Anyone aware of this around Viet Nam war era? We practiced a style called OhDoKan. My instructor, Russel Timothy Treat, taught simplified ITF forms, but the more advanced techniques were shorter stance, more circular with palm strikes and downward claws. He was also given a book by his instructor that appears to be a Korean language Goju book. My working theory is, like many Koreans, someone got a black belt in Japan, came home taught and the started to change to the popular trend of Shotokan or Shudokan based styles. Thanks for any help.
Oh Do Kan or Oh Do Kwan? Oh Do Kwan was the original school (kwan) of General Choi Hong-hi (based largely on his Shotokan background). My first formal Taekwondo school (and still loosely affiliated with it) was an Oh Doh Kwan school. We learned the original ITF (Chang Hon) patterns for belt testing... and then added in the Pal Gye patterns, and then the Taegeuk patterns as the WTF developed them. My working theory is, like many Koreans, someone got a black belt in Japan, came home taught and the started to change to the popular trend of Shotokan or Shudokan based styles. Thanks for any help.[/QUOTE] If you dig into the History of Taekwondo, you'll see that a lot of the influence comes from Shotokan... with key people getting their black belts, coming back to Korea and 'Koreanizing' it a bit and eventually getting formed into Taekwondo.
