Chang Moo Kwan

Last updated
Chang Moo Kwan Taekwondo
Founder Yoon Byung In [1] and Nam Suk Lee
Arts taught Taekwondo (c.1955-1961 onwards, Kukkiwon system adopted in 1973)
"Kwon Bop Kong Soo Do" (prior to c. 1959-1961)
Ancestor arts Shudokan Karate, Chinese martial arts, Gwonbeop, Kong Soo Do,
A commemorative photo taken the 3rd Regular Promotion Test held at YMCA Seoul, Korea on November 3, 1948. November 3rd 1948 YMCA Promotion Test.jpg
A commemorative photo taken the 3rd Regular Promotion Test held at YMCA Seoul, Korea on November 3, 1948.

Lee Nam Suk's teacher Byung In Yoon had founded the "YMCA Kwon Bop Bu" (권법무) in 1946. Byung In Yoon had studied Chinese Kung Fu (ch'uan-fa) under the guidance of a Mongolian instructor in Manchuria.

Yoon trained karate at university karate club in Japan with Kanken Tōyama. When he trained Karate in Japan, Japanese karate students pursued the Korean student and beat them up. Yoon Byung-in angered by the Japanese karate students, sprung into action using Chuan-fa. He deflected and evaded the karate students’ strikes and kicks to the point that they gave up and ran back to tell their teacher about what happened.[ citation needed ]

Kanken Tōyama invited Yoon Byung-in to tell him about the non-karate martial art he used against his students. Yoon Byung-in explained to Toyama about his Chuan-fa education in Manchuria. Toyama appreciated the Chuan-fa background since he (Toyama) had studied Chuan-fa in Taiwan for 7 years, previously. They decided to exchange knowledge; Yoon Byung-in would teach Toyama Kanken Chuan-fa and Toyama Kanken would teach Yoon Byung-in his Shudo-Ryu karate. Yoon later created his art and called as Kwon Bop Kong Soo Do.

Unlike other future taekwondo kwans, early Chang Moo Kwan was mainly based on Chinese Kung Fu (ch'uan-fa). In its infancy, the Kwan taught art known as Palgi kwon (which influenced by Bajiquan). [2]

On the outset of the Korean War, Yoon Byung-in had travelled to North Korea's side in August 1950 accompanying his older brother, Yoon Byung-du, a Captain in the North Korean Army. Yoon would remain to live in North Korea to his death in 1983. [3]

Chang Moo Kwan and unification (c.1950-1961)

Following Yoon's disappearance, Lee Nam Suk took over the duties as head of the kwan and changed the name of the school to Chang Moo Kwan circa 1953.

In 1955, the various martial arts kwans bonded to find a common name for the martial art they were promoting. Eventually, the united kwans under leadership of Choi Hong Hi founded this unified national Korean art and named it Taekwondo. [4] Therefore, Chang Moo Kwan too adopted the Tae Kwon Do as their art, at cost of its original uniqueness.

In September 1961 the Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) was formed and Lee Nam Suk was appointed as the organization's Chair of General Director in 1961. Lee would resign only months later in January 1962. [5]

Organization

Before KTA

In the early YMCA Kwon Bup Bu and Chang Moo Kwan, the curriculum mainly consisted of karate and chuan-fa (McLain, 2009). This was unlike other taekwondo kwans (schools) at the time.

This was one of two Kwans to have been influenced by Chuan-fa(Kwon Bup), which gave the techniques a smooth yet hard appearance when practiced or demonstrated.

Chuan-fa forms from the Chang Moo Kwan included Dan Kwon (단권, short fist), Chang Kwon (장권, Long Fist), Tai Jo Kwon (태조권, Fist of the Founding King or Great Ancestor Fist), Pal Gi Kwon (팔기권, Eighth Manchurian Cavalry), and Doju San (토조산, Escaping Mist) and others.

Early students practiced a bong hyung (staff form) created by Yoon Byung-In himself and another created by Yoon Kwe-Byung, who was a Shudokan practitioner and became a grandmaster of the Jidokwan.

Present

Today, the official Taekwondo Chang Moo Kwan still exists in Korea as a fraternal friendship club with its office in a youth athletic club in Seoul. The current president of Chang Moo Kwan is Grandmaster Kim Joong Young. Grandmaster Kim is also on the Kukkiwon High Dan Promotion Committee. The official martial arts curriculum of Chang Moo Kwan is the Kukkiwon system. Chang Moo Kwan, like all of the main Kwans, supports the Kukkiwon and the WTF.

Aside from the official Chang Moo Kwan, Traditional taekwondo Yonmujae Association (태권도연무재) preserves the old style taekwondo practice of Chang Moo Kwan through the founding masters who learned of taekwondo and obtained blackbelts from Chang Moo Kwan in 1960's. TYA, nevertheless, is an independent taekwondo school from the official Chang Moo Kwan, Kukkiwon or World Taekwondo. [6]


Name

When translating into English, Chang Moo Kwan can have different meanings. A literal translation is as follows: Chang means to create or develop, Moo translates to martial arts, and Kwan to house.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moo Duk Kwan</span> Martial art organisation

Moo Duk Kwan is the name of a martial art organization founded by Hwang Kee in South Korea in 1945. Licensed Moo Duk Kwan schools teach Soo Bahk Do, formerly Tang Soo Do. 'Moo Duk Kwan' translates as "School of Martial Virtue". Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan translates to “the brotherhood and school of stopping inner and outer conflict and developing virtue according to the way of the worthy hand”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tang Soo Do</span> Korean martial art

Tang Soo Do refers to a Korean martial art based on Karate and may include fighting principles from taekkyeon, subak, as well as northern Chinese martial arts. Before the Nine Kwans united and formed the martial art Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do was used by select Kwans to identify their Karate-derived martial arts style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jidokwan</span> Taekwondo schools or kwan teaching

Jidokwan is one of the original nine schools of the modern Korean martial arts that became Taekwondo and was founded in what is now South Korea at the end of World War II. Its name translates as "School of Wisdom". The Jidokwan in Korea still exists today. It functions as a social fraternal order. Jidokwan supports and endorses the Kukkiwon method of Taekwondo, and supports World Taekwondo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korea Taekwondo Association</span> Taekwondo Association

Korea Taekwondo Association, originally the Korea Tang Soo Do Association (1961), is the first taekwondo organisation. It was founded in 1959, although official South Korean sources give 1961 as its year of establishment. In 1966, some members of the KTA, led by H. H. Choi, broke off from the KTA and formed the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF). The Kukkiwon and the then-World Taekwondo Federation were created by the KTA in the early 1970s. The KTA sits under the Korea Sports Council, is aligned with Kukkiwon, and is a Member National Association (MNA) of the WT. Its goal is to promote the martial art taekwondo as a national sport within South Korea.

Chung Do Kwan, created by Won Kuk Lee in 1944, is one of the first of nine schools or kwan teaching Tang Soo Do. Later, the school began to teach what came to be known as taekwondo. This style of Tang Soo Do is known for its overall power and emphasis on kicks to the head.

Song Moo Kwan, also named "Song Moo Kwan Kong Soo Do ", is one of the Five original kwans of taekwondo in Korea. Its founder, from 1944, Supreme Grandmaster Byung Jik Ro (1919–2015), was one of the highest ranking taekwondo practitioners in the world, and is considered the "Founder of Modern Taekwondo". The techniques of what is commonly known as Song Moo Kwan combine elements of Shotokan Karate Do and Korean taekwondo kicking.

Kong Soo Do (공수도) is a name used to refer to Korean martial arts derived from Karate, that was used by couple of the original kwans before the unification and creation Taekwondo as the universal striking art of Korea. As with Tang Soo Do, the name Kong Soo Do is composed of the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters for "karate-do", meaning "empty-hand way" in English.

Kwan in Korean literally means building or hall, but when used in martial arts it can also refer to a school or clan of martial artists who follow the same style and/or leader.

Han Moo Kwan, was founded in August 1954 by Kyo-yoon Lee and is one of the nine original Kwans that later formed Kukkiwon Taekwondo.

Shudokan, literally "the hall for the study of the way of karate," is a Japanese school of karate developed by Kanken Toyama . It was the total headquarters of Japan Karate Federation (old). Characteristics of Shudokan karate include large circular motions with an emphasis on covering and its own unique kata.

Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo is a modern Korean martial art formed in April 1965 by Kim Young-taek, Hong Chong-soo, and Lee Kang-ik, after a significant group of former students of Hwang Kee chose to leave the original Moo Duk Kwan organization in order to join the Taekwondo unification movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyeok Sul Do</span>

Kyeok Sul Do - also often romanized as Gjogsul - is a martial art created in Democratic People's Republic of Korea that is practised primarily in the Korean People's Army and its intelligence agencies.

Yoon Byung-in, also known in English reference as Byung-in Yoon, was a Korean Grandmaster of martial arts. He is believed to be the first Korean national to study Chuan Fa in China and to return to teach it in Korea. He was an influential instructor to many current and past Masters and Grandmasters, and himself a master of many styles and studies of Martial Arts.

Kim Pyung-soo, also known as Kim Soo, is a South Korean taekwondo practitioner.

Kim Ki-whang, also known in the United States as Ki-whang Kim, was a Korean martial arts grandmaster. He was chairman in the US of the Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Association, Chairman of the US Olympic Taekwondo team 1988. He helped unify several Korean martial arts into the overall style of taekwondo.

Son Duk-sung was a martial artist, Grand Master, 9th degree black belt, co-founder of the Korean martial art of Tae Kwon Do, successor of Lee Won-kuk and leader of the Chung Do Kwan school (1950–1959). He was also the chief Instructor of the South Korean Army and the Eighth U.S. Army, founder and president of the World Tae Kwon Do Association and author of the books "Korean Karate, the Art of Tae Kwon Do” and “Black Belt Korean Karate ".

Lee Won-kuk was a South Korean martial artist, who founded Chung Do Kwan. He introduced karate to Korea in 1944, creating his own style known as Tang Soo Do Chung Do Kwan style, which became Taekwondo as of 1955; instilling a profound influence in this martial art through teaching future masters and authoring the book “Tae Kwon Do handbook“ in 1968.

Jung Kil Kim, also known as Tiger Kim, is a martial arts practitioner. A native of the nation of South Korea he won numerous titles including the Asian Martial Arts Championship Tournament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nam Suk Lee</span>

Nam Suk Lee born in the city of Yeo Joo, is credited with co-founding the traditional Korean martial art of Chang Moo Kwan in the mid-1940s, and then promoting and expanding it globally. Chang Moo Kwan was one of the five original Kwans which became Tae Kwon Do in the mid 1950s. In his later life Nam Suk Lee was to make the seaside community of San Pedro, California his home, where he reestablished his traditional roots in Chang Moo Kwan. He was 75 and still actively teaching Chang Moo Kwan through the San Pedro YMCA. Nam Suk Lee died in the neighboring Southern California community of Torrance on August 29, 2000, due to a stroke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sun-hwan Chung</span> South Korean martial artist

Sun-hwan Chung, also known as James Sun-hwan Chung, is one of the highest-ranking Tang Soo Do, Hapkido, and taekwondo grandmasters in the world. He is founder of the Moo Sool Do form of martial arts and is president of the World Academy of Martial Arts, LLC.

References

  1. History of Jidokwan Archived 2013-05-30 at the Wayback Machine
  2. history view of taekwondo (in Korean) (Translated)
  3. Kim, Soo; McLain, Robert (3 May 2006). "Grandmaster Yoon Byung-In" (PDF). Kim Soo Karate. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  4. Dussault, James; Sandra Dussault (October 1993). "Grandmaster Nam Suk Lee Patriarch of Chang Moo Kwan Part I". Inside Tae Kwan Do: 49.
  5. Dussault, James; Sandra Dussault (December 1993). "Grandmaster Nam Suk Lee: Patriarch of the Chang Moo Kwan (Part II)". Inside Tae Kwon Do: 20.
  6. "태권도연무재 | Traditional taekwondo Yonmujae Association" (in Korean and English). Archived from the original on 2001-02-20. Retrieved 2021-11-10.