Evolution of the ITF (non-political)

[Spookey]

Dear All,

Recently I have seen many contributors on the forums referring to the "Original ITF". Many of these people are not really familiar with the changes and evolution of Chong-Hon Taekwon-Do over the years.

Those of us that have been involved for a while will be able to share information regarding the ITF's evolution that may be new to others on the forum. I hope to use this thread as a platform for their education and introduction as relates to there specific art.

To allow for a greater expantion of this thread I will only list one simple change and request others to contribute as much or as little as they please. Then we can come back and fill in the blanks as they appear!

_________ ITF Evolution........................... FACT NUMBER 1_____________

The ITF originally utilized a 4 belt system consisting of White, Blue, Red, and Black. Yellow and green were not introduced until the mid 1970's

TAEKWON!
Spookey

 

[Miles]

I did not know that about the belt system. My recollection of the belt system was that you'd earn a stripe for the odd-numbered guep ranks. That stripe was the color of the next belt, so the belts went:

10th guep-white
9th guep-white w/yellow stripe (this was sewn on end and worn on left side)
8th guep-yellow
7th guep-yellow w/green stripe
6th guep-green
5th guep-green w/blue stripe
4th guep-blue
3rd guep-blue w/red stripe
2nd guep-red
1st guep-red w/black stripe

I am also interested in learning more on the evolution of the ITF as my instructor left the ITF in the late 1970s.

Miles

 

[Andy Cap]

No, I am with Spookey on this one. Everything I know points to 4 belt colors as he stated

 

[Spookey]

Dear Miles,

The four belt system was the original system used by the Oh Do Kwan as well as the original ITF. The system you listed was not utilized until approximately 1974-1975.

You are correct on the current 9 gup system used from the mid 1970's forward!

TAEKWON!
SpooKeY

 

[Spookey]

________ITF Evolution ______________________Fact #2_______________

The ITF utilizes the Chang Hon pattern set. The Chang Hon Hyungs were taught as a set of 20 total patterns until the inception of additional patterns in the early eighties.

The original set...then versus now is as follows:

Kup Rank Hyungs
Chon-Ji
Tan-Gun
To-San
Won-Hyo
Yul-Gok
Choong-Gun
Toi-Gye
Hwa-Rang
Choong-Moo

Black Belt Hyungs
Gae-Baek
Po-Eun
Kwang-Gae
Eui-Am (not one of the original 20)
Chong-Jang
Ko-Dang (this pattern is not currently an "official" ITF Tul)
Ju-Che (not one of the original 20 as it replaced Ko-Dang)
Yoo-Sin
Sam-Il
Choi-Yong
Ul-Ji
Moon-Moo (not one of the original 20)
Yong-Gae (not one of the original 20)
Se-Jong
So-San (Not one of the original 20)
Tong-Il
_____________________________________________________

So, we can see that there was actually a pattern removed and five additions made. That means that there are a total of 25 Chang-Hon hyungs past and present!

TAEKWON!
Spookey

 

[Mithios]

________ITF Evolution ______________________Fact #2_______________

The ITF utilizes the Chang Hon pattern set. The Chang Hon Hyungs were taught as a set of 20 total patterns until the inception of additional patterns in the early eighties.

The original set...then versus now is as follows:

Kup Rank Hyungs
Chon-Ji
Tan-Gun
To-San
Won-Hyo
Yul-Gok
Choong-Gun
Toi-Gye
Hwa-Rang
Choong-Moo

Black Belt Hyungs
Gae-Baek
Po-Eun
Kwang-Gae
Eui-Am (not one of the original 20)
Chong-Jang
Ko-Dang (this pattern is not currently an "official" ITF Tul)
Ju-Che (not one of the original 20 as it replaced Ko-Dang)
Yoo-Sin
Sam-Il
Choi-Yong
Ul-Ji
Moon-Moo (not one of the original 20)
Yong-Gae (not one of the original 20)
Se-Jong
So-San (Not one of the original 20)
Tong-Il
_____________________________________________________

So, we can see that there was actually a pattern removed and five additions made. That means that there are a total of 25 Chang-Hon hyungs past and present!

TAEKWON!
Spookey

Do you know when the switch was made to red belt in the I.T.F. If you look at the Generals 65 book it is Brown belt ( Oh Do Kwan ). The I.T.F. Black Belts that i know that got there rank in the 70's I.T.F. also had brown. Also Choon-moo was originaly a 1st dan form( also in the 65 book) I am wondering when it was changed in the I.T.F. to a gup form?

 

[terryl965]

The red belt came into effect some where around 1985 before that time frame it was brown. Choon Moo was changed by the ITF around 1991 to a Gup form. Also I would like to know exactly when the stripe came into effect with them and who brought it to the ITF.

Terry Lee Stoker

 

[Miles]

The red belt came into effect some where around 1985 before that time frame it was brown. Choon Moo was changed by the ITF around 1991 to a Gup form. Also I would like to know exactly when the stripe came into effect with them and who brought it to the ITF.

Maybe in MI we were ahead of the curve, but we had the belts at the levels I mentioned in the '70s. Also, we did Choong Moo at 1st guep as it was mandatory for 1st dan. In the 2nd printing (1975) of Gen Choi's book, "Taekwon-Do (The Korean Art of Self-Defence)", my original instructor's instructor (GM B.C. Yu of Ann Arbor, MI) demonstrates this form.

Miles

 

[terryl965]

Maybe in MI we were ahead of the curve, but we had the belts at the levels I mentioned in the '70s. Also, we did Choong Moo at 1st guep as it was mandatory for 1st dan. In the 2nd printing (1975) of Gen Choi's book, "Taekwon-Do (The Korean Art of Self-Defence)", my original instructor's instructor (GM B.C. Yu of Ann Arbor, MI) demonstrates this form.

Miles

Well I always had a brown belt until the 80's then it changed to red, I guess some schools changed earlier but I was under the impression it was a WTF way in the early day's maybe I'm wrong.

 

[rainbows]

Funnily enough, my organisation requires both Juche and Ko-Dang for promotion to 3rd dan...

 

[Spookey]

Dear All,

The red belt took the place of the brown belt in the late 1960's (approx late 1968).

The 6 belt system (w/ stripes) was implemented as early as 1971. This is displayed in General Choi's 1972 publication. It also indicates that a half-black and half-white belt is indicative of the Junior black belt holder!

Choong Moo was to be taught at the 1st Kup as of the 1972 publication!

TAEKWON!
Spookey

 

[terryl965]

My mistake I put 85 when I meant 75 sorry all and choong moo around 81 not 91 but I see it was earlier by some poeple post.

Next question when did the ITF start to lose power to the WTF and the Kukkiwon, and what made this happen and how will the effect of punches in the WTF hurt the ITF system.

 

[JanneM]

Can of worms...

 

[Marginal]

My mistake I put 85 when I meant 75 sorry all and choong moo around 81 not 91 but I see it was earlier by some poeple post.

Next question when did the ITF start to lose power to the WTF and the Kukkiwon, and what made this happen and how will the effect of punches in the WTF hurt the ITF system.

Any way for that to be non-political?

From what I've heard, the ITF getting blocked from the olympics was one of the major reasons for a lot of that. WTF having the backing of a government probably helped a great deal as well.

On the punching, I thought that the IOC mainly wanted TKD to be different from boxing, Judo, or wrestling, and the no punching to the head rules etc arose from trying to please these demands more than anything else.

 

[JanneM]

On the punching, I thought that the IOC mainly wanted TKD to be different from boxing, Judo, or wrestling, and the no punching to the head rules etc arose from trying to please these demands more than anything else.

No punches to the head rule was introduced before tkd was introduced to IOC. Maby some of the reasons punches are not allowed to the head is because of the Olympics.

For what I have heard about ITF and Olympics is that ITF tried to get into Olympics when WTF was already recognised (not as an Olympic sport but a prospect) in IOC.

 

[Mithios]

Dear All,

The red belt took the place of the brown belt in the late 1960's (approx late 1968).

The 6 belt system (w/ stripes) was implemented as early as 1971. This is displayed in General Choi's 1972 publication. It also indicates that a half-black and half-white belt is indicative of the Junior black belt holder!

Choong Moo was to be taught at the 1st Kup as of the 1972 publication!

TAEKWON!
Spookey

Thank's for the info. I worked out at an I.T.F. afilliated school in the 80's that still used the brown, The instructor also had brown when he was at that level in the middle 70's. They were also with G.M.Chuck Sereff( U.S.T.F.). I do remember other I.T.F. schools had red and some brown at that time, so maybe the switch over was not a full blown requirement at the time.

Mithios

 

[Spookey]

Rank according to the founder...The previous information was recovered from the 1972 Publication of "Taekwon-Do" by Choi Hong Hi.

What ever happened after he gave the orders would probably take some time as he had to spread the word to old fasion way. No email, no public forums, etc...

TAEKWON!
SpookeY

P.S. NON POLITICAL

 

[Miles]

This is somewhat related to the evolution of the ITF. I have the inaugural ITF magazine published by then 4th dan Chuck Sereff in which it says there are only two ITF 8th degrees-GM Nam Tae Hi and GM Han Cha Kyo. When did the ITF allow for more than two 8th degrees at a time? The impression I got from the article was that essentially there would only be a single 9th dan and two 8th dans?

TIA!

Miles

 

[Mithios]

Rank according to the founder...The previous information was recovered from the 1972 Publication of "Taekwon-Do" by Choi Hong Hi.

What ever happened after he gave the orders would probably take some time as he had to spread the word to old fasion way. No email, no public forums, etc...

TAEKWON!
SpookeY

P.S. NON POLITICAL

I do not think talking about a belt color is political! Or did i miss something? It also ties into the evolution of Tae Kwon-Do.

Mithios

 

[Spookey]

Mr. Mithios,


The "side note" was not directed towards you in any way! It was merely an added portion relevant to the ITF-WTF comments made in previous posts...

My apologies for the misunderstanding!

TAEKWON!
SpooKeY