About Pattern Sets

Songahm Pattern Set

The American Taekwondo Association (ATA) was one of the first Taekwondo organizations in the United States (1969). It used the chang-hon pattern set until the mid-1980's when its founder, Haeng Ung Lee, developed his own forms he called songahm. The ATA has a copyright on them so they cannot be used in competitions by non-ATA members. Lee developed a symbol to represent the pattern set and each pattern in the set represents a portion of the symbol.

Heian Pattern Set

This pattern ser developed from the heian patterns of Shotokan karate during the Japanese occupation of Korea (1905-1945) when many Koreans went to Japan to study or work. Many traditional schools still teach these patterns under the Korean name pyong ahn, although many patterns still retain their Japanese pronunciation. The set is composed of five, relatively short patterns that increase in difficulty.