Korean nation.

**The nomenclature of BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era) has been used throughout this article. The Common Era is chronologically equivalent to the Christian Era - i .e . 1 CE = 1 AD (Anno Domini). On occasions, contradictions in the dating of events, as well as differing versions of the same event appear in various texts. There are also, of course, many foreign events which had a profound influence and effect on Korea, which could not be encompassed in this overview. I suggest, therefore, that this brief historical sketch be viewed as a thin thread running through the fabric of Korean (martial art) history.