Storming the Fortress: A History of Taekwondo

Taekwondo (t’aegwondo, “kick-fist way”) is a Korean combative sport and martial art utilizing multiple hand strikes, arm blocks and a relatively large array of kicking techniques.  In 1971, the Republic of Korea (ROK) published a history of taekwondo that claimed an indigenous history of nearly 2000 years and that attributed the art’s development to Korea’s earliest kingdoms, to ancient Hwarang warriors, and to the antique Korean sport taekyon.  While research based on documentation has revealed a significantly different history, the ROK has continued to embrace this official history while promoting the sport and art of taekwondo. 

The following series of articles will discuss the history of taekwondo, including its origins and early development, the politics and individuals that helped shape it, and the influence of karate, chuan fa (Chinese: “fist method/art”, also known as kung fu) and taekyon.  These subjects will include the taekwondo’s relationship to karate, the founders of the first taekwondo organizations and the persistence of Japanese traditions and training methods.  They will discuss efforts to obscure the origin of taekwondo by ROK political leaders from the period immediately following the Korean War to the present day, including creation of the term taekwondo, the unification of multiple schools and styles, and the marginalizing of martial arts masters who resisted these changes.  Finally, the articles will illustrate how Korean nationalism and a modern, competitive philosophy have shaped modern taekwondo into a martial art and sport that differs significantly from the one that emerged from karate in the 1940s and 1950s.  Much of the information in these articles is derived from the author’s article “The Evolution of Taekwondo from Japanese Karate”, which appeared inMartial Arts in the Modern World, a text published in 2003 by Praeger Publishers. 

From Tangsoodo and Kongsoodo to Taekwondo

In September 1954, the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army’s 29th Division, under the leadership of General Choi Hong-hi (1918-2002), performed a tangsoododemonstration for ROK President Rhee Syng-man.  The demonstration so impressed Rhee that he told Choi that instruction in this art should be given to all ROK troops. The President also suggested that the art be given a new name with at least some reference to the ancient Korean kicking sport of taekyon (Kimm, 2000). 

For nearly twenty years following World War II, the common Korean terms for karate were tangsoodo and kongsoodo.  Tangsoodo was the Korean pronunciation of the Japanese karate-do, represented by kanji characters meaning “China/Tang hand way”, and alluding to the art’s Chinese roots.  This common spelling and pronunciation had evolved from the Japanese karate-jutsu (“China hand method/art”) during the period from 1915 to 1935 (Funakoshi, 1922/1997; McCarthy & McCarthy, 2001: 22, 27, 69).  This change reflected a desire on the part of Japanese leadership to develop martial arts programs that could be practiced as methods of self-refinement and physical fitness, as well as developing yamato damashi(“Japanese spirit”).  Therefore, the use of the term do (“way”, from the Chinese tao) was substituted for the older term jutsu (“method” or “art”) (McCarthy & McCarthy, 1999: 26).  By 1935, increasing Japanese nationalism brought about a change from the China/Tang character (pronounced “kara”) to the character meaning “empty” (also pronounced “kara”), also reflecting an association of Japanese martial arts practice with Rinzai Zen Buddhism (Funakoshi, 1935/1973; Guttmann & Thompson, 2001: 147; McCarthy & McCarthy, 2002: 22, 27; Redmond, 2000).  The Korean pronunciation for the new kanji spelling was kongsoodo (”empty hand way”), the equivalent of the modern Japanese karate-do.  Therefore, the terms tangsoodo and kongsoodo do not represent different martial arts, but are usually more indicative of the time period during which individual Korean practitioners first learned karate (Madis, 2003).

Early in 1955, General Choi Hong-hi assembled a committee of political leaders to discuss a new name for Korean karate.  The committee was divided between those aligned with President Rhee who wished to call the art taekyon-do and those preferring to retain the current terms tangsoodo and kongsoodo (Kimm, 2000).  A small group of other individuals, including Choi, suggested a compromise, with the new term taekwondo, with tae referring to “kicking”, kwon meaning “fist”, and do meaning “way”.  Choi later explained, “My full purpose for this meeting was to get away from the Korean variations in pronunciation for Japanese karate, kongsoo and tangsoo.” (Kimm, 2000: 51).  After acceptance of the new term by the committee and President Rhee, Choi immediately implemented its use at the two tangsoodo schools with which he was associated:  the Odokwan (the school of the ROK Army’s 29th Division) and the Chungdokwan, which was the oldest and one of the two largest civilian schools (Kimm, 2000).  Ultimately, it would take another fifteen years, the pressure of several military dictatorships, and the efforts of one particularly influential ROK official to uniformly establish taekwondo as the primary name in the Korean karate community (Madis, 2003).  It would take even longer to change taekwondo into the unique art and sport that it would become.

The First Korean Karate Schools

The earliest and some of most influential schools of Korean karate were the Chungdohwe (later called the Chungdokwan), Songmookwan, Yunmookwan (later called the Jidokwan), YMCA Kwanbop bu (later called the Changmookwan), and the Moodukwan, although eventually over forty schools would emerge, most of them directly from these original five (Kang & Yi, 1999: 98).  These schools were referred to collectively as the “O Geh Ki Kan” (Hwang, 1995: 21).  All were established in the 1940s, some just before the end of World War II, and the rest in following years.  Upcoming articles will discuss these schools, other major schools and their originators in further detail.  However, to understand the environment that spawned these schools, it is necessary to understand some early 20th century Korean history and some karate history, particularly changes that occurred in karate in the early 20th century. 

Early 20th Century Korean History

 
The Japanese Empire

During the 1890s, Japan expanded its northeastern Asian empire, including Korea and Manchuria, despite resistance from China, Korea and Russia.  The Treaty of Portsmouth, after Japan’s defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), placed Korea under the “guidance, protection and control” of Japan (Harrison, 1910).  Sun-jong (1874-1926), the last king of Korea’s Yi Dynasty (1389-1910), was forced to abdicate on August 29, 1910, finalizing Japan’s annexation of Korea (Lee and Wagner, 1984: 313). 

Sun-jong, the last king of Koreas’s Yi Dynasty

Korea was administered by a series of Japanese governors-general from 1910-1945. Their rule varied in severity from paternalism to cruel repression, but consistently placed native Koreans in the role of second-class citizens (Lee and Wagner, 1984: 346).  Nevertheless, as subjects of Japanese rule, Koreans were compelled to participate in Japan’s imperial policies throughout eastern Asia (Breen, 1996: 105). 

Nearly one million Koreans migrated to Manchuria for employment opportunities during this period (Schumpeter, 1940: 70). The South Manchurian Railway, an immense, multi-faceted Japanese company, employed a large portion of these migrant Koreans.  The South Manchurian Railway was similar in size and purpose to the old British East India Company, as well as to some modern corporations such as Haliburton or Bechtel.  The real purpose of the South Manchurian Railway was to function as a primary vehicle of Japanese expansion into China under the guise of developing local private industry and job creation.  Koreans in Manchuria labored in timber, agriculture, mining, petroleum, and heavy manufacturing, and they constituted the majority of lower-status security forces (Jones, 1949: 33).

Henry Pu Yi

Manchuria declared independence from China in 1932, supported by Japanese forces, becoming a “puppet” state of Japan named Manchukuo under the ceremonial leadership of Henry Pu Yi (1906-1967), the last king of the Chinese Ching Dynasty. 

During World War II, the number of Koreans residing (often involuntarily) in Japan grew from one million in 1940 (Schumpter, 1940: 70) to 2.4 million (Chin, 2001: 59).  Many worked in mining and factories, while others were forced to work menial labor and as “comfort women” to support the Japanese war effort. 

Some Koreans did not resist Japanese rule, and in fact prospered under it. Many affluent Koreans chose to send their children to study at Japanese universities and preparatory high schools, giving these students the contacts and education required to become successful leaders in a Japanese-dominated society (Lee, Jeong-kyu, 2002a).  Most of the leading Japanese universities had established karate clubs between 1922 and 1940, under the direction of Okinawan instructors such as Funakoshi Gichin, Mabuni Kenwa, Miyagi Chojun (who visited but did not live in Japan), Toyama Kanken and their assistants. 

The Modernization of Karate and its Arrival in Japan

Itosu Ankoh

The introduction of karate to Okinawan public schools began in 1901 (Bishop, 1989; 102).  Itosu Ankoh (1832-1915), a leader and innovator from the Shorin-ryu (“Shaolin school”) lineage, piloted this development.  Itosu had modernized and created many of the forms (Japanese, kata; Korean, hyung) that are practiced in karate today.  Examples include the pinan (lit. “peaceful mind; Japanese heian; Korean pyongahn) kata, which were a series of five forms designed to advance students from beginning to intermediate level in a class setting (Cook, 2001: 52). Itosu had also taught and mentored many of the major figures of modern karate, including Funakoshi, Mabuni, Motobu and Toyama.  Itosu also embraced the promotion of karate as a means of developing Japanese spirit, which contributed to karate’s acceptance and popularity in Japan (Bishop, 1989: 103; Cook, 2001: 25).  The introduction of karate to public education represented a major change from a former tradition of highly selective, private and secretive instruction to a more liberal, public and congregational approach.  This represented a major philosophical change that would also result in further biomechanical changes in the practice of karate. 

Funakoshi Gichen	Kano Jigoro the founder of judo

Okinawan educator and karate adept Funakoshi Gichin (1868-1957) was invited to demonstrate Okinawan karate in 1917 at the Dai Nippon Butoku kai (Japan’s leading martial arts association, established in 1895) in Kyoto, Japan.  Several years later, Funakoshi was chosen to present an exhibition of karate at The Japanese Ministry of Education’s First National Athletic Exhibition that took place in Tokyo in April 1922.  After this exhibition, Funakoshi was encouraged to remain in Tokyo by judo founder Kano Jigaro and other major figures in Japanese education and culture. Shortly thereafter, Funakoshi began teaching karate in 1922 at the meisi juku (Okinawan student dormitory) at Japan University in Tokyo (Funakoshi, 1975: 69-71). He also taught karate from 1923-1924 at the kendo school of Nakayama Hakudo (1859-1958), at that time considered Japan’s premier swordsman (Madis, 2003: 286). As interest in karate grew in Japan, Funakoshi began to establish training halls (Japanese, dojo; Korean, dojang) throughout the Tokyo area, beginning with Keio University in 1924 and Tokyo University in 1926. By 1935, Funakoshi had established over 30 dojo, most of which were associated with educational institutions (Cook, 2001: 76; Funakoshi, 1975: 75).

Motobu Choki	Kanbun Uech	Mabuni Kenwa	Miyagi Chojun	Toyama Kanken

Other Okinawan instructors saw Funakoshi’s success as an opportunity to promote karate and perhaps to make a living from teaching it in Japan. Okinawan instructor Motobu Choki (1870-1944) had actually been teaching karate in Osaka, Japan as early as 1921. Despite his respected skills, Motobu was not fluent in Japanese, an established public educator such as Funakoshi, nor had he been officially invited to present the art in Japan.  Although he would remain in Japan teaching karate until 1941, his influence was far less than Funakoshi’s (Ross, 2002). Following the lead of Funakoshi and Motobu, other Okinawan instructors came to Japan, including Uechi Kanbun (1877-1948) in 1924, Mabuni Kenwa (1889-1952) in 1928, Miyagi Chojun (1888-1953) in 1928 (who visited, but lived on Okinawa), and Toyama Kanken (1888-1966) in 1930 (McCarthy and McCarthy, 1999: 18, 126). Mabuni, with encouragement from Kano Jigaro and Funakoshi Gichin, established numerous schools in Osaka, including several at universities, such as Kansai Gakuin University (McCarthy & McCarthy, 1999: 18). Toyama established the Tokyo Shudokan in 1930 and taught at Nihon University. These Japanese university karate clubs became the martial arts training grounds for some Korean students, laying the foundation of what would become tangsoodo, kongsoodo, and eventually taekwondo (Madis, 2003: 191-202).

Yabu Kentsu

Contrary to popular belief, most of the traditions and protocol that are practiced in modern martial arts schools do not come from the teaching traditions of thousand year-old martial arts.  Many are modern innovations, having been introduced in the early 20th century, when public instruction of martial arts was in it infancy.  While numerous individuals contributed to these developments, one of the most influential and noteworthy was Okinawan instructor Yabu Kentsu (1866-1937).

Yabu Kentsu (1866-1937), a student of Matsumura Sokon (1809-1901) and Itosu Ankoh, had also served in China as an officer in the Japanese army (Kim, 1974: 64-66; Svinth, 2001).  He and his contemporary Hanashiro Chomo (1869-1945) were primary instructors for Itosu in Okinawan public schools. Yabu introduced numerous procedures, based on his experience as an army officer, to facilitate the public, classroom-based instruction of karate.  Many of these innovations are still practiced in karate schools worldwide, including the Korean styles. They included

• Bowing upon entering the training hall
• Lining up students in order of rank
• Opening class with specific formalities or signs of respect.
• Seated meditation (a Buddhist practice further developed in Japan as a result of kendo (“way of the sword”, Korean: kumdo) influence
• Sequenced training, including warm-up exercises, fundamentals, forms, and sparring practice.
• Answering the instructor with loud and respectful acknowledgment
• Closing class with formalities similar to opening class (Cook, 2001: 26-28, 52-53; Donahue, 1993; Ryozo, 1986)

Many of these practices had already been implemented in judo and kendo training, and reflected a blending of European military and physical education with Japanese neo-Confucianism, militarism, and physical education (Abe, Kiyohara, and Nakajima, 1990/2000; Friday, 1994; Guttmann and Thompson, 2001). However, these procedures did not exist in China (at the Shaolin Temple or otherwise) or in Okinawan karate prior to Yabu; nor had they been a part of taekyon practice in Korea (Pederson, 2001: 604).

Yabu’s modern methods were widely adopted by other Okinawan instructors in Japan, including Mabuni, Funakoshi, and Toyama. These training procedures, which were not found in karate books and instructional manuals (Noble, 1995), became standard for Korean karate and taekwondo training and clearly indicate a profound Japanese influence.

The use of white cotton martial arts uniforms (Japanese: dogi; Korean: dobak) and colored ranking belts are relatively recent, having been introduced in Japan during the late 19th century by judo founder Kano Jigoro (Cunningham, 2002; Harrison, 1955/1982: 43-44). Funakoshi Gichin designed his karate uniforms based closely on Kano’s uniforms, introducing them into his karate classes around 1924 (Cook, 2001: 62; Guttmann and Thompson, 2001, 147; McCarthy and McCarthy, 2001: 130). Before these uniforms, students practiced in loose-fitting clothing or, in subtropical Okinawa, as little clothing as possible. Modern taekwondo uniforms, up to and including the modern sport taekwondo uniform introduced in the 1980s, are essentially identical to the ones used in karate, providing further evidence of Japanese influence.

Part Two: The First Korean Schools:  The Shotokan Schools

By Eric Madis

Lee Won-kuk and the Chungdokwan

Lee Won-kuk, the founder of the first TangSooDo school, the Chungdohwe

Lee Won-kuk (1907-2003) is considered by some to be the founder of taekwondo.  He was one of the first Koreans to study karate in Japan and he established the first school of tangsoodo (and what would eventually become taekwondo) in Seoul, Korea in 1944.  He would also exert a profound influence on the development of the art through his instruction of many of the future leaders of taekwondo (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 1; Lee, 1997; Massar & St. Cyrien, 1999). 

Lee Won-kuk was born on April 13, 1907 in what is now South Korea.  Little is known of his early youth, except that he went to Tokyo in 1926 to attend secondary school.  In early 20th century Korea, most children started primary school around age 11, and therefore attended secondary school at later ages than in the present day.  Lee subsequently attended Chuo (Japanese: “central”) University in Tokyo where he majored in law and where he studied Shotokan karate under Funakoshi Gichin and his son Funakoshi Yoshitaka (Gigo). 

Funakoshi Gigo, senior instructor at several Japanese university karate clubs under his father Funakoshi Gichin

The Chuo University karate club was established sometime between 1928 and 1935 (Cook, 2001: 76).  Considering when Lee would have entered Chuo University, the earliest that he could have studied karate would have been 1929 or 1930.  If so, he certainly would have been one of the early students of karate in Japan, even by Japanese standards. Although Lee never specified his rank in Shotokan karate, it is usually thought to be 2nd or 3rd dan (Japanese/Korean: “degree of black belt”), based on several clues.  Lee stated, in a telephone inteview in 2000, that he had received the “highest dan” rank available at that time (Uesugi, 2000).  However, in an interview conducted by karate historian Graham Noble, noted Shotokan historian and instructor Taiji Kase stated that, by 1944, there were only three students (other than Funakoshi’s assistant instructors) who held 4th dan rank:  Hayashi, Hironishi and Uemura.  Kase added that he remembers one Korean student who received the rank of 2nd dan and who later returned to Korea, although Kase did not recall the person’s name (Graham Noble, personal communication, July 2000).  Whatever his rank may have been, Lee was acknowledged as the senior practitioner and leader of Shotokan karate in post WWII Korea. 

Lee did not specify, in any interviews, what he did from the time of his graduation from Chuo University Law School until his return to Korea in 1944.  However, he has stated on numerous occasions that he visited Okinawa, and numerous places in China, including centers for chuan fa (Chinese: “fist method”; kung fu) in Shanghai and the Honan province.  Whether this was as a member of the Japanese military or otherwise is unknown.  However, his connections with Japanese leadership aided him when he returned to Korea, for he found employment with the Ministry of Transportation (Uesugi, 2000).  More importantly, after three requests, Lee received permission in 1944 from the Japanese Governor General Abe Nobuyuki to teach karate to Japanese nationals, and shortly thereafter to a select group of Koreans (Lee, 1997; Massar & St.Cyrien, 1999).  Lee named his school (Korean: dojang; Japanese: dojo) the Chungdohwe (Korean: “Blue Wave Association”) and classes took place at the Yungshin School gymnasium in Seoul (Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 1-1).  Lee called his art tangsoodo (“Way of China Hand”) (Hwang, 1995: 26; Massar and St. Cyrien, 1999), the Korean pronunciation of Funakoshi’s mid-1920s spelling of “karate-do”, using the Tang/China character. 

Training at the Chungdohwe at that time reflected the training that Lee had received in Japan with Funakoshi Gigo, who was the third son of Funakoshi Gichin and the senior instructor in several of his schools. The Chungdohwe emphasized strong basics, forms (Korean: hyung; Japanese: kata), use of the striking post (Japanese: makiwara; Korean: tal yul bong), and included both single-step sparing and three-step sparring (Cook, 2001: 76-96; Lee, 1997; Massar & St. Cyrien, 1999).  In a 1999 interview, Lee stated that his instruction “…consisted of ten hand and eight kicking techniques all aimed at the vital points of the body. The hand techniques were punch, spear-hand, palm, knife-hand, inner ridge-hand (between thumb and forefinger), twin fingers, single finger, back fist and tiger fist. The kicking techniques consisted of front, side, round and back kick and these were aimed at various levels of the body” (Massar & St.Cyrien, 1999).

Early Chungdohwe photo.  Lee Won-kuk front row center.

Lee was aware of the social significance of his karate instruction. He stated, in a 1997 interview for Taekwondo Times, “The lessons were popular and many people wanted the training.  We had to be careful to recruit and keep only the best, most highly motivated students.  The students we kept included some of the prominent figures in modern taekwondo.  We worked hard to keep up the quality of instruction and our students, and to promote tangsoodo as a positive influence in Korean society.  Our main objective was to instill discipline and honor in young people left without a strong moral guidance in those troubled times” (Lee, 1997). 

Yun Cae, the head of Korea’s national police, approached Lee in 1947 with an offer.  Acting as an emissary of ROK president Rhee Syng-man (Yi Sung-man), Yun told Lee that, if he would convince his entire 5000-member association to join the President’s political party, he would be rewarded with an appointment as Korea’s Minister of Internal Affairs.  Lee refused and later explained:  “I was concerned that the government’s motive for enrolling 5000 martial artists in the president’s party was not to promote justice, so I politely declined the offer” (Lee, 1997).  Lee, his wife and several of his top students were soon arrested and accused of being pro-Japanese and an assassin group.  This is ironic because, according to noted Korean historian Lee Jeong-kyu, “during the 12 years of Syngman Rhee’s administration (1948-1960), 83% of 115 cabinet ministers were Japanese agents or collaborators under Japanese colonial rule” (Lee, 2002a). 

Son Duk-sung assumed leadership of the Chungdohwe in 1951, eventually renaming it the Chungdokwan

Lee’s release came in 1950, thanks in part to the pleading of Yu Chang-jun, the personal secretary for President Rhee.  After their release, Lee and his wife were still extremely uncomfortable with the political situation in Korea and returned as political refugees to Japan (Lee, 1997; Massar & St. Cyrien, 1999).  Shortly thereafter, Korea suffered devastating losses and disruption of daily life from the war between North and South Korea.  Therefore, from the time of his arrest in 1947 until the time of the armistice (ending the war) in 1953, a number of Lee’s students established their own schools.  These individuals included Hwang Kee (Moodukwan), Kang Suh-chang (Kukmookwan), Nam Tae-hi, under direction of Choi Hong-hi (Ohdokwan), Lee Yong-woo (Jungdokwan), Ko Jae-chun (Chungryongkwan) and others (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 1; Massar & St. Cyrien, 1999).  Shortly after Lee’s departure for Japan, his student Son Duk-sung assumed leadership of the Chungdohwe, renaming it the Chungdokwan (“Blue Wave Institute”) in 1951. 

Lee emigrated from Japan to the United States in 1976 with the assistance of U.S. Army General William Westmoreland, who had studied with Lee when the latter had taught martial arts to U.S. military personnel during the Vietnam War in the 1960s (Lee, 1997).  Lee lived the remainder of his life with his wife Lee Young-do in Arlington, Virginia, practicing calligraphy and acupuncture, and granting occasional interviews.  He died of pneumonia at the age of 95 on February 2, 2003 at Arlington Hospital.

Ro Byung-Jik and the Songmookwan

Ro Byung-jik, founder of the Songmookwan

Ro Byung-jik was born July 13, 1919 in the small city of Kaesong, which is located in North Korea very close to the demilitarized zone between the two different Koreas.  Little has been written about Ro’s youth, although it is reported that he was the fourth child in his family and, because of his frailty as a youth, he began elementary school a year later than what was then customary in Korea (WSA, 2010), so probably at twelve years of age.  Ro subsequently went to Japan for education in 1936.  Although it is reported that he attended Chuo University (in Tokyo) in 1936 (WSA, 2010), this is highly unlikely.  Had he entered elementary school in 1931, then (if these reports are true) he would have completed his primary and secondary education (at that time, an 8-year course) in five years. Japan’s pre-university education at that time consisted of five years of elementary education and three years of non-mandatory secondary education, with many secondary educational institutions being preparatory schools for specific universities.  Therefore, it is most likely that Ro went to Japan in 1936 at the age of seventeen to attend preparatory secondary school and then college.  This was very common for elite Koreans during the years of Japanese occupation of Korea.  This explanation is compatible with many of the short biographies of Ro, stating that his education in Japan began in 1936 and that he returned to Korea in 1944, after graduation from Chuo University (WSA, 2010).

While attending Chuo University, Ro trained in karate at the university karate club under the direction of Funakoshi Gichin, founder of the Shotokan school of karate.  The primary instructor (the person running the classes) there was Funakoshi Yoshitaka (Gigo), Funakoshi Gichin’s third son (Karate-do, 2001; Jotaro, 2001; Togawa, 2001).  Chungdokwan founder Lee Won-kuk, who had attended Chuo University earlier and also trained in Shotokan karate with Funakoshi, recalls meeting Ro in 1940 (Uesugi, 2000). This makes sense, considering the dates at which Ro would have attended Chuo University.  Ro received the rank of shodan (1st degree black belt; Korean: chodan) in Shotokan karate while at Chuo University (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 5; WSA, 2010; Uesugi, 2000)

Ro returned to Kaesong, Korea in 1944, and began to teach karate on March 11, 1944 to youngsters at the Kwandukjung Archery School (Losik, 1999;WSA).  The conscription of Koreans into the Japanese Army reached its peak in 1944, so it makes sense that Ro’s students would have been mostly children at this time.  This school lasted only a few months. 

According to the Lee, Won-kuk, Ro worked as a policeman during the last year of the WWII (1944-1945) in the Mapu-gu district in Seoul, Korea until Korean independence on August 15, 1945.  Lee added that he was able to grant Ro an instructor status at that time, so that Ro could legally teach karate (Uesugi, 2000). 

Ro returned to Kaesong after WWII, reopening his dojang on May 2, 1946, and calling it the Songmookwan. Song has multiple meanings.  It is the pronunciation of the character representing the pine tree, known in Korea for its strength, flexibility and deep green color. Italso referred to Ro’s birthplace Kaesong, calledSongdo when it was the capital of the ancient Koryo Dynasty.  Finally, song is also a reference to Ro’s prior training in Shotokan, which is pronounced “songdokwan” in Korean.  Moo is the pronunciation of the character meaning “martial” and kwan means “institute”.  Ro called his art tangsoodo (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 2, Section 1), although during the 1950s and much later, he would call it kongsoodo (“empty hand way”).  This school, like the first one, lasted for just a few months, due to the remoteness and size of Kaesong (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 5; Losik, 1999) and/or because of desperate economic and living conditions near the end of World War II (Losik, 1999; WSA). 

Although Kaesong was a part of South Korea after the establishment of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (PDRK, “North Korea”) on September 9, 1948, it was the scene of much warfare during the Korean War (1950-1953), and it came under control of PDRK in 1951. Like many ROK citizens, Ro fled to the southern Korean city of Pusan during the Korean War.  Near the end of the war, he and other Korean instructors discussed the establishment of an organization to unify and set standards for karate schools (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 2, Section 2).  Ro returned to Seoul at the close of the war in 1953, where he again established the Songmookwan (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 5; WSA, 2010). 

Ro’s teaching at the Songmookwan reflected his Shotokan roots, emphasizing basics, forms, makiwara training, and Shotokan-style sparring (Kang & Lee, 2000: Chapter 1, Section 5), including single-step and three-step sparring, as well as free sparring, which was still in its infancy at the Shotokan schools while Ro attended school in Japan.  According to Lee, Young-sup, one of Ro’s earliest students, free sparring was only to be practiced by those with the rank of 4th gup (rank below black belt; Japanese: kyu) an intermediate level, usually denoted by brown or red belt; and above (Kang & Lee, 2000: Chapter 1, Section 5).  Lee further stated that, when this rule was broken, the entire dojang was made responsible (Kang & Lee, 2000:  Chapter 1, Section 5).  His approach contrasts with modern taekwondo schools, many of which allow and encourage free sparring from the student’s first class.

Ro participated in the establishment of the Korean Kongsoodo Association (KSA) on May 25, 1953, serving as its executive director. The purposes of the KSA were to unify and set standards for Korean karate schools, and to provide official certification and issuance of dan (degree of black belt) ranks to members. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Ro would actively participate in unification associations and discussions between the various Korean karate kwan (Korean: “institutes”), including Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) in 1959 (serving as Vice President) and the Korean Taesoodo Association in 1961 (Kang & Lee, Sections 4-10).  He served as President of the KTA from 1966-1967, as well as an advisor to the World Taekwondo Association (Songmookwan).  Despite his flexibility in discussing and considering significant changes to the name and administering of Korean karate, he was among the first generation of instructors who adhered to traditional karate training methods and forms, and who preferred to call their arts kongsoodo or tangsoodo, rather than taekwondo or taesoodo (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 2, Section 10).  Therefore, like other taekwondo pioneers, Ro found himself marginalized as taekwondo underwent drastic changes in the 1970s.  His son, Ro Hee-sang, moved to the United States (Minneapolis, MN) in 1976 to establish the World Song Moo Kwan Association and to continue his family’s legacy.

Chun Sang-sup and the Yunmookwan

Chun Sang-sup, founder of the Yunmookwan Kongsoodo Bu

As was the case with most of the earliest pioneers of Korean karate, Chun Sang-sup (dates unknown) came from an elite (affluent and not in conflict with the Japanese occupation) background (Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 2), and was therefore sent to Japan for his higher education.  Chun studied judo as a youth (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 2), although sources conflict over that training taking place in Korea or when he attended secondary school in Japan (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 2).  Later, while attending Takushoku University in Tokyo, Chun also trained at that university’s karate club (Lee Chong-wu, 2001; Lee Chong-wu, 2002).  Okinawan master Gichin Funakoshi oversaw instruction there, but as was the case with other clubs, the active senior instructor was Funakoshi’s third son, Yoshitaka (Gigo).  That particular school was the initial training ground for many of Japan’s famous karate masters, including Hirokazu Kanazawa, Keinosuke Enoeda, Masatoshi Nakayama, Hidetaki Nishiyama, Teruyuki Okazaki, Mas Oyama (Korean name: Choi Hyung-yi) and many others. 

The Choson Yunmookwan had been established early during the Japanese occupation as a judo (Korean: yudo) club with Lee Kyung-suk (dates unknown) as headmaster of the school (Lee Chong-wu, 2001).  One report gives the date of establishment as 1931 (Losik, 2001). When Chun Sung-sup returned from Japan prior to the end of WWII, he was hired by Lee to teach both judo and kongsoodo (Korean: “karate”).  After WWII, Chun moved the school from its original location in Seoul to the Chunbuk area of Chunju.  This new school, renamed the Yunmookwan Kongsoodo Bu, was opened on March 3, 1946 and was dedicated specifically to the study of kongsoodo (Kang & Lee, 1999; Chapter 1, Section 2). 

The Yunmookwan grew quickly, thanks to the organized teaching of Chun, who offered beginning, intermediate and advanced classes.  A branch school was established in Kunsan in 1947, followed by other branches in Kinsan, Yiri, Namwon and Changup. (Kang and Lee, Chapter 1, Section 2).  From 1946-1949, the Yunmookwan and the Chungdohwe were the predominant Korean karate schools (Hwang, 1995: 26).  As Yunmookwan membership grew, Chun was able to hire Yun Byung-in and Yun Kwei-byung as instructors (Lee, 2002b; Lee Se, 2002; Losik, 2001).  Both of these individuals had distinguished reputations in Japan, and both had received master ranks in karate from Okinawan master Kanken Toyama.  More will be written about them in an upcoming article.  However, Yun Byung-in soon afterward founded his own school, the Seoul YMCA Kwonbop Bu, and Yun Kwei-byung (who was also teaching karate at two Korean Univerities) became the senior instructor at the Yunmookwan.   

Yunmookwan Kongsoodo Bu, March 3, 1947.  Chun Sang-sup is circled

Chun Sung-sup disappeared during the Korean War.  Reports of his disappearance vary from his being abducted by North Koreans to his death or capture while doing a volunteer mission into North Korea (Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 2; Park, 1989: 4).  It should be noted that disappearance of Koreans, mostly by abduction (and some possibly by voluntary repatriation), were common during the Korean War and have even taken place in recent years (KWAFU, 2006; Daily NK, 2007).  After Chun’s disappearance in 1950, Yun Kwei-byung assumed leadership of the kwan, eventually renaming it the Jidokwan (Korean: “wisdom way school”) (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 2).  More will be written about the Jidokwan in an upcoming article. 

Lee Kyo-yun, one of Chun’s students from the original Yunmookwan, returned to Seoul at the end of the Korean War in 1953.  He taught what he called tangsoodo in several locations, eventually establishing a dojang called the Hanmookwan in 1956 (Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 8).

Part Three:The First Korean Schools: The Shudokan Schools

By Eric Madis

Toyama Kanken, founder of the Tokyo Shudokan.

Yun Byung-in and the YMCA Kwonbopbu

Yun Byung-in

Yun Byung-in (1920-1983) was born in Mu-sun, Manchuria on May 20, 1920 (McLain, April 2009).  Mu-sun was a small town located close to Hsinking (now named Changchun) in the Jilin Province of Manchuria.  Manchuria, a large region of northeastern China, became the Japanese-controlled puppet state of Manchukuo from 1932-1945. Hsinking, a large center of industry, became the capital of Manchukuo in 1932.  The Jilin Province had the largest Korean ethnic population of any of the three provinces of Manchuria in the early 20th century, and still does to this day. 

Yun was the second of three sons of Yun Myong-keun, the owner of a distillery.  His grandfather, Yun Young-hyun, was a Korean of noble birth who had been appointed as a chief administrator of the Korean island districts of Gojae and Tong-young during the later years of the Yi Dynasty (1392-1910 A.D.).  Yun Young-hyun moved his family to Manchuria after losing this position sometime after the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1909 (McLain, April 2009). 

Yun attended elementary and secondary school (at that time, an eight-year program) in Manchukuo and graduated in 1938.  According to Kim Pyung-soo, the founder of Chayon-ryu and a person who has dedicated an enormous amount of time to recovering much of Yun’s legacy, Yun began studying quanfa (Chinese: “fist art”/chuan fa) during his elementary school years.  Apparently, at this time (the 1930s), the majority of quanfa instructors in some areas of Manchuria were Mongolian, and this was the case with Yun’s instructor (McLain, April 2009).  However, the instructor’s name is still unknown after all these years, which is unfortunate, considering the significant impact he is said to have had on Yun and his legacy.  Neither Yun nor his students had or have specified his instructor’s name or the specific style of quanfa that he was said to have studied.  However, based on Yun’s legacy (Yates, 1991), it appears that he may have studied changquan (Chinese: “long fist”) and possibly the Yang style of taijiquan (Chinese: “grand ultimate fist”/taichichuan) (Madis, 2003).  The Yang style of taijiquan was being taught liberally to non-Chinese during the early 20th century (Draeger and Smith, 1969: 35-39; Harvey Kurland, personal communication, March 21, 2000; Robert Smith, personal communication, December 31, 1999).  This was also true of changquan, but to a much lesser extent (Hsu, October 1986). In addition, the possibility of Yun’s instructor being Mongolian may explain to some extent how a young Korean boy was able to study Chinese quanfa.  Other factors that may have affected this were the Yun family’s wealth and Yun’s serious nature, sincerity and intelligence (McLain, April 2009).

Yun went to Tokyo, Japan in late 1938 to study agriculture at Nihon University (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 4; McLain, April 2009). Yun also studied karate at Nihon University under Okinawan instructor Toyama Kanken (1888-1966), founder of Shudokan karate (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 4; Madis, 2003). Toyama, whose primary instructors had been Itosu Ankoh, Higashionna Kanryo, Aragaki Angichi and Azato Ankoh, had also studied quanfa during his years as an elementary school teacher in Taiwan (1924-1930), just prior to his move to Tokyo in 1930. According to numerous sources, Toyama was impressed with Yun’s quanfa skill and the two exchanged knowledge (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 4; Madis, 2003; McLain, April 2009). Yun soon became the captain of Nihon University’s karate team and eventually was awarded a master’s certificate and the rank of fourth dan (Japanese/Korean: “degree of black belt”) by Toyama (Toyama, 1959).  Yun’s name is sometimes transliterated in Japanese to In Hei Jin (Toyama, 1959).  One of the styles of quanfa that Toyama had studied in Taiwan was taijiquan, and he is known to have taught this to several of his advanced students (International Shudokan Karate Association, 2001).  

Toyama Kanken had two other notable Korean students:  Yun Kwei-byung (see section on Yun and the Jidokwan) and Kim Ki-whang (1920-1993). Kim became captain of the Nihon University karate team after Yun’s graduation from Nihon University, and would later return to Korea with a rank of third dan (Burdick, 1997; WWK, 1983).  However, the records of Toyama indicated that Kim would eventually be awarded a master’s certificate by Toyama (Toyama, 1959).  Kim later returned to Korea, where taught at Sung Kyun Kwan University.  He then relocated in 1964 to Silver Springs, Maryland in the United States, where he taught tangsoodo, and later taekwondo, until his death on September 16, 1993 (Burdick, 1997; Corcoran, January 1994).

Choi Hong-hi, founder of the Ohdokwan, stated in a 2000 interview that Yun also taught karate and quanfa on the rooftop of a Tokyo YMCA during the 1940s (Kimm, January 2000).  

Yun Byung-in with YMCA Kwonbop bu students

Yun returned to Korea after the end of World War II in 1945.  He began teaching kongsoodo (Korean: “empty hand way”/karate) and kwonbup (Korean: “fist art”; Chinese: quanfa; Japanese: kenpo) on September 1, 1946 at Kungsung Agricultural High School (Burdick, 1997) and shortly thereafter at the Yunmookwan for Chun Sang-sup.  Several months later, he established his own school, the Seoul Kwonbup Bu at the Jong Ro YMCA in Seoul (Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 4; McLain, April 2009).  

There is some evidence to suggest that Yun taught some Chinese forms (Yang and Bolt, 1982; Yates, 1991) and that he varied students’ training according to body size (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 4).  However, no solid evidence exists of an extensive Chinese-based curriculum, nor one that employed Chinese training methods, such as push hands or sticky hands exercises, qigong (Chinese: “energy gathering”/chi kung) or specific conditioning methods for the proper application of Chinese forms. Yun’s legacy is rather more of a karate-based curriculum, and his assistant instructor was Lee Num-suk, whose former martial arts experience was self-study of karate from one Funakoshi’s texts (http://changmookwan.net/changmookwanarticles.html; Dussault and Dussault, December 1993; Madis, 2003).

Yun disappeared during the Korean War, much like his friend Chun, Sang-sup the founder of the Yunmookwan (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Sections 2 & 4). Kim Pyung-soo has become a leading authority on Yun, after years of research, direct martial arts study with several of Yun’s original students, and personal contact in recent years with Yun’s family members.  Kim reports that Yun’s disappearance took place sometime in August 1950, after the Korean People’s Army (KPA; the army of North Korea) had attacked and overrun much of South Korea (beginning in June 1950). Yun’s older brother Yun Byung-du, a captain in the KPA, either forced or convinced Yun to come to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) with him.  Yun was in all likelihood forced, since he would have had to leave his wife and an eight month-old daughter, and ultimately he ended up in a prisoner of war camp on Gojae-do Island (McLain, April 2009).  Abductions were common in Korea during the Korean War and for many years after the armistice between North and South Korea (KWAFU, 2006; Daily NK, 2007).

Yun’s students Lee Nam-suk and Kim Sun-bae opened a school in Seoul at the end of the Korean War in 1953, calling it the Changmookwan.  Two others members of the Changmookwan who were also senior students of Yun at the YMCA Kwonbup Bu, Park Chul-hee and Hong Jung-pyo, separated from the Changmookwan in 1956, opening a school called the Kangdukkwan (Kang & Lee, 1999, Chapter 1, Section 4). 

Kim Pyung-soo’s research has shown that Yun Byung-in was appointed to teach kuk sool (Korean: “national (martial) art”), designed specifically for combat, to an elite group in the DPRK capital of Pyong-yang from January 1966 until August 1967. However, Yun was discharged from this position in late 1967, since what he was teaching was not a sport.  It seems that DPRK officials were interested in countering the growth of the South Korean sport of taekwondo with a combat sport of their own.  Yun was sent back to his previous home of Cheong-jin, where he worked in a cement factory until his death from lung cancer in 1983 (McLain, April 2009).

Yun Kwei-byung and the Jidokwan

Yun Kwei-byung (1922-2000) began his karate study while attending secondary school in Osaka, Japan.  His first teacher was Okinawan instructor Mabuni Kenwa (1889-1952), a student of Itosu Ankoh, Higashionna Kanryo, Arakaki Seisho, and Chinese quanfa instructor Gokenki.  Mabuni, the founder of the Shito-ryu school of karate, was widely respected for his encyclopedic knowledge of karate forms (Japanese: kata; Korean: hyung).  Another notable Korean student of Mabuni was Yun Pon-gun, who founded the Shinpo-ren school of karate in the early 1940s.  This school was renamed the Butokukan in 1963 under his student Kokichi Yoichi (Japan American Butokukai Karate Association, 2010).

Yun Kwei-byung

Yun continued his karate training under Toyama Kanken while he was a student at Nihon University in Tokyo.  He eventually received undergraduate and graduate degrees in veterinary medicine and animal husbandry (Takaku Kozi, Renbukai official, personal communication, October 12, 2000). Because of his education, refinement and karate skill, Yun distinguished himself in Japan, where there was considerable prejudice against Koreans. 

Mabuni Kenwa

In 1940, Yun established the Kanbukan (Japanese:  “Korean Martial Arts Institute”), a sister school to the Shudokan, in the Kudanka district of Tokyo (Sekiya, June 2004).  This school, which was renamed the Renbukan in 1950 by Nakamura Norio, offered classes in karate and open exchange between different martial arts (Marchini & Hansen, 1998) and welcomed both Korean and Japanese practitioners.  Other notable Koreans in Tokyo who trained regularly at the Kanbukan included Mas Oyama (Korean name: Choi Hyung-yi) who received his 4th dan from the Kanbukan, Oyama’s Goju-ryu instructor So Nei-chu, and martial arts historian and Zen Bai Butokukai founder Richard Kim (Jinsoku, 1956).  Yun was considered an innovator in jiyu kumite (Japanese: “free sparring”; Korean: jayu daeryon) and soon attracted a sizable following in Tokyo (Nagashima Toshi-ichi, Renbukai official, personal communication, November 19, 1999). Nakamura Norio, one of the earliest members of the Kanbukan, and noted Okinawan karate instructor/historian Kinjo Hiroshi, both of whom trained and taught at the Kanbukan during the 1940s, have said that, in its early days, the Kanbukan taught traditional karate, innovative free-sparring, and bogu kumite (Japanese: “sparring with protective armor ”; Korean: hogu daeryon), as well as judo and kendo (Nakamura, May 2000).  Today, Yun is still one of the very few Koreans found on Japanese karate lineage charts, although his name is often transliterated as “In Giei”, “In Gekka”, “Yun Gekka” or other close variations. 

Yun was an active member of the mindan (Japanese: “public group”); the Korean resident’s association in Japan.  Even during World War II, he had a large banner on the Kanbukan that read, “Alliance for the Promotion of Establishing the Republic of Korea” (Jinsoku, 1956).

Although other Koreans studied with Toyama, Yun Kwei-byung and Yun Byung-in (no relation) are the only two to have received master certificates by the mid-1940s (Takaku Kozi, Renbukai official, personal communication, October 12, 2000; International Shudokan Karate Association, 2001, Toyama, 1959).  Some sources have written that Yun Kwei-byung was eventually awarded a rank of seventh dan in Shudokan karate by Toyama (Losik, 2001). 

 In 1948, Yun returned to Korea (Nakamura, 2000) to teach animal husbandry at Konkuk University (World Karate Championships, 1970).  He later was hired by Chang Sung-sup of the Yunmookwan as a chief instructor (Kang & Lee: Chapter 1, Section 2) and was the founder and coach of the karate teams at both Konkuk (Seoul National) and Korea Universities (Hwang, 1995: 22, 39-40; Michael Sol, personal communications, February 6, 2000).

Following Chun Sang-sup’s disappearance in 1950, Yun became the director of the Yunmookwan, which he renamed the Jidokwan (Korean: “Wisdom Way Institute”).  Whether this name change took place before, during, or after the Korean War is still a topic of controversy.  The disorder caused by the Korean War, including the uprooting of much of the South Korean population to the city of Pusan far at the southern tip of the peninsula, disrupted or postponed regular training at all schools, although some training took place in Pusan.  Therefore, most of the kwan (Korean: “institutes”), including the Jidokwan, were re-established in Seoul after the end of the war in 1953.

Despite Yun’s training in Shito-ryu and Shudokan karate in Japan, he continued to teach the Shotokan versions of the forms at the Yunmookwan, and later the Jidokwan.  These included the kiecho (Korean: “basic”; Japanese: kihon/taikyoku), pyong ahn (Japanese: heian), passai (Japanese: bassai dai), chulgi (Japanese: tekki/naihanchi), and kong sang kun (Japanese: kanku/kwanku/kusanku) forms.  These versions had been taught previously at the Yunmookwan under Chun, so it is likely that Yun saw no need to change them after Chun disappeared during the Korean War.  In addition, the Shotokan versions were popular at numerous other schools in Korea and Japan, which made form competition at tournaments simpler.  During Yun’s leadership of the Kanbukan in the 1940s, Shotokan forms were sometimes taught alongside the older Okinawan versions, thanks in part to Koide Masuyoke, a Shotokan and kendo practitioner from Waseda University who trained at the Kanbukan (Marchini & Hansen, 1998; Nakamura, 2000).  That Yun was familiar with the Shotokan versions and that he taught them as a hired senior instructor at the Yunmookwan, could explain the Shotokan influence in the core Jidokwan forms (Cho, 1968, Funakoshi, 1973). 

Jidokwan is sometimes transliterated “Chidokwan” in North America. This romanization was sometimes used by Cho Si-hak (Henry Cho), a student of Yun and a major proponent of the style in the United States since 1958 (Burdick, 1997/1999; Cho, 1968: 1; Cho, 2008).   However, Cho did also use the Jidokwan spelling (Cho, 2008).

Yun actively participated in the many discussions and unification efforts between kwan (Korean: “[martial arts] institutes”) in the 1950s and 1960s, including the Korean Kongsoodo Association, the Korean Taekwondo Association and the Korean Taesoodo Association (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 2, Sections 2,4, and 5).  However, like other first generation founders of Korean karate, such as Hwang Kee (Moodukkwan), Ro Byung-jik (Songmookwan), and Choi Hong-hi (Ohdokwan), Yun had growing disagreements with younger generation leaders over the direction of Korean karate (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 2, Sections 6 and 10). 

Yun Kwei-byung and Hwang Kee at 1961 Goodwill Tournament in Japan.

Yun’s Jidokwan joined Hwang Kee’s Korean Subakdo Association in 1961, at that time the largest martial arts association in Korea (Hwang, 1995: 44).  Yun and Hwang brought Korean karate teams (comprised of members from the Jidokwan and Moodukkwan) to Japan in 1961, 1964 and 1970 for goodwill competitions and the World Karate Championships (Hwang, 1995: 39; World Karate Championships, 1970).  Yun and Hwang also officially resigned from the Korean Taesoodo Association in 1962.  However, a split in the Jidokwan occurred in 1967 when senior instructor Lee Chong-woo (born 1928) led a group of younger generation Jidokwan members to join the Korean Taekwondo Association (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 2).

Like other older generation leaders of Korean karate, Yun found himself increasingly marginalized in the 1960s and 1970s (Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 2, Sections 6 and 10), and he withdrew from the growing taekwondo movement to put more time into business (S. Henry Cho, personal communication, May 22, 2000).  His death in 2000 was almost unnoticed in the taekwondo community.

Part Four:The First Korean Schools: The Maverick Schools

By Eric Madis

Previous articles in the series “Storming the Fortress—A History of Taekwondo” have discussed five early Korean karate schools, four of which were part of the original five schools, known collectively as “Oh Geh Ki Kwan” (Hwang, 1995: 21).  All five of the previously discussed schools were led by individuals who had studied karate in Japan under Okinawan instructors, and all of whom had earned ranks of at least first degree black belt (Japanese: shodan; Korean: chodan) while in Japan.   

Many other institutes (Korean: kwan; Japanese: kan) of Korean karate were established from 1953 through 1971, and the leaders of most of these schools were senior students of the first Korean karate schools.  The leaders of many of these schools participated regularly in discussions regarding cooperation, unification and the establishment of standards between kwan.  However, there were two early schools that were led by individuals who seemed determined to follow their own paths, to become extremely successful, and whose credentials, practices and associations with others in the Korean martial arts community were controversial from the outset.

Stylistically, both of these schools could be considered Shotokan schools:  utilizing training methods and forms that are clearly based on Funakoshi’s Shotokan karate.  Despite their often-unstable relationships with other Korean karate leaders and political officials, the leaders of both of these two schools would become extremely influential and successful forces in Korean karate.  One of these schools, the Moodukkwan, was one of the original Oh Geh Ki Kwan.  The other, known as the Ohdokwan, was formed after the Korean War by a South Korean general.  

Hwang Kee and the Moodukkwan

Hwang Tae Nam (1914-2002) was born on November 9, 1914 in Jang Dan, in Kyong Ki Province, located in the area now known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two nations of Korea.  His father, Hwang Yong Hwan, was a recognized scholar during the reign of King Ko Jang, the Yi Dynasty monarch from 1864 to 1907 (Hwang, 1995, 8).  Hwang later was called “Kee.”  Hwang had an interest in martial arts from an early age, particularly the old Korean foot-fighting sport of taekyon (Hwang, 1995: 9-10). 

Hwang Kee, founder of the Moodukkwan

Like other Koreans of his generation, Hwang entered elementary school at the age of 11 (1926) and graduated from secondary school in May 1935. Hwang then worked for the South Manchurian Railway (SMR) from May 1935 until August 1937 (Hwang, 1995:  10, 14).  He was based during this period of at the main SMR railroad station in Chaoyang (Korean: “Jo Yang”) (Hwang, 1995: 12).  Chaoyang is a city located about 250 miles northeast of Beijing in Liaoning Province, in a region of northeastern China traditionally called Manchuria (“Land of the Manchu”). From 1932 until 1945, it was the Japanese-controlled nation of Manchukuo, under the ceremonial leadership of Henry Pu Yi. 

In his 1995 book The History of Moodukkwan, Hwang wrote that he studiedquanfawith a Chinese instructor named Yang Kuk Jin from May 1936 until August 1937.  Hwang wrote that he trained with four other students, and that he and his friend (fellow SMR employee) Park, Hyo-pil trained every other day, due to their work schedules (Hwang, 1995: 12-14).  Hwang stated specifically that the training with Yang consisted of the well-known northern Shaolin exercise set known as tam tui(Chinese: “springing legs”), the Yang taijiquan(taichichuan; Chinese: “grand ultimate fist”) form, and exercises for conditioning and mastering basics (Hwang, 1995: 14).  In a 1990 interview, Hwang stated that he studied “the northern Yang style of kung fu” with Yang (Liedke, 1990). As Hwang described Yang as being around 50 years of age in 1936 (Hwang, 1995: 12), Yang’s birth date would have been in the 1880s. Therefore, he should be, but is not, a recognizable name in the Yang lineage (Draeger and Smith, 1969: 35-39; Robert Smith, personal communication, December 31, 1999; Wile, 1983: x-xx;). Unfortunately, Hwang didn’t provide his instructor’s name in Chinese characters, which would have facilitated the verification of his existence and his place, if any, in the Yang lineage (Robert Smith, personal communication, December 31, 1999).

Hwang went to work in 1939 for the Chosun Railway (renamed the Ministry of Transportation in 1945), where he had access to exercise and lecture rooms, as well as to the company library, which had some karate books.  Hwang wrote that, from 1939 to 1945, he studied Okinawan karate books, and indicated that he did learn forms (Japanese: kata; Korean: hyung) from these books (Hwang, 1995: 16, 18). Although Hwang did not specify which books he studied, traditional Moodukkwan forms are very clearly early Funakoshi/Shotokan versions. Some of the patterns, strategy and movements of these forms vary slightly from the older, Okinawan Kobayashi Shorin-ryu forms in a consistently unique manner (Madis, 2003; Thomas, 1988). This is true whether comparing the forms in Funakoshi’s 1922, 1925 and 1935 texts, or watching documentary film footage from the early 1930s showing Funakoshi at Keio University and other universities (Funakoshi, 1973; Funakoshi, 1997; Warrener, 2001).  Although a few other early karate books may have been available to Hwang at this time, few offered the adequate descriptions and illustrations seen in Funakoshi’s books, none were as readily available as Funakoshi’s (Noble, 1996b; Graham Noble, personal communication), and none displayed what would later become Moodukkwan forms.  In addition, the names of the Moodukkwan forms and the order in which they were taught in the Moodukwan curriculum corresponded with the Shotokan model. 

Chungdohwe founder Lee Won-kuk has stated on numerous occasions that Hwang studied at the Chungdohwe (Lee, 1997; Massar and St. Cyrien, 1999, Uesugi, 2000), which is reinforced by the Moodukkwan’s use of Shotokan-based class structure, forms and training methods. In one interview, Lee said that he became acquainted with Hwang while they were both employees of the Ministry of Transportation (then the Chosun Railway) and that Hwang trained under him at the Chungdohwe from 1944-1947.  However, Lee stated that Hwang did not earn even an intermediate, pre-black belt rank (Korean: gup; Japanese: kyu) at the Chungdohwe during that entire period, implying that Hwang’s attendance was occasional (Uesugi, 2000).

Hwang was friendly with other instructors from the Chungdohwe (such as Um Un-kyu, Ko Jae-chun, and Hyun Jong-myong), as well as Yun Byung-in of the YMCA Kwonbop bu and (by the late 1940s) Yun Kwei-byung of Yunmookwan and the Jidokwan (Hwang, 1995: 26, 28, 39). He may have furthered his knowledge with any or all of them.

Some sources (Loke, 2000) have suggested that Hwang studied with the future Renbukai and All-Japan Karate-do Federation president Kondo Koichi (1929-1967). This theory was based on Hwang’s limited association with Kondo (Graham Noble, personal communication, September 15, 1998) and Hwang’s mention of Kondo in his books (Hwang, 1995: 40; Hwang, 1978). However, Kondo’s lifelong associate and Renbukai successor Nagashima Toshi-ichi, who was personally acquainted with Hwang, wrote that Kondo did not even begin karate study until 1947 and that he was a student of Yun Kwei-byung at the Kanbukan (Nagashima Toshi-ichi, personal communication, November 19, 1999). Furthermore, Renbukai spokesperson Takaku Koji stated that Kondo and Hwang met through mutual association with Yun for the first time in 1961 (Takaku Koji, personal communication, October 12, 2000). 

Some in the Korean martial arts community doubted Hwang’s claim of Chinese quanfa training, based on lack of evidence (Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 3). Lee Won-kuk stated that Hwang had no (formal) martial arts training prior to his training at the Chungdohwe (Uesugi, 2000).  The Moodukkwan’s traditionaltangsoodo curriculum was devoid of Chinese training, with the exception of a changquan (“long fist”) form and a Yang taijiquan form, which are only taught to high-ranking masters (Boliard, 1989), and which are not supplemented by any of usual Chinese supplemental training methods, such as push hands or qigong (chi kung; Chinese: “chi mastery”). 

When Hwang made his initial attempt to teach martial arts in November 1945, he called his arthwasoodo(Korean: “flower hand art”).  In The History of Moodukkwan, Hwang explained that he arrived at his art’s name after a great deal of thought, and that the name referred in part to the emergence, or “blossoming”, of a new, independent Korea (Hwang, 1995: 24).  By his own account, he built this art from fifteen months of quanfa study, self-study of taekyon as a youth, and his study of books on Okinawan karate (Hwang, 1995: 9-18).

Hwang made two separate attempts to establish hwasoodo classes at the Ministry of Transportation (his employer) in 1945 and 1946, but in both instances his small group of students resigned within three months. According to Hwang, this was because Koreans at that time lacked appreciation for Chinese-based arts, due to their long colonization and social indoctrination by Japan (Hwang, 1995: 24-26).  If these hwasoodo classes are considered the Moodukkwan’s inception, then it was founded on November 9, 1945. If not, then its inception dates to 1947, when Hwang reformed the Moodukkwan and began to teach tangsoodo(Hwang, 1995: 26).  However, for the next eight years, Hwang did continue to refer to his art as both tangsoodo and hwasoodo (Hwang, 1995: 29-30). 

Hwang took advantage of space made available to him at little or no cost by the Ministry of Transportation, and soon had established many schools along railroad lines. From the standpoint of expenses and expansion, this gave the Moodukkwan an advantage over other kwan (Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 3). Otherkwan leaders complained that the Moodukkwan had fostered its growth through overly generous standards of admission and promotion, and furthermore pointed to numerous cases of disciplinary and behavior problems with Moodukkwan membership (Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 2, Section 5). Therefore, despite his considerable leadership, a growing legacy of notable students, and a reputation for upholding martial arts traditions (Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 3), Hwang often found himself in conflict with the Korean martial arts establishment.  Numerous attempts in the 1950s and 1960s to include the Moodukkwan in the growing taekwondo community were unsuccessful.

Moodukkwan’s central dojang in Seoul in mid-1950s

In 1957, Hwang discovered an ancient book entitled Mooyae Dobo Tongji. An upcoming article in this series will further discuss the Mooyae Dobo Tongji. This book, which was published in the late 1700s, included a portion on unarmed combat, indicating the existence of an organized fighting style named subak.  From this point forward, Hwang began to envision a Korean style with the name subakdo, and began to refer to his art as both tangsoodo and subakdo (Hwang, 1995: 37, 42-56). 

Hwang formed the Korean Subakdo Association (KSA) in 1960, which would soon include Yun Kwei-byung’s Jidokwan. Because of Yun’s friendship with officials in the All Japan Karate-do Federation (some of whom were his former students), the KSA participated in several tournaments in Japan between 1961 and 1970. Acccording to Hwang, by 1965, 70% of Korea’s martial art practitioners were KSA members, the largest portion being the Moodukkwan (Hwang, 1995: 44). However, in March 1965, a majority of Moodukkwan students, led by Kim Young-taek and Hong Chong-soo, seceded from Hwang’s organization to join the newly formed Korean Taekwondo Association.  This was the beginning of a Moodukkwan taekwondo contingent.  Eventually, some of Hwang’s notable early students would also form independent tangsoodo organizations.

1961 Goodwill Tournament in Tokyo.  Upper row standing, L to R:  Hwang, unknown, Kondo, Yun, Nagashima, three unknown. (Photo courtesy of Nagashima Toshi-ichi.)

From 1949 until 1995, Hwang Kee wrote and published numerous martial arts books that contained history, instructional information and his technical innovations and theories (Hwang, 1995: 66-67).  Hwang remained the leader of the original Moodukkwan and promoter of his newer art of subakdo (a blend of tangsoodo with softer, Chinese martial arts influences) until his death in 2002.

Choi Hong-hi and the Odokwan

Choi Hong-hi (1918-2002) was born November 9, 1918 in Hwa Dae, a village located in Myongchun county, North Hamgyong Province, in what is now North Korea.  He began elementary school in 1930, at the age of 11, which was customary for Koreans of that generation.  At the age of 15, he was also sent for calligraphy lessons with Han Il-dong, who was said to have also taught the boy the antique Korean kicking and footsweeping sport of taekyon (Gillis, 2008: 20; Kimm, 2000).

General Choi Hong-hi, founder of the Ohdokwan

Choi’s personal accounts state that he was sent to Kyoto, Japan in 1938 to attend high school (Gillis, 2008: 16, 21-22; Kimm, 2000), after completing the standard eight-year course of elementary and secondary education in Korea. Choi stated that, after watching a karate class at Dong Dai Sa (Japanese: Doshisha) University in Kyoto with his friend Kim Hyun-soo, he began to practice karate (Kimm, 2000).  In 1940, Choi relocated to Tokyo to finish high school at a business high school.  He then attended Chuo (Japanese: “Central”) University in Tokyo.  Choi stated that he studied karate at Chuo University under Shotokan founder Gichin Funakoshi, eventually earning the rank of 2nd degree black belt (Kimm, 2000). By his own account, Choi returned to Korea in 1942 and that he, like other young Korean men, went into hiding to avoid being drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army. However, he was drafted in October 1943 (Kimm, 2000). 

Although Choi stated that he “practiced karate” in Kyoto (Kimm, 2000), he did not specify the training or the instructor, nor has his account been verified by witness or documentation.  Most martial artists acknowledge their instructors and know their complete name, especially those with whom they studied for several years.  Furthermore, they can also elaborate on what their instruction entailed.  Any karate instructors (even assistant instructors) teaching in Japan in the 1920s and 1930s were modern karate pioneers, so it is highly unlikely that one would not mention one’s instructor from that period.  While there are sources that have stated that Choi studied with an instructor with the surname of “Kim” and that he received his 1st degree black belt from Kim (Choi, 1993: 241-274); Losik, 2003: 99; ITFinfo.com), the only person named Kim that Choi mentioned in later years was the friend with whom he watched a karate class in Kyoto in 1938. There were no Korean instructors under Funakoshi at that time, and no person other than Funakoshi himself had the authority to award any rank to any student of Shotokan karate, much less that of 1st degree black belt.

It should be noted that the only instruction of Shotokan karate that took place in Kyoto was when Funakoshi Gichin (1868-1957) and an assistant would visit the Japanese Imperial Military Academy in Kyoto. Those visits were few, extremely brief and the training very rudimentary. All of Funakoshi’s regular instruction, including that conducted by his assistant instructors, took place in greater Tokyo (Funakoshi, 1935/1973: 10-11; Funakoshi: 1975: 74-75). Goju-ryu karate was being taught in the late 1930s in Kyoto at Doshisha University under the leadership of Shito-ryu founder Kenwa Mabuni (1889-1952) and at Ritsumeikan University under the leadership of Goju-kai founder Yamaguchi Gogen (1909-1989) with his Korean assistant So Nei-chu. However, Choi never mentioned studying with these instructors; always stated that his training was in Shotokan karate, and there is no Goju-ryu influence in Choi’s legacy.

If Choi was in Kyoto from 1938-1940 and at a Tokyo business high school for even a half-year/semester, then the soonest he could have entered Chuo Univcrsity would have been autumn of 1941. If he studied karate from then until the time he returned to Korea in 1942, then he still would have achieved nidan (Japanese: “second degree black belt”; Korean: yidan) with a year or less of training, which is impossible, considering Funakoshi’s standards. At that time, it took even exceptional students two years of regular training to achieve the rank ofshodan (Japanese: “first degree black belt”; Korean: chodan), according to Hironishi Genshin, one of Funakoshi’s premier students in the 1930s and 1940s (Takagi, 1989). 

Renowned Shotokan instructor and historian Kase Taiji (1929-2004) stated, in an interview conducted by karate historian Graham Noble, that the highest ranking Korean student from that period was one who received a 2nd dan rank and who later returned to Korea, although Kase did not recall the person’s name (Graham Noble, personal communication, July 2000).  That individual was very likely Chungdohwe founder Lee Won-kuk, the senior Shotokan practitioner in post WWII Korea and a student of Funakoshi during the 1930s at Chuo University.  In a June 2000 interview, Lee stated that Choi studied karate very briefly at Chuo University, that he did not earn even an intermediate rank (Japanese: “kyu”; Korean: “gup”), and that he had no prior martial arts experience (Uesugi, 2000).  In addition, several Chungdohwe/Chungdokwan leaders have questioned and denied the extent of Choi’s karate experience (Cook, 2001: 293; Kang and Lee, 1999: Chapter 2, Section 3).

The Military Languages School, which later became the Korean Military Academy, was established by the United States military administration in Korea on December 5, 1945. Its purpose was the training of a new generation of Korean military leaders in the English language and US military doctrine. This school accepted Korean recruits from the Japanese Imperial Army, the Korean Liberation Army and the Manchurian Army. Choi attended this school and became a second lieutenant in the new Republic of Korea (ROK) Army in 1946 (Gillis, 2008: 31).  In June 1949, he was sent to the United States for advanced military training at Fort Riley, Kansas and Fort Benning, Georgia. He returned to Korea in June 1950, at the beginning of the Korean War (Kimm, 2000). 

In his book A Killing Art, author Alex Gillis discusses Choi’s involvement with the “Pyongyang Incident”, a planned mutinous insurrection by young Korean members of the 30th Division of the Japanese Army.  According to this account, Choi and other leaders of this plot were caught and arrested in November 1944.  Choi was detained, and later imprisoned under abysmal conditions (that resulted in the deaths of some of his fellow rebels) for the remainder of World War II (Gillis, 2008: 25-29).  A 2008 article by Kiriyama Keiichi discusses the 1944 Korean rebellion in further detail.  The idea was conceived in May 1944 by a group of Koreans from the 30th Infantry Division who called themselves the “Party of Three Thousand”, a name suggested by Kim Wan-yong, who became the leader of the group.  The plot was discovered on October 24, 1944 through a tip from a Korean soldier who was friends with one of the rebels.  Twenty-seven members of the rebellion and one civilian were eventually caught, convicted and sentenced, and a number of these individuals died in captivity.  Much of the information in Keiichi’s article comes from the testimony of Lieutenant Cheon Sang-hwa, who (like Choi) was sent after World War II to the U.S. to study at an army military school and who later taught at the South Korean Military Academy (Keiichi, 2009).  It is curious that Cheon did not mention Choi in his account, because he certainly would have been well acquainted with Choi.  However, several interviews conducted by Alex Gillis in 2002 and 2003 with General Lim Sun-ha, who had known and worked with Choi in the ROK military since 1945, reinforce Choi’s claims of his involvement (Gillis, personal communication, July 14, 2011).  If Choi’s reported experience with this incident were accurate, then it would certainly explain in part his disaffection with General Park Chung-hee and other Korean military leaders who had been willing participants in the Japanese Army, as well as civilians who had been collaborative with the Japanese.  

Chungdohwe founder Lee Won-kuk relocated to Japan in 1950 because of his political problems with ROK President Rhee Syng-man (Lee, 1997; Madis, 2003; Madis, 2010; Massar & St. Cyrien, 1999).  This topic was covered in more detail in article one in the present series. At the time Lee left Korea, he asked Choi to act as the temporary chief administrator for the Chungdohwe.  Choi accepted the position, soon appointing Chungdohwe senior instructor Son Duk-sung as leader of the school (Kimm, 2000).  Son updated the name of the school to Chungdokwan in 1953. 

Choi was promoted to the rank of major (2-star) general in 1952 (Gillis, 2008: 31-32). He established the ROK Army’s 29th Division (often called the “Fist Division”) in 1953 (Kimm, 2000).  Choi assigned a ROK Army captain and Korean War hero named Nam Tae-hi as the senior tangsoodo instructor with Han Cha-kyo and Ko Jae-chun as assistant instructors. Nam had trained under Lee Won-kuk at the Chungdohwe since February 1946 (Kimm & Nam, June 2003) and had taught tangsoodo at the ROK Army Signal School since 1947 (Kang and Lee, 1999, Chapter 1, Sections 1 & 6).  Furthermore, Nam had effectively used his tangsoodo training in hand-to-hand combat in the Korean War (Gillis, 2008: 32-44).  Han and Ko were also top senior students at the Chungdohwe (Kimm & Nam, 2003). 

In September 1954, the 29th Division performed a demonstration of tangsoodo for ROK President Rhee Syngman. After watching with great interest, Rhee enthusiastically endorsed the instruction of the art to all ROK troops (Kim, 2000). Consequently, in late 1954, a new gymnasium was built for the 29th Division. Choi named this gym the Ohdokwan (Korean: “the institute of my way”), staffing it with more instructors from the Chungdokwan.  While Choi would be the leader of the Ohdokwan, Nam Tae-hi would be the instrument by which Choi could implement his ideas.  Ultimately Nam’s contributions to the development and teaching of tangsoodo, and consequently Choi’s taekwondo, would be enormous (Gillis, 2008: 32-44; Kang & Lee, 1999: Chapter 1, Section 6; Kimm & Nam, 2003).

Nam Tae-hi, a major contributor to the art of taekwondo.

Once the process of developing a Korean martial art with the unique name “taekwondo” had begun, Choi devoted his life to the unification of the various schools of Korean karate under that name.  He also became a visionary leader of taekwondo, imagining and developing many new techniques with the help of his talented and dedicated followers.  (Gillis, 2008: 51-64, 70-76; Kimm & Nam, 2003).  Although other kwan developed many of these techniques simultaneously (particularly innovations in kicking), Choi and his assistants catalogued and named many of these techniques.  Besides his attempts to establish the Korean Taekwondo Association in 1959, 1962 and 1965, Choi worked with Nam Tae-hi and other Ohdokwan instructors to develop the tul (more commonly called hyungor poomsae, Korean: “forms”; Japanese: kata) of taekwondo (Anslow, 2005; Kimm & Nam, 2003).  These forms, specifically referred to as the chang hon forms, were comprised largely of traditional karate techniques and lines of movement, retaining many of the unique strategies and techniques that distinguish Shotokan karate from other karate styles (Funakoshi, 1973; Madis, 2003; Thomas, 1988; Rhee, 1970).  This is understandable, since the martial arts foundation of those who assisted in the creation of these forms (all of whom were trained at the Chungdohwe) was Shotokan karate. In any event, these new forms were given nationalistic names, based on famous patriots, generals, monks, philosophers and organizations from Korean history (Yates, 1988; WTF, 2002). 

The forces that would propel the evolution of taekwondo from its karate roots were largely political. Choi’s political struggles related to taekwondo, from his coining of the term “taekwondo” in 1954 until his death in 2002, are too numerous to cover in a few paragraphs.  An upcoming article in this series will address the major developments of this history, including additional information about Choi and Hwang Kee, who both play pivotal roles in this history. 

The Republic of Korea had been an ally of South Vietnam and the United States since the early years of the Vietnam War.  Choi had brought members of the Ohdokwan to South Vietnam in 1959 to do a taekwondo demonstration for South Vietnamese President Diem. Between 1962 and 1973, 647 taekwondo instructors were sent to South Vietnam (Kimm, 2000).  The art’s reputation would grow from there, resulting in requests for instructors in other countries. 

On March 22, 1966 Choi established the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF), forming an association of instructors in nine different countries.  By 1969, this organization would have associates in thirty countries (Kimm, 2000).  Choi’s influence would continue to grow internationally for another decade, while it would decline at home in Korea.  By 1971, political tensions reached a boiling point between Choi and ROK President/dictator Park Chung-hee and Park’s appointed taekwondo leader Kim Un-yong, the first KTA president and assistant director of both the Korean CIA (KCIA) and the Presidential Protection Force. Adding to this difficulty, the philosophical and political distance between Choi and an increasing number of newer-generation Korean taekwondo leaders was growing.  Concern about the safety of his family and himself (because of attempted assassinations and kidnappings), as well as his desire to promote his taekwondo from a more politically neutral nation, drove Choi to relocate to Toronto, Canada in 1972 (Gillis, 2008: 103-110; Kimm, 2000).

The ITF had a reported membership of over 20 million in the early 1970s (Anslow, 2005).  By the mid-1970s, Choi began to lose many of his once-loyal following, including his most trusted ITF instructors, due in part to increasingly coercive pressure on his instructors at home and abroad by the KCIA and in part to Choi’s autocratic and abusive personality (Anslow, 2005; Gillis, 2008: 2-15, 180-192).  These forces, combined with Choi’s decision to promote ITF taekwondo in North Korea in 1980 and his subsequent close relationship with North Korean officials, further alienated many of his staunchest supporters, leaving him with only 10 of his longtime ITF instructors by 1980 (Gillis, 2008: 142-166; Kimm, 2000; Kimm & Nam, 2003).

NChoi’s 1965 book Taekwondo, Korea Art of Self-Defense (in English).

Despite the cost, Choi’s promotion of taekwondo in North Korea continued.  Choi sent Park Jung-tae to Pyongyang for seven months to train North Koreans in February 1982.  Some of the trainees are believed to have been former kul sulstudents of YMCA Kwonbop bu founder Yun Byung-in, who had been abducted by North Koreans in 1950 (McLain, 2009).  Forty-four of these trainees were tested and promoted by Choi in September 1982, with 19 receiving fourth dan rank and 25 receiving third dan rank (Kimm, 2000).  The growth of the ITF in North Korea furthered the deterioration of his relationship with his longtime ITF followers, even his own son, Choi Jung-hwa (Gillis, 2008: 183-192). 

Choi published nine printed works during his lifetime.  These included large textbooks on the history, techniques and philosophy of taekwondo (such asTaekwondo:  Korean Art of Self-Defense), a fifteen-volume encyclopedia on taekwondo, a brochure on unification of the two Koreas, and even his Moral Guide Book. 

Choi succumbed to cancer in Pyongyang, North Korea on June 15, 2002.  On the day that he died, he dictated his will, naming Chang Ung (the Olympic representative for North Korean taekwondo) as his ITF successor (Gillis, 2008: 191).

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