Jhoon Rhee Taekwondo Vs. ITF Taekwondo

[MichiganTKD]

Joon Rhee studied originally under Won Kuk Lee, the founder of Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do and is listed in "A Modern History of Tae Kwon Do" as one of GGM Lee's original students. Where he learned ITF forms from, I don't know. But seeing as how he came up in that era, I'm not surprised he learned them.

 

I have seen seveal listings of original Chung Do Kwan students who teach ITF forms. However, Woon Kyu Uhm, Chung Do Kwan President and my Instructor's teacher, affiliated with the Kukkiwon and we do Palgue. So many branches have formed.

[Spookey]

Dear All,

 

Jhoon Rhee was a student of the Chung Do Kwan...the Chung Do Kwan was the recognized civilian kwan associated with the Oh Do Kwan!

 

The Oh Do Kwan was the first kwan to practice the Chang Hon Hyungs. Furthermore, it was Gen. Choi himself who convinced Mr. Rhee to adopt the name Taekwon-Do...He was the first person in the states to use the name and is therefore Known as the father of American TKD.

 

The Chang Hon Hyungs originally consisted of 20 patterns. Furthermore, the Chang Hon hyungs were in existence for almost 20 years before Gen. Choi introduced the 'Sinewave" motion into his pattern set!

 

Quite possibly the reason Mr. Rhee uses the original patterns without sinewave!

[equaninimus]

According to Robert Dohrenwend's ongoing series on TKD history in Classical Fighting Arts, Rhee's instructor was Yi Won Kuk.

[RF_Brown]

From: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=3780&highlight=

Actually Jhoon Rhee promoted what he taught as "Korean Karate". In the mid 60's, General Choi visited him in Texas and encouraged him to start using the name Tae Kwon Do. Rhee eventually started his own organization. Today the Tae Kwon Do of that organization would little resemble what the ITF today teaches.

 

In the early days of TKD, it was called Tang Soo Do, in fact many independent organizations that are not part of the ITF or the WTF today still do. It essentially means the "Way of the Chinese Hand." Tang meaning the Tang dynasty in China. It is just the Korean version of the same name as what Karate-Do meant in Japanese. In Japan before WWII, because of nationalistic pressure, the way Kara was written in Japanese was changed to mean "Empty Hand." In Korea, to reflect this change, the word Kong Soo Do was sometimes used. In the 1960s when all the various Kwans, or schools, in Korea merged (what eventually became the Korea Taekwondo Association), the name Tae Soo Do was adopted, and then later when Gen. Choi became the President of the KTA, it was eventually changed to Tae Kwon Do. By this time many of the early Korean instructors in this country had been using the term, "Korean Karate." Choi visited this country in order to promote the use of the name Tae Kwon Do. Choi even created an organization to promote the Korean art, the International Taekwon-Do Federation. After Choi left South Korea, the KTA created the WTF as the international wing of that organization. Today Jhoon Rhee is affliated with neither the ITF or the WTF but is an independent branch of Tae Kwon Do. Both the WTF and the ITF have evolved what they teach in vastly different directions. Independent organizations and instructors today usually write the name of their art as Tae Kwon Do, while the WTF uses Taekwondo, and the ITF writes it as Taekwon-Do. Independents use the term, Hyungs for patterns, while the WTF uses the term Poomses, while the ITF calls them Tuls. Many independents teach the ITF Chang Hon Pattern Set but do not use the Sine Wave while practicing them, or teach the Theory of Power, of which the Sine Wave is a distinctive component of.

 

The Moo Duk Kwan did not become part of the KTA and continued to call their art Tang Soo Do. Many Moo Duk Kwan instructors did though, so that in effect there became two Moo Duk Kwans, so that we have Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do, and Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do. Because many of the Korean masters left the Moo Duk Kwan(Tang Soo Do) and created their own Tang Soo Do organizations, the Moo Duk Kwan today uses the name, Soo Bak Do, to describe the art they practice. Just a side note, Tang Soo Do features the original Okinawan forms of Shuri-Te that the early Korean masters taught, before either the Chang Hon set was created by Choi, or the TaeGuek and Palgwe sets that are currently practiced in most WTF affliated schools.

 

Jhoon Rhee still promotes his style as an art, as does the ITF, but the KTA, and therefore many if not most all of its WTF affliates push Taekwondo as a sport. Most all Korean masters are associated in some form or fashion, even if just in name, with the WTF. The WTF is much much bigger and more influential than either Jhoon Rhee's organization or the ITF.

[Toast]

Jhoon Rhee did study under General Choi

[equaninimus]

Do you have documentiation or other sources that state this?

[Spookey]

Dear Sir,

 

I would like to reiterate that Jhoon Rhee served in the RoK military at the time when Gen. Choi was Kwan Jang of the Oh Do Kwan...furthermore, Gen. Choi had contol of the Chung Do Kwan during the same time period! This portion I believe to be documented however, I am unaware of any documented direct instruction!

 

TAEKWON!

 

Spookey

[John G]

General Choi in his memoirs "Taekwon-Do and I" volume 2 pages 163-164

 

General Choi states that early fall of 1968 "Jhoon-Rhee was the first" of many Korean instructors in America he gave private lessons to.

 

He states "Fortunately, most of them threw away the Karate techniques that they had practised for many years to start to teach Taekwon-Do, and it was a revolutionary experiance for them"

 

So was Jhoon-Rhee teaching Karate prior to 1968?

 

Hope this Helps...

 

Respectfully,

[MichiganTKD]

From the sounds of it, Jhoon Rhee was teaching was Choi decided was karate. Jhoon Rhee originally learned under Won Kuk Lee. Apparently, this was not "Tae Kwon Do" enough for Choi. Oddly enough, according to sources I have read, the term "Tae Kwon Do" originated within the Chung Do Kwan. Gen. Choi claims he invented it. Other Instructors dispute that.

[RF_Brown]

Before 1955, it was all Karate. The modern evolvement of TKD started in 1955 when all the various Kwans came together to form the KTA, formerally the Tae Soo Do Association.

 

For an objective history of TKD that is neither pro WTF or pro ITF, but cuts through all the propaganda * put out by both organizations on the supposedly ancient Korean origins of TKD, click on this excellent article by Dakin Burdick and was published in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts.

 

http://www.indiana.edu/~iutkd/history/tkdhist.html

 

Snippet from part 2, http://www.indiana.edu/~iutkd/history/tkdhist2.html :

The t'aekwondo movement began in 1955, when a conference of masters assembled on Apr. 11 to again attempt to unify kongsudo. According to both Choi and Duk-Sung Son, the conference chose the name of t'aekwondo ("smashing-kick fist way"). Aside from Maj.-Gen. Choi, the other members of the board were Hwa-Chung Yoo, Duk-Sung Son, Gen. Hyung-Kun Lee, Kyun-Kyu Cho, Sen. Dae-Chun Chung, Chang-Won Han, Kyung-Rok Chang, Soon-Ho Hong, Kwang-Rae Ko, and Jong-Myung Hyun. Both Son and Choi claim credit for invention of the name t'aekwondo. Choi claims he chose the name because of its similarity to t'aeggyon, and because the names tangsudo and kongsudo "connoted Chinese or Japanese martial arts." Son, on the other hand, claims that he was "directly responsible for searching out and popularizing the original name of Tae Kwon Do." Choi claims the name was chosen on Apr. 11, 1955, while Son claims it was chosen at the first meeting of the Ch'ongdokwan board of directors on Dec. 19, 1955

 

This article gives a very good detailed history of the various Kwans (schools or gyms) that came together to form the KTA of which General Choi was the president of for one year during whose tenure, the name TKD was chosen, and I do believe we are all in agreement that he is the one who is given credit for submitting the name. Along with Nam Tae Hi, he developed the Chang Hon Pattern Set (sometimes referred to as the Chon Ji Pattern Set after its first Tul) was developed. Up until that time, all the Kwans were practicing the forms (katas) from Japanese Karate (as those in Tang Soo Do still do). As late as 1965, Choi was still teaching Japanese forms along with the Chang Hon Set. In the 1960s most Korean instructors were still calling their art, Korean Karate. Jhoon Rhee who had the original TKD school in the United States, located in Central Texas was visited by General Choi in the mid 60's. During his visit, Choi urged Rhee to begin using the new name of TKD to promote the art.

 

See also, http://www.beckmartialarts.com/ctkdfaq.html and this translated version of "A Modern History of Taekwondo", written by KANG Won Sik and LEE Kyong Myong, in the Korean language, http://www.budget.net/~dnolan/master.html

 

Also, http://www.sos.mtu.edu/husky/tkdhist.htm

Edited February 16, 2004 by RF_Brown