Hwarang, Mr. Donnelly. Always good to read your posts.
Hanzo04, the thing about HRD that makes its study difficult is that to study under a WHRDA dojang, you must buy into a contract and first begin studying something called Tae Soo Do, which is a basics system which does not include joint manipulations (at least, that's what one WHRDA 2nd dan told me), and then after you earn your BB in Tae Soo Do, you may or may not go on to study Hwarang Do starting at Yellow Belt level where the joint manipulations start in prevalance. The ranks progress as follows: white, orange, yellow, green, purple, blue, brown, red, half-black, and black. White and Orange ranks primarily work on one-step sparring or three-step sparring (defense against a punch, and a kick-punch combination). Some schools will make an exception if you already have MA experience, especially in a Korean style, and if you show that you could grasp the whole joint-manipulation concept.
Now because of some political and personal problems that Lee, Joo Bang had with himself, others, etcetera, (Mr. Donnelly could probably tell you more about this than I), he demoted a number of ranks by one degree, then ultimately revoked their ranks. Some of these people had been studying with him for many years, some lived at his dojang for long periods.
Lee, Joo Bang did something no one else did before - he trademarked the name Hwa Rang Do, the name Tae Soo Do, and the logos for the arts. This way, his "renegades" would never be able to advertise or put in print that the style they teach is HRD. However, those who continue to teach, teach HRD the way they were taught - they do not teach HRD as a graduate program, it is taught from white belt. Some have taken flashy, repetitive techniques out, reduced the number count of "official" techniques, but teach how to approach the same technique from different angles as supplemental instruction.
Thus, if one desired to find a quality, non-WHRDA school that teaches HRD, you would never find the listing or the ad in the phone book or the classifieds. Nevertheless, these "expelled students" of HRD have taken an incredible system to the next level.
Some would say, when a master revokes a black belt rank, then this person must not be a worthy teacher/person...they can't be worthy of learning from.
Others would say, why not agree to disagree, give a pat on the back, wish them luck and send them on their way?
I suppose it's all in your own interpretation of events and what you decide to believe. No one will ever know exactly what happened except the people whom things involved, and I am not one of those people. But I do receive the benefit of having an exceptional man for a teacher and I wouldn't devote myself to anything else...and no, I'm not in the WHRDA.
HWARANG!!
