Master vs. Master?!?

[KwicKixJ1]

in tkd 5th dan and up is "master" 8th dan and up is "grand master"

and i've seen some spar. sparred some myself. being a master doesn't make you superman. it means you're experienced. and wise. not unstoppable, or in possession of magical skills...

[TSDMGK_K40]

In my dojang there are about a half dozen masters in my age group (20-35) that spar regularly.

20-35 years old "MASTERS"??? A 20 year old hasn't "mastered walking, let alone a martial art IMHO...

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. That being said, I don't agree with yours. I was 27 when I earned my 4th dan, which is considered master level in TSD. In January I'll be testing for 5th dan at age 32. Is there some issue with that?

There are also a few 21/22 year old 4th dans in my dojang who are some of the finest martial artists I've been around. These individuals were 9 or 10 years old when they earned their 1st dans, and they've been exemplary students ever since. Now I know everyone will never agree on what age is appropriate for someone to earn a dan ranking, but I guarantee you that if were to ever find yourself on the same floor as some of my young 20 something year old peers who happen to be masters, they would earn your respect very quickly.

[haidongNC]

thanks everyone for telling me your crazy stories, I can tell that you guys are more wise then to do some of the crazy things that those masters did in my story.. haha thanks alot guys, keep posting if you know anymore stories

[Kill Jill]

A true 'master' would never spar out of anger. To be a master means to be self disciplined in understanding that tkd is not to be used for emotional gain.

[isshinryu5toforever]

Master rank differs by association and style. So where one style may consider master rank 4th dan, another may consider it 6th dan or possibly higher. When this is the case you will see large differences in age between masters of one style or another. If 4th Dan is master rank, then it is totally plausible for someone between 25 and 30 and possibly younger to be a "master." They are considered a master by rank, not necessarily by skill in instruction. For my style 6th dan is master rank. You must have a school, have a certain number of ranked students, and be able to prove that you have bettered the martial arts community in some way. Different standards for different styles.

[TSDMGK_K40]

In my system, TSD, master rank is considered 4th dan and above. From white belt to 4th dan takes around 14 years on average (4.5 years to 1st dan, 2 more years to 2nd dan, 3 more years to 3rd dan, 4 more years to 4th dan). We have two separate testings, one for the rank of 4th dan, and a separate testing for the title of Sa Bom (master instructor).

6th dan is considered senior master, or senior kodanja, in TSD. It normally takes 11 years from 4th dan to 6th dan, making the average length of time from white belt to 6th dan a total of 25 years.

Our annual kodanja testing (for ranks of 4th dan and above) is held once a year, usually in mid-January. The testing is 5 days long, starting on a Wednesday morning, and finishing with the formal shim-sa (examination) on Sunday afternoon. A typical day of kodanja testing begins around 7:30 am, with training until about 3:30 pm. From 3:30 pm until 8:30 pm is when the Sa Bom evaluations take place. At this time the candidates for Sa Bom are observed teaching, and then critiqued by all of the existing Sa Bom's present. At around 8:45pm we reconvene until normally around 12:30 or 1:00 am. At that point the candidates head back to their hotel rooms to work on their written kodanja projects, and get some sleep, before starting again the next morning. We usually get about four 20 minute breaks during the course of the day to freshen up, etc. All testing candidates are required to stay in the same hotel for the duration of the testing, where they usually work in groups of 4 on the written kodanja projects. We spend the final evening of the testing cleaning the dojang, sleeping in the dojang, and finishing our kodanja projects. Sunday morning we have free practice, each rank group works separetely, until the formal testing begins at around 11:00am. Almost every year for the past 5 years it has snowed on the morning of the formal testing, so the candidates are also outside shoveling the parking lot, in addition to preparing for their formal testing.

I'll be testing for 5th dan this coming January. There will be approximately 14 candidates testing for 4th dan, 5 candidates for 5th dan, and 3 candidates for 6th dan.

[Goju_boi]

well at the McDojo I used to go to,I never saw any instructors spar.Then at my new school I haven't my instructor spar either,but I guess he spars when he's learning on his own at another dojo.

[danieldc]

Why not?, in my dojang, there are a 4Dan 35 year old, 2 27-30 3rDan and a lot more 1stDan not older than 30 years. But the oldests 1st Dan are about 50 years

[Goju_boi]

what are you talking about when you said "why not?"

[Why_Worry]

I have kind aseen masters spar because me and my senseis and my senseis sensei went to this chanbara seminar which is just like padded weapons and stuff and we had little "wars" with teams my sensei wwas against his sensei and two toher people. But none realy knew what they were doing when we were there but if you count my sensei and his sensei fighting then yes i have, but it was kidna crazy cause my sensei had this big sword thingy and a bunch of poeple had these padded spears and stuff and he like dived across the room and hit his own teammate by accident. And yeah, it was just like organized chaos and everyone just like went crazy. It wa sfun though.

Edited November 7, 2005 by Why_Worry