truejim

I like the Tiger stance in Taegeuk Chil Jang too, but that's because of the story our instructor told us about it. He said that in Korea, tigers are thought of as being mountain animals. Since the trigram for this form is "Gan" (mountain), the Tiger Stance was put in Chil Jang. Even the instructor said that may not actually be why it's in there, but it's what people in Korea like to say. Lee & Kim's poomsae books are - in my opinion - the best English-language books for learning forms. Since Lee stepped down as the head of the Kukkiwon, I believe he's now associated with the Taekwondowon...at least, he shows up in their promotional videos.

FYI, you can find the Taekwondowon campus in Korea on Google Maps. Just search on this: 1482 Museol-ro, Seolcheon-myeon, Muju, Jeollabuk-do and select the satellite view to see the campus. The round tritaegeuk in the middle of the satellite image is (I believe) the main arena.

This may be an ignorant question, but heck, that's how we get smarter... Looking at the USTW website, it appears to me that what they're trying to do is promote pre-ITF style taekwondo in the U.S. As I understand it, many of the leaders of the original kwans in Korea emigrated to the U.S. even before ITF-style taekwondo was defined. My interpretation of this website is that they're using the phrase "traditional taekwondo" to refer to pre-ITF style. If I'm right, then these many grandmasters would presumably be leaders of their respective U.S. schools that derived from early kwans. Like, if there are six grandmasters in this organization, maybe what this USTF organization represents is six pre-ITF U.S. schools coming together decades later to establish their own organization. To my knowledge, there is no other pre-ITF style federation in the U.S. (though there are many pre-ITF schools). Does anybody know of any federations/associations in the U.S. that focus on pre-ITF style taekwondo? If so, then it seems to me this organization serves a useful (and interesting) niche.

FYI, for a comparison of taekwondo forms, see also http://taekwondo.wikia.com/wiki/Taekwondo_Forms

I've never come across a reference to it. FYI though see also http://taekwondo.wikia.com/wiki/Taekwondo_Forms

The short answer is: it's much more complicated than that. Over hundreds of years all the various Asian martial arts have influenced each other. It's just as valid to say that all Korean arts copied from Japanese arts as it is to say that all Japanese arts copied from Chinese arts. To use just one of the examples you've provided, Tang Soo Do (which is about 60 years old) was influenced by Shotokan (which is less than a hundred years old), which was influenced by Shōrei-ryū, which was influenced by martial arts practiced at the Shoreiji Temple in southern China...and on and on and on for hundreds of years. See also: http://taekwondo.wikia.com/wiki/Taekwondo_History