Kwan Heon - A closer look at Kwan creeds of early Taekwondo part 1: Chung Do Kwan

My original teacher (Gm Cho Woon Sup) wrote some of the earliest Norwegian language Taekwondo

books out there. He also included some things that I have come to understand are very rare things in Taekwondo litterature. One of those things is the explanation of Taekwondo philosophy from the point of view of Ji Do Kwan (Wisdom Way School) which is the Kwan he hails from. In the text he explains that Kwan could be translated as School and that Heon could be translated as Life-directive. He went on explaining that there were many different Kwan and each had their own Heon, but they had the same underlying principles. That section in his book is one of the reasons I started looking into the different Kwan all those years ago, and in this series I want to explore the different Kwan Heon that the different Kwan has. If you saw the last post on this blog I can tell you that this post was started in 2016, and is a great example of me starting way too big and never finishing it. This time I am confident and know that I can tackle it piece by piece. So first Kwan out of the gate is Chung Do Kwan.

Seminar Report Bojeon Taekwondojang in Moss

I never actually got around to post this, but once upon a time, in what might be considered one of my highlights in my Taekwondo career; little old me was contacted by a Dojang at the other side of Norway and I (a nobody who happened to have a blog) was hired for a weekend seminar :-) It was one of the most fun and rewarding taekwondo weekends I have had :-) Covid and the lock down happened soon thereafter so I never pursued doing more seminars. In fact I wrote this back in 2020 after the seminar, but never posted it. I just found it going through my "drafts" in blogger to see if there is something I started on that I could finish (sometimes I go a little too big on things and do not get around to actually finish and post it. Anyway, if you want to know how a seminar focusing on practical poomsae applications with me might look, you can read on :-) Just remember I am still a student of Taekwondo so I am sure there would be things done differently if someone where to hire me today.

Taekwondo Kwan history part 7: Choi Hong Hi and the Oh Do Kwan (and Book project revealed)

At long last, here is the revelation I have been dying to reveal: 

My (first ever) Book is LIVE :-D 

Click here for amazon

I have not seen it myself yet, but Kindle and Paperback version of The Lost Forms of Oh Do Kwan Taekwondo Volume 1: Taegeuk 1-3 Hyeong is live. The series on Kwan history has all been from the introduction section of the book, with the meat of the book being the Taegeuk forms as practised in Oh Do Kwan and Chung Do Kwan (they practiced the same versions).

In 1959 Choi Hong Hi published the first ever book on Taekwondo called Taekwondo Kyobon or Textbook, where he among other things presents a lot of old Hyeong later phased out. Some he also included in the 1965 English language book, the Taegeuk forms did not make it into that one though meaning that for most people their practice was unknown. 

I translated the forms for my own research, and wanted to share their story and make the material more available for English speaking people who might not even know that a 1959 Taekwondo Textbook even existed. 

This is just Volume 1, and I seriously contemplated starting directly at the Pyeongahn or Heian forms instead. The Taegeuk are not flashy, or "exciting". They are fundamental movements taught to beginners. In the 1959 book appendix we find a grading diagram revealing all 3 Taegeuk was required at a students first belt promotion test. I do see the value of the basics and fundamentals however and since its not really a commercial project I decided to make it from the beginning anyway :-) 

The "Oh Do Kwan" in the title is there because the main source material I am framing this series on is the 1959 Taekwondo Textbook, but it is not a Kukkiwon Taekwondo book, nor is it an ITF or Chang Hon Ryu Taekwon-Do book, it is for people interested in Taekwondo history and nerds like myself. In that spirit I have included Kwan variations that I could find documentation from:

• Ji Do Kwan (Sihak Henry Cho 1970)
• Mu Duk Kwan (Hwang Kee 1958)
• Kang Duk Won (Park Chul Hee 1957)

And since I used Choi's book: Oh Do Kwan, and since Chung Do Kwan practiced the same version move for move Chung Do Kwan. In short most of the older Kwan are represented, the ones missing (like Song Mu Kwan) is not missing out of disrespect but because I could not find era-appropriate documentation in either English or Korean. 

Below you can read the final excerpt from my book focusing on Choi Hong Hi and the Oh Do Kwan. Together in these 7 blog post series I have given away most of the introduction chapter, but there are a few goodies for those who buys the book itself: deep dive into the name Oh Do Kwan, as well as a discussion of the different Kwan variations and a deep dive into the alternative names for the same Taikyoku based foundation forms.

Taekwondo Kwan history part 6: Ro Byung Jik and the Song Mu Kwan

This is part 6 of the Taekwondo Kwan history blog series. So far I have covered Chun Sang Sup, Yun Kwae Byung, Yun Byung In, Hwang Kee, Lee Won Kuk and now Ro Byung Jik. All of the blog posts in this series build directly from my upcoming secret book which does focus on a single Kwan, but none of the ones that we have covered so far. So which one is it? I still will not say, but I am sure many readers can now make a very educated guess as we have eliminated Yun Mu Kwan, Ji Do Kwan, YMCA Kwon Bop Bu (and Chang Mu Kwan/ Kang Duk Won), Mu Duk Kwan, Chung Do Kwan and today Song Mu Kwan. Like the other blog posts this one is rather short since I wanted to introduce the different major Kwan (schools), their founders and their martial roots, but they are not the focus of the book. Material on them are needed however to give historical context. I do hope you enjoy reading this series, and in the next part I will reveal the secret book project, the supersecret Kwan in great detail (since the book is really about one specific Kwan) and let the cat out of the bag. Hopefully the book will be fully formated and ready to be published by the time you read the next blog post in this series. In a way I will have given away much of the two first chapters of the book for free when you have read the next "episode", but I have always felt that knowledge is not something one should hoard or gatekeep and especially when it comes to the martial arts. Anyway, if you are curious to read on about Ro Byung Jik and his Song Mu Kwan here is the chance :-)

Taekwondo Kwan history part 5: Lee Won Kuk and Chung Do Kwan

This is part 5 of a blog post series that is based on the introduction section in a book project which focuses on one Kwan, but it is relevant to know something of all the other major Kwan as well :-) I have therefore been forced to keep it brief for the Kwan that I am not focusing on, so the Kwan I am focusing on can be more indepth. I have been a little coy on what I am working on because it is very very niche and I am having such a fun time making you all guess. Its easier now that we have covered 5 though, it is not Yun Mu Kwan, Ji Do Kwan, Chang Mu Kwan, Mu Duk Kwan or Chung Do Kwan. So which is it? I will still not tell you :-P But I want to share the essiential points on Lee Won Kuk and the Kwan he founded; The Chung Do Kwan. Lee is as all the other Kwan founders a very interesting and special individual, but a few things makes him stand out: He is the first Korean to open up a "Karate Kwan" in Korea (Chung Do Kwan was opened in 1944), he is credited of being the first to add the "Do"-suffix to Tang Su, creating the full term Tang Su Do, and under his leadership the Chung Do Kwan became one of the biggest martial arts schools in korea before the Korean war. He was also among the absolutely first ones to study Karate in Japan, meaning even by Japanese standards he was an early Karate student...  I hope you enjoy reading about him and his school :-)

Taekwondo Kwan history part 4: Hwang Kee and Mu Duk Kwan

This is part four of my blog series on Taekwondo Kwan history based on the introduction section of my super secret book project, which will focus on one Kwan, but knowing about the major Kwan is still important. So far we have covered Chun Sang Sup and Yun Mu Kwan, Yun Kwae Byung and Ji Do Kwan and Yun Byung In and YMCA Kwon Bop Bu. All three individuals never had any ties to Shotokan Karate it seems, and they are all kinda related in that they all worked together at Yun Mu Kwan at various points and quite possibly they trained and studied together in Japan. Hwang Kee which we will focus on today is a very unique individual in that he never studied Karate in Japan. He said he learned Taekyon by observation and copying in his youth, he then learned martial arts in China before going back to Korea and picking up Karate forms from various sources there. One auther called Hwang Kee a grandmaster in reverse, which I kinda liked. He did not seem to have much formal martial arts education when he first founded his Kwan around 1945, but he learned a lot from many different sources over time. It is difficult to keep posts about the Kwan founders short as there is so much I want to include, but then again challenging myself to be brief is a good way to test and see what is essential to keep in. I do hope you get some value from this series :-) If you want to learn more on Hwang Kee and Mu Duk Kwan feel free to click read more and read on ;-)

Taekwondo Kwan history part 3: Yun Byung In and YMCA Kwon Bup Bu

This is part 3 of a blog post series that is based on a secret book project I am working on. In this series I have quoted from my introduction section of the book and I am looking BRIEFLY into the major schools that were founded between 1944-1955, their founders and their roots. This time we are looking into Yun Byung In, whose lineages include Chang Mu Kwan and Kang Duk Won, Pasa Ryu and Chayon Ryu among others. The man who has done perhaps the most to preserve his teachings in modern time is GM Kim Soo in his Chayon Ryu, and it is also thanks to him that we even know what happened to Yun Byung In after the Korean war. The blog post is brief, there is a lot of stuff that could have been said but did not make the cut when you try to be economical with words, something I struggle a lot with and it was a fun challenge to try to boil the story of a Kwan founder down to rougly 1/2 a page. If I publish the stuff I have written on the Kwan that I am focusing on I think you will forgive my brief handling of the other Kwan. For now you can guess which Kwan is the mysterious Kwan I am focusing my super secret book project on. It will be easier to guess the more blog posts I publish I guess :-P Spoiler: It is not Yun Mu Kwan, Ji Do Kwan, or Yun Byung In lineage Kwan ;-) For now, sit down, relax with a good cup of tea and read a brief (but as accurate to my abilities I could get it) summary of Yun Byung In, his roots and his legacy.