“The way of the hand and foot” is an Americanism… an unsuccessful attempt to translate the Korean taekwondo.
The Korean “tae” means “to strike (or break) with foot”… “kwon” means “to strike (or break) with fist”… and “do” translates to “method”, or “path”, and only loosely into “way”.
There isn’t any way to translate the Korean taekwondo into English… the English mentality of vocabulary cannot grasp the concept. Hence you get the Korean taekwondo written in English as “tae kwon do”, tae kwon-do”, “taekwon-do”, etc.
There’s a reason why taekwondo has achieved world-wide popularity in the last 50 years or so… because it ain’t an ancient, mystic art, it’s a 20th century invention. Beginning in the 15th century the Korean leaders moved away from mysticism, with some leaders even outlawing the practice of ancient martial arts. By the 1800’s only rudimentary elements of the ancient arts were even known, let alone practiced, and the Japanese occupation during the early 20th century completely banned any remaining practice by civilians. After the Japs left in 1945 a few martial arts schools popped up, but the ancient Korean “way” was all but lost… they taught using a few principles from the ancient “teakkyon” and “subak”, blended with such things as karate and elements from surrounding nations. Nine separate main versions took hold, and because of orders by S. Korean President Rhee, they merged in the mid 1950’s. By around 1960 taekwondo became what it is today… a modern amalgamation of various borrowed techniques.
Masters of true ancient, mystic martial arts regard taekwondo for what it really is… a non-pure, modern technique... more of a sport than a "way".
Just sayin'.