Original Kwan History: Yun Moo Kwan (Jidokwan)

[bushido_man96]

Chosun Yun Moo Kwan: "School for Martial Study." One of the Original Kwans founded after WWII but before the Korean War. Later became known as the Jidokwan, "Institute of Wisdom’s Way."

The Chosun Yun Moo Kwan (or just Yun Moo Kwan, or possibly Yun Mu Kwan, more on this later), was founded as a Judo school in 1931 by Kyung Suk Lee, but things changed after the Korean War and the school was later re-established as the Ji Do Kwan. The Jidokwan became renowned for it’s excellence in sparring.

Martial Heritage

As mentioned above, the school was originally founded very early, in 1931, as a Judo school, by Kyung Suk Lee. The history of this school intrigues me deeply. Unfortunately, there just isn’t much to find on Kyung Suk Lee. What most sources seem to point to is that Sang Sap Chun (Chun, Sang-sap), who learned Karate and Judo while going to school in Japan, came home to Korea and joined the Yun Moo Kwan. Taekwondo Wiki states on Sang Sap Chun’s page that, "before the end of World War II Chun was approached by the head of the Yun Moo Kwan judo school and asked to teach karate there. He agreed, and also taught judo there." Taekwondo Wiki has a timeline on their site of the nine kwans, and on that timeline it stated that Sang Sap Chun "took over" the Yun Moo Kwan in 1946 (May 3, 1946 is noted in A Modern History of Taekwondo). His page on the same site denotes that he opened in another location, establishing the Yun Moo Kwan Kong So Do Bu, essentially a new branch of the Judo school. He apparently trained with his brother, Il Sup Chun, who later opened a branch of the school in 1947. This is very interesting to me; it appears that the early roots of this Kwan had both Karate and Judo to draw from, forming a very rich and well-rounded art for that time. If only it could have perpetuated that way… Unfortunately, Sang Sap Chun went missing after the Korean War, and not much more is established about him. The Wikipedia page stated that Sang learned Shotokan Karate while in Japan, but I saw on the Traditional Taekwondo Ramblings webpage that it is entirely possible that Sang could have learned Shudokan Karate from Toyama Kanken.

Byung In Yoon and the Yun Moo Kwan

According to the Yun Mu Kwan Wikipedia page, a man by the name of Byung In Yoon (Yoon Byung-In) shared teaching duties with Sang Sap Chun at the Yun Moo Kwan. Wikipedia has a page on Yoon Byung-In with lots of interesting stuff on it. It stated he was born in Manchuria, due to his father moving the family to China after his distillery started to falter during the Japanese occupation. His grandfather was a Korean noble. As a youth in Manchuria, Byung In Yoon studied Quan Fa under a Mongolian instructor "for an unspecified period of time." The page also states that it is believed that Yoon is one of the first Koreans to study Quan Fa and return to Korea to propagate it to others. He went to Tokyo, Japan, in late 1938 to university, and he took up Shudokan Karate under Toyama Kanken. The Wikipedia page goes on to state that eventually Yoon and Toyama exchanged training with each other; Yoon teaching Toyama the Quan Fa that he’d learned, while Toyama taught him Shudokan (although it was stated that Toyama had previously spent 7 years training Quan Fa in Taiwan). Yoon was eventually awarded a Master’s certificate and the rank of 4th dan by Toyama. In 1946, Byung In Yoon left the Yun Moo Kwan and founded his own school, the YMCA Kwon Bop Bu (or Kwon Bup Kong Soo Do). Unfortunately, Byung also went missing after the Korean War, leaving his Kwan up in the air. I delve into much more detail about Byung In Yoon in my article on the YMCA Kwon Bop Bu.

This is even more interesting to me, in that it appears this early Kwan had instructors teaching that were influenced by Karate, Judo, and Quan Fa, forming a very rich Martial experience. In particular, I noted that there was no mention of a Taekkyon influence on any of these early instructors.

In A Modern History of Taekwondo, the authors denote that between the mid 1950s and 1960s, many "Annex Kwans" sprang up in Korea, and the Yun Moo Kwan is one of these Annex Kwans listed. The Korean War happened from 1950-1953; Sang is missing after the Korean War, and the Kwan is renamed Jidokwan. So what is not really known is whether or not some former students of the original Yun Moo Kwan continued to perpetuate the style they learned from Sang prior to the Korean War and continued to carry the mantle of the original Yun Moo Kwan.

Jidokwan

A Modern History of Taekwondo states that Sang was kidnapped to North Korea during the Korean War, and thus the Yun Moo Kwan was abolished and it was renamed as the Jidokwan in 1953 by Kwe Byung Yoon and Chong Woo Lee (or Lee Chong Woo). Kwe Byung Yoon is said to have studied Shito-Ryu in 1940, first under Kenwa Mabuni, and later under Toyama Kanken. Kwe Byung Yoon had some interesting goings-on while he studied Karate in Japan. He was named president of the Kanbukan Dojo, which would pioneer bogutsuki karate and full contact karate (according to the Yun Kwe-Byung Wikipedia page). After the end of the World War II, various disciples of Shudokan tried to form a Karate school amidst the post-war martial arts ban enacted by GHQ. To get around restrictions, the students named the school Kanbukan ("Hall of Korean Martial Arts"), and named Yun Kwae-byung, who had special status as a third-country person in postwar Japan, as the head of the dojo. This allowed the members of dojo to practice Karate freely, as well as editorialize Karate booklets without unwanted attention from GHQ (taken from his Wikipedia page).

In A Modern History of Taekwondo, it is stated that these two (Kwe Byung Yoon and Chong Woo Lee) ran the Jidokwan until 1967, at which point conflicts between the two arose due to the efforts to unify the Kwans. Chong Woo Lee planned to unify Jidokwan, but Kwe Byung Yoon, along with Hwang Kee, declined to unify. From what I’ve been able to find, Kwe Byung Yoon was basically ostracized from the Korean Martial Arts circles after this dust-up, which I find to be a really sad loss to the rich Martial roots of Korea. Kwe Byung Yoon’s legacy can still be seen, however, in the sparring of TKD. He is considered an innovator of jiyu kumite and is also credited for "hogu daeryon" ("sparring with protective armor") practice in Taekwondo (from his Wikipedia page).

The Jidokwan went on to distinguish itself as a school that produced sparring excellence, and the school’s practitioners dominated the early tournament circuits as a result. Sihak Henry Cho, who penned the books Tae Kwon Do, Secrets of Korean Karate, and Korean Karate, Free Fighting Techniques, was a student of Kwe Byung Yoon’s, and from the Jidokwan. Interestingly enough, when I read the books, it appeared to me that the sparring style reflected in the books was that of the Karate style of sparring in which the goal is to score an ippon with one decisive technique, as opposed to the type of continuous TKD sparring we are used to seeing now in the Olympics.

The Jidokwan, under the leadership of Chong Woo Lee, went on to unify with the other Kwans to form Taekwondo. In 1977, the Jidokwan agreed to recognize the Kukkiwon and WTF as the promotional body of the Taekwondo, and agreed to the black belt certification process and certificates.

However, I did find a Jidokwan school website that went opposite the way of the unified Jidokwan. The rivervalleytkd.com/history-of-ji-do-kwan/ site page talks about their school’s founder, Choi Bong Young. Choi Bong Young came to the US in the 1960s, taught briefly in Ohio, and then moved out to the San Francisco Bay area. His instructor was Chong Woo Lee, and he has a dedication to his instructor in his book, The Way of Martial Art. The site goes on to say that Choi’s reluctance to adhere to the Kukkiwon methods seems at odds with his instructor’s views. The site mentioned that Choi may have been loyal to his teacher, but also spiritually adhered to the values of Kwe Byung Yoon. It also states that it’s possible that Choi didn’t know of Yoon’s values, and instead may have been following some other influences in deciding to keep the Jidokwan name. What I also found interesting on this website was mention of Choi’s three core values. One was that his brand of Jidokwan was not a competitive style. This seemed odd to me, considering how the Jidokwan established itself as a school of sparring excellence.

I also found a website for the American Jidokwan Association, americanjidokwan.com. On their curriculum page, they present the Pal Gwe and WTF (or I guess now called WT) black belt forms, along with Tang Soo Do forms, and a set of Tae Guek forms that they state are not the WT Tae Guek forms, but instead are Korean versions of the Taikyoku series of forms. The site also denotes that it teaches Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do, but they are two different branches under the same federation. The association also states that it has a heavy focus on bunhae eungyong, or the practical analysis and applications of forms (or bunkai). The site also states that it is a branch of the World Taekwondo Jidokwan Federation, located in Seoul. The creator of the Tang Soo Do branch, William Sirbaugh, studied under Robert Moore and Curtis Herrington. Moore was a direct student of Kwe Byung Yoon at the Jidokwan when stationed in Korea in the military. Herrington was one of Moore’s first black belts, according to the site. Sirbaugh went on to later study Moo Duk Kwan (I’m guessing the TSD derivative), and Hankido later on, which he stated was more like Aikido than Hapkido. This branch is interesting, and it sounds like it has evolved much. The section the site has on Jidokwan Taekwondo states that after joining the Kukkiwon, the Jidokwan retained it’s identity while endorsing the Kukkiwon and competition under the WTF. "When the Kukkiwon was established, it was intended to be the international governing body providing a standard for Dan (Black Belt) certification but the Kwans were still very much in control of the training. However, over the last several decades the Kukkiwon has tried (successfully for the most part) to suppress the influence of the Kwans to become the sole source of Taekwondo, leading many to believe in their extinction or that they only exist as fraternal organizations." In the other sources I searched, they basically alluded to the fact that the Jidokwan was one of these "fraternal orders" at this point. It appears that this organization is refuting that statement, and continues to teach Jidokwan with it’s own curriculum and control over it’s own testing.

Han Moo Kwan

Apparently, there was some dissention among the students about the changes made in the curriculum during the transition from Yun Moo Kwan to Jidokwan. Losing a school owner/grandmaster like that could obviously cause some issues among a group of students scrambling for some leadership and direction. According to the Yun Mu Kwan Wikipedia page, Lee Kyo Yoon (Kyo Yoon Lee) was a practitioner who originally trained under Sang of the old Yun Mu Kwan. He initially began teaching Korean Karate under the Jidokwan banner at the end of the Korean War to fellow returning Chosun Yun Mu Kwan students. He subsequently left, and founded his own school, the Han Moo Kwan. In later years, Lee Kyo Yoon maintained that his school traced it’s roots back to the original Yun Mu Kwan, and not the Jidokwan. This is also corroborated in A Modern History of Taekwondo. I will be looking into the Han Moo Kwan more, and I’ll see if I can find enough information to put together a separate article on that Kwan.

Yun Moo Kwan later on?

According to the Wikipedia page, the names of Yun Moo Kwan or Yun Mu Kwan still linger on, especially in areas in Latin America. The Yun Mu Kwan Wikipedia page notes that in the 1950s, a man named Min Kyu Pai immigrated to New York City and settled near Chinatown. One of his students, Francisco Miranda, went on to popularize the art in his native country of El Salvador. If Min Kyu Pai came to the US and began teaching in the 1950s, then it’s possible that he trained in the Kwan when it was the Yun Moo Kwan, and either prior to or right up against the time it became the Jidokwan. Pai would seek out training from more senior Karate masters at the time, reportedly seeking out and training under Jhoon Rhee. Pai’s original school in New York City was called the Yun Mu Kwan Karate Institute (documented in an issue of Popular Science magazine in the late 1960s). Being established near the Chinatown district, Pai became deeply involved with a number of Chinese Martial Artists in the area. Thus, his teaching and practice began to absorb many of the Chinese concepts and techniques, and eventually began to change so much that by the 1970s, the style he was teaching became something entirely different than his original Yun Moo Kwan style. The evolution of a Martial Artist at work here. The most important influence on him at this time was Yang style t'ai chi ch'uan, and Pai had become a formal student of fourth generation Yang style T'ai Chi Ch'uan master Cheng Man-ch'ing. Apparently, some of his former students still practice and teach the original Yun Moo Kwan style Pai brought with him from Korea. It becomes difficult to determine if other schools using the name have an actual connection to the old Yun Moo Kwan, or if the old name was dug up and pinned on the side of a building for marketing reasons.

This was a fun bit of research to do. I enjoyed it, and it took me down a lot of rabbit holes along the way. I am interested in whether or not the old Jidokwan actually perpetuates through some of these other organizations. I’m also interested in whether or not the Yun Moo Kwan perpetuates in any way. Lots of rich martial heritage.

[sensei8]

Some very nice tidbits of serious research there, Brian. Even I, who's not deeply entrenched in TSD, except the occasional seminars and such over the many years, values what your research has offered through and through.

I believe that any TSD and TKD practitioners can gain quite a lot from what Brian's research here has uncovered. Learning about one's own history can be quite important towards one's own knowledge and experience.

[bushido_man96]

Thank you for the kind words, Bob. I really appreciate them. The research is kind of fun to do, and I plan on getting back to it soon. I've got several more Kwans to look into.

[American Ji Do Kwan]

I was doing some research on things and came across this site and this page.  Sorry, I have some very bad news for you.

I wanted to bring to your attention the American Ji Do Kwan group you mentioned in the article is all a lie.  William Sirbaugh did not train under Herrington or Moore.  They have now openly admitted to their lies.  GM E.A. Fuzy was the head and creator of American Ji Do Kwan.  When E.A. Fuzy passed away these two guys tried to take over the legacy by claiming Sirbaugh was GM Fuzy training partner and co-creator of AJDK.  These guys have been booted out of many organization.  You need to do more research on this article and search the names of Bret Gordon and Stephen Hatfield.  Here's is a link where they admitted after four long years to everything they knew of their history and claims to AJDK was all oral and a lie. https://bretgordon.weebly.com/blog/just-ignore-them#/  These two guys named Stephen Hatfield and Bret Gordon have been remove and banned from so many organizations it is not funny. 

They made claims to GM E.A. Fuzy American Ji Do Kwan and once that was disproved, they moved their claims to Herrington and Moore.

Made claims to 4 different decades to GM Fuzy and Herrington, and Moore.  They kept trying to find a hole they could get their hooks in. 

Hold on to your hat #1 .  SIrbuagh is a Felon. was in prison for over 9 years during most of their claims to GM E.A. Fuzy. 

Hold on to your hat #2.  Hatfield at one time had a pedophile Justice Patrick as the head of their new claimed AJDK System and tied it to GM E.A. Fuzy.  Yes they did do that.  This guy raped an 11 year old girl. 

They ignored a cease and desist letter that was issued to them. 

Had websites pulled down because of copyright infringement issues. 

Used old photos to try to make a claim to a system and claim the photo was their instructor.  Turns out the photo was someone else.  They have done this numerous of time. 

Used a lot of dead people to make claim too and received rank from.  Just in Ji Do Kwan alone he used the following people names.  All Dead. Sirbaugh, Shune Davies, John Paul, Robert Moore, Curtis Herrington, E.A. Fuzy. 

Judo instructor dead and Hatfield claimed to be the inheritor of Jack Pappasan Stern's Judo.

Hasaka Yutashi if you read those court documents you will see this person does not even exist.  Hatfield now claim his instructor in Ju Jit Su is his grandfather.

They went after so many people with this lawsuit to wave it around to claim they won. In reality the suit is still open and an abundance of evidence has been entered to show in their own blogs, websites, and text messages were entered as evidence that show their claims were false per the people that were there.

https://courtrecords.lakecountyclerk.org/ Click on the case search tab and copy and paste or enter the Case #: 35-2020-CA-001851-AXXX-XX

The results of their claims:

• NKJF did their research – https://nkjf-usa.com/  Been removed from this organization. Refer to Court Docket file 129.

• Judo did their research – Convicted Stolen Valor Jack “Pappasan” Stern admitted in court he never trained in the arts. The convicted felon was banned from three major Judo organization for life. Refer to court docket file 150 - 155.

• Tang Soo Do did their research - Tang Soo Do admitted to not vetting them good enough in writing. This can be provide if needed.

• BBJ did their research - They at one time stated they were high ranking black belts in BJJ.  Those high ranks are gone now.

• Renshinkan Daito Ryu did their research – Per conversation with Daito Ryu and Steven Hatfield he was removed for his lies and attitude. Refer to court docket file 130,138, and 139.

• Korean Jidokwan – There is word out there that their claims to Korea and ranks have all bee Suspended. This includes their international credentials. This may be why they did all the rebranding that they were doing.

• Hatfield claimed to be on a high dan board.  Which also was a lie per the head of the NKJF.

• Claimed 5th dan rank in Ju Jit Su and claimed a person ranked them to 5th dan.  The person came out and said the certificate was not legit. Screen shot of this can be provided.

• American Ji Do Kwan – The Real AJDK people have produced a lot of proof over the many years to show that their claims were all a lie. Hatfield and Gordon have admitted that all their claims to AJDK was a lie. Refer to court docket file 43 on page 2 of the court docket files. And the following link in their own words under accusations #2. https://web.archive.org/web/20240330012905/https://bretgordon.weebly.com/blog/just-ignore-them#/ Everything they knew was all “oral history” and “was simply untrue.” about their claims to AJDK.

If you like more on this topic.  There is a document that is well over 600 pages on them alone from so many other people in the arts.

Ji Do Kwan was never mentioned in their bio/resume until 2017.  In 7 years they are 7th dan and 8th dan in Ji Do Kwan. 

They keep rebranding. American Ji Do Kwan ,  American Ji Do Kwan Tang Soo Do,  American Ji Do Kwan Taekwondo, American Ji Do Kwan Tang Soo DO Taekwondo, Jidokwan Florida, US Traditional Taekwondo Federation.  And those changes all came about in the last four years.  

Hope this information helps you out.  Being from Ohio a lot of the martial artist know Robert C. Moore, Curtis Herrington and E. A. Fuzy.  How do I know what I am saying is true?  I was in the system during their claims. 

If you need anything let me know.  Sorry for the news.  But these guys have issues with their background.

[bushido_man96]

Thanks for the information.  I'll review my article when I have time and make some adjustments.  No reason to apologize, as I have no dog in the fight.  I'm just a simple TKD practitioner trying to track down the history and determine if anyone is still around doing anything close to what the original Kwans were doing, or if they are still somehow tied into those family trees.  It sounds like this organization is not.