This is a long one, so I apologize in advance for the length!
Is there a real significance to tae kwon do schools belonging to one kwan or another?
Exile, Iceman, matt, and zDoom have answered well. Yes, there is significance, but the exact significance might be changing over the years. I compare it to the genealogy of your family tree. It's kind of like knowing who your ancestors were. Most people know their parents, but probably know less about their grandparents, and even less about their great-grandparents. Where did they come from? What was their nationality or race? How did they make a living? What were their personal philosophies, religious beliefs, and ideals? How much of that is the way you live your life, or teach your children?
A lot of this is handed down generation after generation, and your parents probably taught you much of what their parents and grandparents taught them with a little of their own personal beliefs thrown in.
Your "Kwan" is your family. It is the historical foundation and beginnings from which your art's bloodline is derived. One difference is that your family tree spreads out the further back you go. You have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on. It is difficult to pick a particular starting point there, and the culmination of varying ethnic heritages, religions, customs and cultures makes it a melting pot in many cases. With a Taekwondo Kwan, you can link yourself to the one person who started the Kwan back through each generation of instructors. Most students are "descended" from one or more Kwans whether they realize it or not. They might not be studying pure kwan knowledge, but it likely came from somewhere back there.
Each of the many Kwans that sprang up immediately after the end of WWII, and the liberation of Korea were individual "families" of students who followed a particular Master Instructor. These Masters were the most experienced, and prominent teachers of Martial Art at that time. Although they all had very similar origins in their own beginnings of Martial Art education, they each had different perspectives, methodologies, and motivation for teaching. The Kwan is designed to preserve and promote the original values and motivating purpose of its founder. How much that occurs today is questionable. That does not mean that the core knowledge of the Kwan, or its founder, is lost. It just means that purpose changes over time, and individual morals and values might be affected by modern understanding of the world, and personal insights and enlightenment.
I started in tae kwon do at a fairly young age, and for several years I had never heard of belonging to this kwan or that kwan. I never really knew what kwan meant or which one we belonged to.
Don't be dismayed! When I began Taekwondo in 1976, it was with the ATA. The president at that time was 9th Dan GM Kang, Suh Chong. These days, the person that most people know as President and founder of ATA was GM. Lee, Haeng Ung. However, he was originally the ATA vice-president as an 8th Dan. GM Kang and GM Lee both interacted with Gen. Choi, Hong Hi, and all of them had their beginnings in the Chung Do Kwan which was the first Kwan formed in 1944.
I had no idea in my early days what a Kwan was, or what affiliation we had, if any, to any of the kwans, but I can tell you that the ATA did not exactly reflect what the Chung Do Kwan or the Oh Do Kwan was. The ATA originally used Gen. Choi's Chang Hon system of forms which is based on Shotokan forms from Choi's Karate training in Japan, but that's where much of the comparison ended. The ATA was neither Oh Do Kwan, Chung Do Kwan, nor Shotokan Karate. The ATA became a Kwan of its own with a unique approach to teaching Taekwondo, especially after GM Haeng Ung Lee took it over as president in 1978, the year I became a 1st Dan.
can a school decide what kwan they belong to or is it tied to the instructors lineage?
The reason I ask is because I know of a school that used to claim to be one, but now claims to be another.
It is both lineage, and current affiliation. If an instructor learned Taekwondo from a particular Kwan Master/Grandmaster, and they are currently recognized as an instructor in good standing, then their school can be "recognized" as a legitimate representative of that Kwan. On the other hand, if an instructor were to break ties with that Kwan, and begin training with a Grandmaster of a different Kwan, they might change affiliation (or, like Iceman stated, if the school is sold or replaces the head instructor with someone from a different kwan, then it might change affiliations).
This happened to me as I moved on from the ATA in the mid 1980s. The only Grandmaster anywhere near me was a Korean in Jidokwan. He sold his school to his senior Black Belt, and I worked with him for 15 years. I learned all about the Jidokwan, how they teach, think, act, and what their overall motivation is. After certain disagreements, and coming to an impasse with this Korean, I left teaching in 1999. The following year, I met with my original instructor from the ATA who is now with the U.S. Chung Do Kwan. Since 2000, I have been learning the ways of CDK, Sr. GM Edward Sell, and his teacher, GM Hae Man Park (just like my TKD brother, Iceman - :ultracool ).
Without going into too much detail here about the ITF/WTF, keep in mind that these are two different types of organizations. When it was decided that the Korean government would recognize only five of the many, many Kwans that sprung up in the 1940s and 50s, they wanted a new name as an "umbrella" for all Korean Martial Art. Taekwondo was chosen. The Kukkiwon was planned as a central headquarters in Korea, but was a building - - and academy for students in Korea. They desired a world-wide organization to govern the art as it spread abroad, to set standards for Black Belt and instructor credentials, and to record those ranks. The International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) was created for that purpose, and Gen. Choi was elected as its first president (meaning that there were intended to be more presidents in succession).
However, the conflict between the Kwan leaders, the newly formed KTA (Korea Taekwondo Association) and General Choi led him to leave Korea, and set up his own organization headquarters in Canada. Choi had founded the Oh Do Kwan, which was the military Kwan, but I would not say that it was a mirror image of the Chung Do Kwan applied to the military. Although Choi had an early education and certification from the founder of the Chung Do Kwan, Choi's Oh Do Kwan was a distinct representation of Choi's personal experience with Taekyon, Shotokan, and his own ideas.
When Gen. Choi went to Canada, he took the name "International Taekwondo Federation" (ITF) with him. Rather than creating a "split" organization (as the ITF is today) The KTA at the Kukkiwon headquarters decided to come up with a new name for their international governing body, and they chose to call it the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). Thus, the new ITF departed from being a Korean based link to the Kukkiwon and Black Belt certification authority, to being the personal, international "Kwan" of Gen. Choi. which covers his curriculum of Taekwon-Do from white belt to 9th Dan Black Belt.
The WTF remained as a certification board for Black Belts only, and had nothing to do with color belt instruction. The WTF also managed competition rules and guidelines. As the sport aspect of Taekwondo became more popular, and it became part of the Olympics, it was decided that the focus and responsibilities of the WTF would be shifted to that of regulating the sport related issues. It was determined that this additional "link" from the Kukkiwon to National Governing bodies in countries around the world was not really necessary, therefore we can now deal directly with the Kukkiwon for Black Belt training and certification.
Also, which Poomsae (forms) that a school uses does not indicate affiliation with the WTF or ITF. The Kwanjangnim decides what poomsae best suits his student's needs, and most instructors in that Kwan are encouraged to be consistent with and support that choice. Many instructors will teach more than one set of Poomsae (Hyung or tuls). So many things have changed that the terminology confuses people. It's like saying "sunrise" and "sunset" from days when people thought the Sun revolved around the Earth. The WTF is not an organization you can join, and the only link that an instructor, a school, or a Kwan has to the WTF is if they are certified as a referee/coach for competitions through whatever national governing body is recognized by the WTF in their country.
This does not make them a "WTF" school. Kukkiwon Ranks used to be stamped as coming from the Kukkiwon and the WTF, but that is no more. The WTF has nothing to do with rank promotions anymore. It is the Kukkiwon as far as Korean certification is concerned. The common phrase that someone is a "WTF 9th Dan" is outdated (even if their older certificate says it). It is now a "Kukkiwon 9th Dan." I can attend "WTF" recognized tournaments, and still be a part of whatever Kwan with which I am affiliated. It does not change what I teach, or how I teach it, and, by the way, zDoom is correct - - Chung Do Kwan is
not a "sport oriented" kwan.
I hope I haven't rambled on too much, or offended anyone, but when this subject comes up, I like to be clear on my perspective so that others can take in the whole picture when considering what everyone has to say.
Thank you,
CM D.J. Eisenhart
