Yes, his name is Chang, Chin Il, Dojunim. He currently does not have an active public club (that I know of), but may still teach at the United Nations in New York City, where he has taught for many years. He has been the Dojunim since 1985.
GM Chin Il Chang was named successor and was tasked with reuniting all Hapkido under one banner,he was and is not able to accomplish this mission. He was teaching at a dance studio in Manhattan,but has left in the last year with no forwarding address and no other school opened under him at this time.
I was always told that 10th Dan was a rank that was reserved as one of honor. GM Choi was given this rank after his death I was told. Traditionally KMA only went to 9th dan. I was even told why, but I forgot, that was soooooo long agoe.
My question is, how many high ranking practitioners either promoted themselves, been promoted by someone who suddenly became a high rank holder or are even recognized by any serious or major organizations? In other words how many people out there who claim high rank actually earned it. One wonders.
Well, from my knoledge of KMA ,if someone was recognized as 10th Dan they would have to have about 57 Years of experience in the art. Around 54 of those years with a black belt. And those years would have to all be containing training and improving. Wich means If such a master began training when they were 20 then they could possibly be eligable for 10th Dan around the age of 77 if they had been training and improving over all those years. If they were one of the lucky few who began their training at the age of 5, wich few have and less have stuck with then they could hope for that rank around age 62. I think that if someone has stuck with and continued to advance in their art for that many years then such a rank would not be outside of reason. At that point they should be such a complete expert and master of every intracacy of their art, not to mention at practicing it that they have learned and developed comprehensive information and understanding that few alive have. If of course their training is and has been legit.
Why 57 years? After your 1st dan you jump federation a few times and within 4 to 5 years you are at least a 5th or 6th dan. At that point you start your own federation and jump from there to at least 9th dan but if you are really smart you let call people you doju (in Korean) and you are above all rank. So becoming a 10th dan shouldn't take much longer than about 10 years I guess
Some points from Klaasb's last: How many 10th Degrees are there who are not heads of their own systems? None as 10th degree is the rank of a founder. How many have stayed under a teacher of higher rank and been actually awarded a 10th degree? How many have stayed under a 10th degree and actually been awarded a 8th or 9th degree by them. Some Masters and Grand Masters have never even been actually given a 4th or 5th degree,they began teaching and self promoted themselves over time. What rank was Takeda? From any reading I have done he was just issued a teaching rank and taught,as were most instructors of the time,his students who studied long enough were given teaching certificates,not ranks. What was Choi's rank? He had no official rank,nor a verifiable teaching certificate yet he became a founder. What were the Ranks of any of the 10th degrees of Hapkido when they left study under Choi ,and who promoted them after that? Many self promoted well over their given rank. At what point in rank is a Master or GrandMaster allowed to take their own perspective of an art , add their views and start their own organization or Federation? If they start their own Org/Fed should they take the 10th degree automatically? or Should they start their org/fed and still remain a student of some one of higher rank? Starting your own style makes you a founder,but does not make you an automatic Tenth degree,your knowledge and promotion stopped when your training under a higher rank stopped. From there your training and self experimentation take over but you are not officially ranked by a higher rank. If a founders knowledge and promotion stopped at 3rd degree then they are 3rd dgerees not 10th degree founders,unless they found higher ranked people to say and attest to the fact that their material and technique are worthy of a higher rank and they are therefore award that rank. example:A third degree in Hapkido,3rd degree in Tae kwon do,3rd degree in Jujitsu and 3rd dgeree in Aikido does not make a 12 degree. Differences between students ,masters and Grand masters create problems as do politics,some stop training ,some create their own orgs/feds,others find other higher ranks to become students of,some do both of the last two. If one wants a paper trail to their lineage then accept what has come before,because if you start to look and question you may not be happy with what you find. Who knows what was before Takeda,was he the start of DRAJJ or was he in a long line of practioners that stretched back centuries? Was Choi a student and actually given a Teaching certificate? What were the current founders actual ranks when they left their teacher,Choi? If we look too hard and are so pressed for facts we may find none exist and that we are studying a dream,something that is false in fact and self created,then you have a choice continue on or stop. To Me: Find a teacher,master or grandmaster and train,if you are learning what you want and it fills your needs that is all one can ask.
I know that I am going to get a lot of hate for this but. This post is kind of silly really when you think about it. We all have to remember that there was a time when there was no rank this 10th dan stuff is really about ego and getting knew students. And not about training like it should be. And hapkido is not the only style that does this kind of thing. So don't think that I am picking on you. I am not trust me. I just think that people should spend more time training instead of worring about rank and what they "THINK" they are owed for training in an art. The truth is you are not owe a thing. And if I remember right Mr. Seo was a member of kuk sool won and also was the brother or some kind of relation to Mr. Suh. So how can you be a 10th dan in hapkido if your background is in kuk sool won. Just a thought.
Actually their last name is In. In Sun-Seo and In Hyuk-Suh, they are brothers I believe. Koreans use their family name first when refering to each other. So technically their last name is first. Otherwise on the topic at hand. I'm really not concerned with the rank of people that much. I usually treat people with very high respect when I first meet them. After I talk or train with them for a while then I decide how much their training is worth to me. I'll never be disrespectful to them, but there are some people that I respect more than others no matter what rank they hold.
Actually the family name is Seo (Suh), they choose to Romanize it differently from each other though. "In" is the generational marker, which they would share with all brothers of that specific generation of that family, and "Sun" and "Hyuk" would be the unique names. Normally in Korea it would be written Seo In-sun (서 인 선 ) and Suh In-hyuk, with family names first, but many western magazines and people tend to switch it around. They are indeed brothers and GM In Sun Seo earned his 1st dan in 1958 from Choi Yong-sool (and his 3rd dan by 1961). In the 1960s he was a Kook Sool Won instructor, becoming chiefmaster by 1969. He later got involved with the Kido Hae and nowadays has set up his own association which is a loose alliance over different Hapkido groups and schools. (see http://www.kidohae.com/chairman.htm and http://www.hmjhapkido.or.kr/) I don't have any experience with Kook Sool Won and don't know much about its history, but I believe they come from the same source and would imagine that GM In Sun Seo's Hapkido background and position as one of the main Kook Sool Won people for many years would probably have some influence.
Thanks for correcting me Thomas. Actually, I think I knew that before, it just made sense in my mind at the time I wrote the post.
In Sun Seo and his brother In Hyuk Suh were both students of Choi and they opened a couple of hapkido (only )schools prior to developing Kuk Sool Won. The Lee Brothers of Hwarangdo also were Hapkido students prior to the development of Hwarangdo.
Thread necromancy! Actually while I was thinking about another topic, I remembered that there had been a neat update. A few years back, GM Ji Han-jae promoted 4 of his very senior students to 10th dan in (Sin-moo) Hapkido Merrill Jung; 10th Dan Jurg Ziegler; 10th Dan Ken MacKenzie; 10th Dan Massan Ghorbani; 10th Dan
Necromancy is right. I look at it this way. There should only be one grandmaster of an art. All others should be teachers. The Korean arts as great as they are , are one of the few arts where everyone and their cousin has to end up a Grandmaster. It deminishes the rank as well as the ranking structure.
To many Grandmasters splinters the art. It doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't make master instructor. But the art only needs one person/grandmaster to be its caretaker, guardian and guide.
