During the Koryo Dynasty, Subak became known as Taekkyon, which was written in Chinese characters meaning, "push shoulder." Weapons, such as swords, bow and arrows, etc., were the primary tools of war during this period. Since Subak was used as a supplement to these weapons, it concentrated on "quick kill" techniques. Taekkyon, as the immediate predecessor to Subak, was a very aggressive hard style martial art system that was composed mostly of foot techniques.

As the time of peace came to an end, the focus of Taekkyon changed. During the reign of King Uijong (1147-1170 AD), it changed from a system designed primarily to promote physical fitness into a fighting art. A few extracts from the Historical Record of Koryo testify to the popularity of Subak/Taekkyon as a martial art:

• "King Uijong admired the excellence of Yi Ui-min in sbak and promoted him from taejong (military rank) to pyolchang"

• "The king appeared at the Sang-chun Pavilion and watched Subak contests"

• "The king watched Subak contests at Hwa-bi Palace"

• "The king came to Ma-am and watched Subak contests"

However, during the latter years of the dynasty when gunpowder and new types of weapons became available, support for martial arts training slowed and martial arts training for soldiers was minimal. High levels of training were reserved for the personal troops of feudal lords, such as the "sambyolcho" (three special armies) of the Cho family. These troops studied the so-called "Oryonkwon" (fist of five kinds), which included "Pogakwon" (fist of cannon strike), "Menhogwon" (fist of furious tiger), "Hugwon" (fist of monkey), "Hakkwon" (fist of crane), and "Chilsonkwon" (fist of seven stars).

However, in the latter half of the dynasty, the importance of Taekkyon as a martial art began to decline due to negligence of the royal court, which was constantly dealing with strife between feuding political factions. As the attention of the Korean masses continued to turn away from the martial arts, they turned to philosophy and the arts. They felt hand to hand combat was barbaric and martial artists were looked down upon. In fact, King Chung Mok (1344-1348 AD) outlawed the practice of TTaekkyon by civilians.

The history scholar An Cha San, who wrote after the Japanese Occupation of Korea (after 1945) stated in his work Mu-Sa Young Oong Chun (Annals of Military Heroes)  that Korean Yu-Sool (soft-style martial arts, the name Yu-Sool was applied to both Subak and Kwon-bup and other arts) gradually became popular after the reign of Suk Chong (the 15th monarch of the Koryo Dynasty, 1095-1105). 

The position of military officials started to become powerful again around the time of In Jong (17th Koryo monarch, 1122-1146). It is recorded that such military men as Chong Chung-Bu (who led a successful military revolt against the government in 1170), carried out their exploits by using sang-yae (common arts). Over time, the martial arts techniques of the common people and of the regular military gradually disappeared as a result of the preferential treatment given civil officials, the general contempt for military officials, and a government leadership that was weakened by literary pursuits at the expense of martial arts development.

In the 4th year of the reign of Ye Jong (16th Koryo monarch, 1105-1122), the Kukchagam (National University) was established. Mu-hak (martial studies) was included among the seven curricula offered. However, it only increased the friction between civil officials and military officials and the mu-hak course ended up being one in name only. Thereafter, as the development of martial arts had been thus officially thwarted, the practice of martial arts by common people took on an aspect of secrecy, with techniques being handed down from father to son.

Although Taekkyon declined as a martial art, the Subakhui remained as folk games and they carried over into the next dynasty. Taekkyon survived as the only fighting system with a link to ancient Subak as it was carried into the Joseon Dynasty. 

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