Korean Styles List

[wowzer77]

I came across some bad news about Choi Kwan Do.

http://ksdi.net/about.html



"...Choi Kwang Do has a policy that no one fails the colored and black belt tests. With declining memberships after 95% of their original instructors have left, they have added more belts between white to black belts, 18 belts in fact which means more test fees. Furthermore, they have added more tests with fees in-between black belts, go figure! At CKD testings, Choi preaches about martial arts tenets, Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self Control and Indomitable and yet does not adhere to them!..."

A lot of this is very true. I achieved black belt in Choi Kwang Do...after about 3000 dollars. The belts are white, yellow, gold, orange, green, blue, purple, red, brown, then black..but there is a senior belt for every color, so after having a yellow belt you still have to test to get a yellow-senior belt, which has a black stripe. The techniques work rather well for the most part, and there are some great defense drills and patterns..but 100 dollars a month and all the extra fees combined with the fact that a lot of times it seems like your in an aerobic class kind of makes it not worth it. I guess it depends on the school/instructor you're studying under. I remember the demonstration team was interesting and there were some very talented people participating, but there were 10 year olds with black belts running around everywhere.

 

[Parks_Martial_Arts]

I don't know if this one is covered since this is a long thread. I practice Kyuki-do, a style thes teaches Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Judo and weapons (bo staff, sword and tonfa) founded in 1979 by Grand Master Ok Yung Kim. I practice under Gran Master Suk Byung Park here in Billings, Montana.

 

[Terryowl]

Hi there nice to be here. I'm new to this board. I am basically "retired" from competition level. But am not retired from teaching, or instructing or attending class. I am of the Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do/Tae Kwon Do system.

The Moo Sool Do system was founded by Grand Master Sun Hwan Chung. Grand Master Chung has combined elements from three styles of Korean Martial Arts, Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, and Hap Ki Do to create the over all style of Moo Sool Do.

I am a good friend and former student with Grand Master Chung, Sun Hwan 9th Dan.

His own system is called Moo Sool Do

http://www.chungsunhwan.com/

My fellow class mates web site

http://my.net-link.net/~swillo/home.html

Another Senior class mate of mine

Master Pontillo's web site:

http://www.sidekicksma.com/home/

I currently reside in Shijiazhuang, China, I teach english for my living at a university here. And I am fortunate enough to find a school that has a TKD club here. I can enjoy furthering my training with Chinese TKD students. I can teach them techniques that was taught to me by Grand Master Chung and the school system I attended. I am a bit off because I severely broke my ankle in 2004 from a fall down a mountain here. But that is OK.

 

[exile]

Hi there nice to be here. I'm new to this board. I am basically "retired" from competition level. But am not retired from teaching, or instructing or attending class. I am of the Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do/Tae Kwon Do system.

Hi Terryowl---welcome to MT!

 

[Terryowl]

Thanks Excile, I am enjoying this board very much.

 

[TraditionalTKD]

Sweet, I never knew that Korea had so many martial arts.

It doesn't. Most (about 95%) were created outside Korea from pre-existing styles. Their legitimacy? Depends on who you talk to I suppose. Many of the others are just rehashed older arts with some tweaking to avoid being labeled an outright copy.

 

[exile]

It doesn't. Most (about 95%) were created outside Korea from pre-existing styles. Their legitimacy? Depends on who you talk to I suppose. Many of the others are just rehashed older arts with some tweaking to avoid being labeled an outright copy.

Yeah, this whole question of styles vs. distinct MAs is one of those Pandora's boxes that always seems to generate a lot of irritation but not much insight. It's pretty clear that e.g. Tang Soo Do and TKD just barely different styles, let alone different MAs---I've watch TSD classes and any difference in what they were doing, and how, compared to what's done in my dojang was no greater than what two different TKD instructors do in their respective classes. Let's face it, if TSD and TKD split a single Kwan between them, as they have, they can't exactly be different arts, eh? Same with Kong Soo Do---just another name for the pre-1950s generic form of Karate imported into Korea by the original Kwan founders. Hapkido, as I understand, has a parallel relation to Aikido (or Aikijutsu, more accurately); it and related arts in Korea differ in their strategic program for combat from TSD/TKD/etc., which gives some support to the idea that HK should be regarded as a separate art. And you have synthetic forms intermediate between the two, like Hwarang Do, which despite its name, is a product of the 1960s and 70s, created---probably `synthesized' is more accurate---by a single individual.

There is a GREAT website that talks about the range of Korean styles in some detail---check out

http://www.martialartsresource.com/...nma.htm#11.0 Different Korean arts and styles

Overall, I think TraditionalTDK's point is right on target. The Korean MA scene in the mid-20th century seemed to be a boiling cauldron of factionalization, jealousy and ambition among the various masters, and the fragmented map of MA in Korea dating from that time seems much more a reflection of competing political, economic and personal agenda than of genuine strategic and technical differences...

 

[TraditionalTKD]

Tae Kwon Do as a style is rightfully its own Art, though you will undoubtably see some organizations that practice it almost more like karate. It depends on who their Instructor and original kwan was. Nonetheless, it was founded in Korea and based on traditional Korean/Chinese cultural philosophy.
Tang Soo Do is essentially a synthesis of Japanese Karate and Chinese styles, as this is what Hwang Kee studied. Its relationship to actual historical Soo Bak Do is debatable at best, because there is no real proof Hwang ever studied Tae Kyun despite his claims.
Hapkido, Hwa Rang Do, and Kuk Sool Won, to me, are almost carbon copies of each other-Japanese aikijitsu with Korean style kicking.
Pretty much everything else on the list was founded outside Korea as an offshoot, with minor tweaking, of the 3-4 major Korean styles.

 

[Vastarakanuten]

Woo! Kuk Sool! Woo!

 

[Ninjamom]

Other (More Obscure) Korean Martial Arts:

Gicheon - an older, native Korean internal art, emphasizing prolonged stance-work, more closely related to Chinese mantis or hawk forms than traditional Japanese arts. It includes empty-handed and sword forms, and is taught in an almost cult-like fashion in a remote mountain retreat.

Shim Gum Do - a sword art developed by a Buddhist monk in Korea in the late 1950's - early 1960's, now practiced mainly out of a Buddhist monastery near Boston, MA, USA (I kid you not).

Daehan Kumdo, Hankuk Kumdo - two different federations practicing the same general martial art, which is a Korean derivation of Japanese kendo.

Haedong Kumdo, Haidong Gumdo - two different federations practicing the same general martial art, which is a modern Korean sword art incorporating components of Gicheon and some Shim Gumdo, and made popular by a Korean TV actor who practiced it in the 1970's.

Hankumdo - a modern Korean sword art built around the letters of the Korean alphabet. Sword strokes and combinations are patterned after and named for the patterns formed in making the letters in Hangeul, the Korean alphabet. Founded and practiced by the Hapkido folks.

Muye EE Ship Sa Ban - (Also called 'Muye 24') - a combination that seeks to revive the 24 native Korean martial arts documented in the Muye Dobo Tongji

Kuk Kung - Traditional Korean Archery (this is probably the oldest continuously practiced, documented, native Korean martial art). Documented as early as the first century BC, with significant influence on the introduction and development of archery in Japan.

 

[tai scorpio]

hi,everyone, i,m looking for my former sang-moo-kwans master? his name is (paul g. levette jr.) out of cleveland,0hio. i use to live in cleveland back in the early seventhy and eigthy and we use to have a class at the glenville y.m.c.a. on east 113 st. and st.clair ave. if anybody have any info. about master levette jr. or anything about where i can find him. please call or e-mail me at 1-205-785-9401/ 205-586-3467 or [email protected]. thank you scorpio

 

[exile]

hi,everyone, i,m looking for my former sang-moo-kwans master? his name is (paul g. levette jr.) out of cleveland,0hio. i use to live in cleveland back in the early seventhy and eigthy and we use to have a class at the glenville y.m.c.a. on east 113 st. and st.clair ave. if anybody have any info. about master levette jr. or anything about where i can find him. please call or e-mail me at 1-205-785-9401/ 205-586-3467 or [email protected]. thank you scorpio

TaiS—you used to study SMK TKD? My lineage is SMK also, and I'm very curious as to the kind of training you did with Master Levette (whose current whereabouts, unfortunately, I can't help you with). Anything you could recall about the kind of sparring/self-defense training you did would be of great interest to me. Thanks much...