Tang Soo Do Master titles

[KyoSa Twigs]

Hello all, I have a question for TSD practitioners. A Master Instructor's title is SaBomNim. However, my Master, an O Dan, took the title ChungSaNim, since there is a Sa Dan Master also at my school. I was wondering if anyone else had ever heard of the title "ChungSaNim." If so, I would love to hear about it, since I've only heard of my Master with that title.

[joesteph]

Are you sure of the spelling, Twigs? If you put cheung sa nim into a search engine, you'll find info under that spelling that's helpful.

At the Redford Karate school, "cheung" in used in place of "jang," so that if you look at the Redford web site, it refers to etiquette at the do cheung, rather than say the do jang.

The Redford Karate school's site is at:

http://redfordkarate.com/

When there, click on "Our School" at the top of the page, and the drop-down menu will say "Tang Soo Do Etiquette." There's a whole page on it there.

Perhaps this instructor has seniority and is identifying himself in this manner?

[KyoSa Twigs]

Hello, joesteph,

I am fairly certain of the spelling, that is what is in my student guide I have. ChungSaNim is "supposed" to be a Senior Master Instructor, as opposed to SaBomNim, a Master Instructor. I was wondering if other schools do it, also.

[Rateh]

We use both the sabumnim and chungsanim titles, as well as others. However our use within the system is not quite the same as they are used outside of the system.

We have the following korean titles (probably not all spelled corectly)

Haksanim - senior student

chochanim - temporary black belt (like a japanese shodan-ho or a taekwondo 1st degree recommended), and any 1st degree who is under 16

sabumnim - any black belt who is a 1st degree or above and at least 16 who does not have another title

kyosanim - an instructor over a program (such as the kids program)

chungsanim - head instructor of a school

kwanjangnim - head of multiple schools

I don't know if this will help or not

[joesteph]

Why not give these a try, Twigs?

Chung Sa Nim Melissa Paone at Action Karate:

http://www.actionkarate.com/about_us

Chong Sa Nim Roy King at Won Moo Kwan (may be a variation of the spelling):

http://www.wongmookwan.com/Home/wong-moo-kwan-korean-martial-arts-academy

Chung Sa Nim explained in the list at:

http://www.sajado.org/sajadorankstructure.html

[KyoSa Twigs]

My Master is ChungSaNim Melissa Paone. It could be what the sajado.org website says, that when there is more than one Master, he/she takes the title ChungSaNim to differentiate.

Rateh, those titles are somewhat similar in Tang Soo Do, but a head Instructor would just be a KyoSaNim. SaBomNim is a Master Instructor in TSD, so the titles of that are not the same.

[tenshinka]

My Master is ChungSaNim Melissa Paone. It could be what the sajado.org website says, that when there is more than one Master, he/she takes the title ChungSaNim to differentiate.

Rateh, those titles are somewhat similar in Tang Soo Do, but a head Instructor would just be a KyoSaNim. SaBomNim is a Master Instructor in TSD, so the titles of that are not the same.

Chung simply means "chief" or "senior" (in context). Sa is teacher, and Nim is of course, an honorific. Cung Sa Nim thus equates to "Honorable Chief Teacher).

Master Paone is a world class TSD instructor, FWIW.

[KyoSa Twigs]

I thought Sa means fourth, unless it also means teacher? And what does FWIW mean?

[joesteph]

Sa does mean fourth. In Soo Bahk Do, related to Tang Soo Do, anyone holding a fourth dan or higher is referred to as Sa Bom Nim, even if the person has reached fifth or higher levels. It doesn't mean teacher, but it confers Master status and has an additional red strip within the midnight blue belt that lower dan members wear.

A dan member with Kyo Sa Nim as the title is a certified teacher, but usually less than fourth dan. If the person has reached fourth (Sa) dan, but is under 30 years of age, it's still Kyo Sa Nim. My teacher is 26, is fourth dan, is certified as a teacher (and so Kyo Sa Nim), but has to wait until the accepted age for Sa Bom Nim. She'll be going for O dan in two years, and should she make it (knowing her, she will), she'll still be under 30 and will have to wait to be adressed as Sa Bom Nim.

A certified assistant instructor is called Jo Kyo Nim.

Tenshinka, doesn't FWIW stand for "For what it's worth"?

[bushido_man96]

I'd always heard Sabumnim as just an instructor title, and I was familiar with Kwanjangnim, as well. I think Kwangjangnim also gets referred to as "Grandmaster," does it not?