Korean American karate history

[brownsvillegirl]

I am looking for sources on the history of Korean karate in the USA. These are my thoughts so far:

 

Karate developed in the US in the late 50s and grew exponential because other martial arts were being studied. Korean karate evolved into American karate since the sharing of other styles and techniques was easily accepted, appreciated, and encouraged.

 

Is their anyone who would know of a good source to find more research?

[AnonymousCoward]

I'm unsure what you mean by Korean karate, since Korean karate is (I think called Soo Bak Gi, but I may have my terminology mixed up - my Korean is terrible), but if you are referring to Taekwon-Do the following information may be helpful.

 

It was my understanding that Taekwon-Do was spread in the US partly by it's inclusion in military training at the West Point Military academy during the time of the Korean war (1950's) and also by General Choi as he was the Korean Ambassador to the US and hosted Taekwon-Do demonstrations in the US. I believe he also taught Taekwon-Do privately to members of the US government. The Korean army fought alongside the US in Vietnam in exchange for cash I believe. At this time, Taekwon-Do and other martial arts were taught to US soldiers by the Koreans which must have also spread Taekwon-Do.

 

A search for Taekwon-Do West Point in Google should throw up information on the spread of Taekwon-Do throughout the US.

 

http://www.ukta.com/general.html

 

There is also lots of information on the development of Taekwon-Do in the Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do which you might find interesting. I'm sorry about the lack of specific information in my reply, but I don't have my encylopedia to hand, but I will try and provide more information on the development of TKD in the US if you are interested.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of other people who can help, if only to point out my bad Korean terminology or point you to other websites.

[tommarker]

Tang Soo Do was spread in the United States in a similar vein. Servicemen who learned it in Korea such as Dale Drouilard, Robert Beaudoin, Chuck Norris, Robert Thompson, Robert Cheezic, and opened studios.

 

The second wave consisted of Masters sent by KJN Hwang Kee to be official representatives in the US:

 

Ki Whang Kim, Shim Sang Kyu, Jae Joon Kim, Jae Chul Shin. These Masters settled down in different areas of the US and produced a great number of students who went on to open schools. Many of these Masters also went on to form their own Associations.

 

What was called "Korean Karate" was mostly Tang Soo Do and Tae Kwon Do. I had always assumed they went with "Korean Karate" because no one knew what the hell Tang Soo Do was.

 

http://pages.cthome.net/redtsd/page2.html has a whole lot more info.

[brownsvillegirl]

Thanks for the advice.

 

There's lots of conflicting evidence and that's is why I thought writing here would clear it up.

 

I have Jhoon Rhee as the father of American Karate, brought here in 1956. Various others arrive and establish schools across the country.

 

From there things get muddled and it's hard to pin-point a true change or what the overlap is. More research is being done.

[Dahmanegi]

Jhoon Rhee is the father of American TaeKwonDo. Karate and TaeKwonDo are completely different arts. One thing that may have you confused, is that when taeKwonDo was first introduced, it was called Korean Karate by americans.

[Lamonte]

If you are looking for solid and reliable sources, I believe Keith Yates (10th dan) is a good one. He has written many articles for various MA magazines. Here is an article at his website concerning the history and "Americanization" of TKD:

 

http://www.a-kato.org/inside2.html

 

Keith Yates earned his black belt from Allen Steen. Allen Steen earned his black belt from Jhoon Rhee. Allen Steen was also Jhoon Rhee's first black belt in America.

 

Lamonte

[Sens55]

I think the confusion lies in the point made by Dahmanegi. When the Korean arts came to the U.S., they were frequently called "Korean Karate" in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Japanese and Okinawan Karate that had become familiar to a lot of Americans already. Most Americans at that time wouldn't have understood any of the "subtle" differences between the arts. They had a gross concept of what "karate" was, and to them, most any martial art was called karate. It wasn't just the Americans that did this. If you look up "Korean Karate" as a title in Amazon, you'll find books by Duk Sun Song and Sihak Henry Cho using this term.

 

Most today would say that there is no such thing as "Korean Karate". However, at the time it was popularly used, it referred to styles that were imported to the U.S. from Korea like TKD, Tang Soo Do and Moo Duk Kwan. All, at one time or another, have been called "Korean Karate".

[tufrthanu]

I take the art started here in america by Jhoon Rhee called American Tae Kwon Do. At our school at least the terms TKD and karate are used interchangeably. We even call our head instructor sensei instead of sa bum nim. If you want a good history of TKD, there is a text called "A Modern History of Tae Kwon Do" by Kang Won Sik and Lee Myong Kyong. Unfortunately this only covers the beginnings of TKD and not the spread in America. However Jhoon Rhee was the first to teach it here.

[miguksaram]

" think the confusion lies in the point made by Dahmanegi. When the Korean arts came to the U.S., they were frequently called "Korean Karate" in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Japanese and Okinawan Karate that had become familiar to a lot of Americans already. "

 

The reason why it was called Korean Karate, was because that is what it was. Remember that the roots of TKD is Japanese Shotokan and Shudokan. The Korean masters that came over in the 50's were part of a kwan system which practiced Kong Soo Do (Korean term for Karate), the name Taekwondo was still young and up in the air, which I believe at that time it was called Taesoodo. So what they learned was Karate not Taekwondo. They were not trying to capitalize on anything, just calling it what people would understand.

[miguksaram]

"Korean karate evolved into American karate since the sharing of other styles and techniques was easily accepted, appreciated, and encouraged. "

 

Sorry, but that is wrong. Back in the eary development of martial arts, the Korean instructors, believed, and some still do, that you do not practice other arts outside of the school. If you told an instructor that you were learning chinese si lum pai, you would be asked to quit that system or leave the school. They were not keen on sharing their students.