How many Ji Do Kwaners here

[dancingalone]

Actually, during the unification movement, Hwang Kee was onboard at first but later pulled the Moo Duk Kwan out and kept his organization separate. Some (many) of his senior instructors, however, wanted to join the Taekwon-Do movement and so there was a split. You now have Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan, headed by Hwang Kee and now by his son, and Taekwon-Do Moo Duk Kwan, that branch of Taekwon-Do that traces its origin back to this schism.

Of course, there are also those who are doing Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan, i.e. they didn't join Taekwon-Do but split from Hwang Kee for differeing reasons.

Pax,

Chris

That's as concise a summary as I've come across. Nice work.

 

[Manny]

As a former ji do kwan student, I'm curious... which forms are you referring to as the "older forms"?

Thanks.

Well in my Jido Kwan Dojang we practiced Palgwes till 1986 and I remeber this cause back in 1986 I know very well the palgwes from 1 to 8 and then one day my sambonim told me I need to learn the new poomsae the Taeguk and I had to learn from the very first taeguk tilll taeguk palchnag (8).

Manny

 

[IcemanSK]

I'm Chung Do Kwan, but I really appreciate any school that even still knows & claims their Kwan lineage. That's fantastic Manny!

 

[howard]

Howard, I imagine the Jidokwan used the same Heian forms from Shotokan that most of the other schools did...

Hi,

That was true in my old school (Master S. Henry Cho's school in New York). All of our basic forms except two were old Shotokan forms with Korean names. We also did nine forms that were called "combat" forms. I don't know who created those forms.

 

[dancingalone]

Hi,

That was true in my old school (Master S. Henry Cho's school in New York). All of our basic forms except two were old Shotokan forms with Korean names. We also did nine forms that were called "combat" forms. I don't know who created those forms.

That's neat. Did you actually study with Mr. Cho? I still recommend his book to all TKD students.

I'd love to hear more about these combat forms. Can you describe them or post a video?

 

[howard]

dancingalone,

Yes, I did study directly with Master Cho occasionally, but usually under a couple of his senior black belts. He usually taught at an hour that was too early for me to make due to work.

The combat forms were simply numbered from 1 to 9 (Combat 1, Combat 2, etc.). There are no videos of them that I know of. They were linear (up and back) combinations of blocks, hand strikes and kicks. There were a few blocks that weren't present in any of the basic forms, but I can't recall much about them because I've been away from ji do kwan for years now.

I did learn a few months back from one of his original black belts that Master Cho closed his school a couple of years ago.

 

[howard]

dancingalone,

Just thought I'd add this, since I think you'd find it interesting.

I also trained in a ji do kwan school in New Jersey for a while. The head JDK instructor there was one of Master Cho's original black belts, Master Carlos Farrell.

Master Farrell is in many of the photos in the book you referred to (I assume you were referring to Secrets of Korean Karate).

In 1968, Master Farrell finished 2nd among all competitors in freefighting in Master Cho's open tournament at Madison Square Garden.

The 1st place finisher?

Some dude named Chuck Norris.

 

[dancingalone]

dancingalone,

Just thought I'd add this, since I think you'd find it interesting.

I also trained in a ji do kwan school in New Jersey for a while. The head JDK instructor there was one of Master Cho's original black belts, Master Carlos Farrell.

Master Farrell is in many of the photos in the book you referred to (I assume you were referring to Secrets of Korean Karate).

In 1968, Master Farrell finished 2nd among all competitors in freefighting in Master Cho's open tournament at Madison Square Garden.

The 1st place finisher?

Some dude named Chuck Norris.

Thanks for the story, Howard.

Yes, that's the book. I bought a whole crate of them from a liquidator when Tuttle Publishing was clearing them out for $2 each, and I give away copies to my students when they indicate a desire to improve their kicking technique. The motions Mr. Cho describes in his book aren't canon Goju-ryu karate technique by any means, but they are effective regardless, and I find my students benefit from considering how and why we differ - when is each approach more effective?

Secrets of Korean Karate is a fantastic resource for newbies who want another source for at home study and consideration away from their teacher. I wish I had a copy when I was in TKD as a teen. Hopefully it can stay in print so upcoming students can benefit for years to come.

 

[RobBnTX]

After having been out of martial arts for a few months, I have been taking a few trial lessons from a Korean TKD master in my area, his lineage is Chang Moo Kwan but it is all now Kukkiwon TKD of course. See http://www.leesustaekwondo.com/index.htm, Before starting his own school, Master Lee taught at this school for a number of years, http://www.yimstaekwondo.com/public/default.asp

Another class across town that also has a Korean master (actually two brothers but each with their own dojang, their father was one of the first TKD pioneers here) has basically the same exact curriculum but they are from Moo Duk Kwan TKD. As far as I know they do not have a Web site.

Still another class a few miles south of here that I have visited also is Kukkiwon TKD but their grandmaster came out of the Ji Do Kwan. See http://txtkd.com/.

I am willing to bet though that between these three schools there is not a dime's worth of difference in their curriculum. All three IMO would be very good schools to train in, take your pick.

RFB

 

[RobBnTX]

Manny, you will be interested in this archived article about Ahn Dae-sup visiting Mexico from the Jan. 1970 edition of Black Belt Magazine: http://books.google.com/books?id=iM...agazine&source=gbs_toc_pages&cad=0_1#PPA14,M1

RFB