When tradition meets ambition, what is left of the Do?

Once a way of life —a path to discipline, justice, and peace— Taekwon-Do has evolved into something almost unrecognisable. VIII Dan Master John William McKissock traces his lifelong journey through the art’s Golden Age and its slow descent into politics, ego, and commercialisation.

This is a deeply personal account of loyalty and disillusionment, written by a practitioner who lived through both the dream and the betrayal. With candour and insight, McKissock questions what was lost when martial values gave way to branding and consumerism, and what remains for those who still seek meaning beyond medals and marketing.

Part memoir, part critique, and part quiet manifesto, Reflections upon Taekwon-Do challenges every martial artist to ask: Have we honoured the oath we swore, or have we sold it?

Taekwon-Do: from art to sport, to… franchise?