Dear All, A few interesting comments were shared on another thread, and as opposed to getting off topic I thought I would start a new thread in which we may discuss the topic of Chang Heon (Chang Hon, or Chang Hun). Many schools around the country preform what they refer to as the "Chon Ji Patterns", and thus refer to themselves as "Chang Heon". Others feel as if the ITF as left by General Choi (24 "Tul", ITF Dobok, and Sinewave) is the only true Chang Heon Taekwondo. I would love to hear other's opinions of who and what honestly constitutes Chang Hun. As a side note, I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions of using the term "Oh Do Kwan" as a part of your dojang name. Who reserves the right and just cause to use the name in there dojang name? Humble Regards SPKs
IMHO the Oh Do Kwan, Chang Hon, ITF & original TKD are all pretty much the same term to describe the 1st style or system of KMA of SD we now know today as TKD. I would explain it or look at it this way: In 1946 Gen Choi, as a young commissioned officer started to teach Tang Su Do or Korean karate to soldiers under his command. Col Nam Tae Hi, also a young commissioned officer also started teaching Tang Soo Do to the ROK Army in 1947. This was accepted as true by the Korean Amateur Sports Association in 1959, when their Board decided that the Military Gym must be considered on par with the 5 original Korean karate Kwans. Gen Choi learned his karate in Japan, as did 5 of the other 6 Koreans who studied MAs abroad & then introduced it to Korea from 1944-47, when the 5 original kwans opened. Col. Nam learned his karate under GM Lee Won Kuk at the Chung Do Kwan. The Korean War saw all the Kwans close & be forced to moved south during a time up great upheaval & massive destruction & devastation. The ROK Army of course maintained training in the MAs during this time. The Kwans regrouped & tried to unite under the Korean Kong Soo Do Association, which was short lived. Kong Soo Do was a Korean name to decribe karate, as Tang Soo Do was a Chinese term to also describe the same thing, karate, empty hand fighting. Another term that was in use was a Chinese related term of Kwon Bup, which means fist method. During this time period, which has been called the formative years, even though it is the least talked about span of the development of the KMAs in the KTA, KKW, WTF & SK literature dealing with the history, as it was when what we do today as students of TKD, was what got us to this point. Instead they talk about 2,000 years ago & stories that there is little to no evidence about folklore, myths, etc. The reason being, as most open minded & informed martial artists will know, is that they were all basically doing karate. Korea hated Japan, so they could not be connected to anything Japanese. There was in fact, a strict anti-Japanese policy which prohibited promoting anything Japanese that was put in place by SK's 1st president, Rhee Seung Man. This president witnessed a MA demo put on by Gen Choi's soldiers, namely Col Nam & Sgt Han Cha Kyo, also of the Chung Do kwan. he then gave the order to teach this to all the troops & police in SK. This gave birth to the Oh Do kwan, the military gym. This translates to gym of my way. This means that since men drafted into the SK military may have come from various kwans, MAs or fighting systems, they all could find a home in the ODK, as it was the gym of my way, in other words, their gym, not to be confused with a civilain gym or their previous training. The ODK was the birth place of TKD. There is a monument that was erected on Jeu-Ju Island to honor TKD's birthplace. It was recently restored to its place of honor, after being taken down & hidden when the brother of the 1st military dictator (Gen. Park Chung Hee) visited. The local people feared reprisals as Gen Park hated Gen Choi. So the ODK was the school or gym that developed the 1st system of KMA of SD that was called TKD. This is what I refer to as the original TKD, as this was the name used exclusively by Gen Choi & his team for 10-23 years before others adopted it & when it was fully accepted as the unified term when the kwan system was numbered & retired. In 1954 when the ODK opened, they were still basically doing karate or Tang Su Do. However in 1955they called the system they were developing TKD & devised the 1st Korean form or hyung that was called Hwa Rang. There were eventually 25 forms that were devloped by & under Gen Choi leadership. They are referred to as the Chon Ji set of Hyungs, or Chang Hon forms or the ITF Tuls or patterns. Chang Hon is the pen name of Gen Choi, the principle founder of original TKD, who oversaw it development from 1946 till his death in 2002. This was also the system that was taught in the ROK military till at least 1975, when it was purged because Gen Choi was blacklisted because of his political opposition to the brutal military regime(s), forcing him to exile himslef to Canada in 1972, moving the ITF headquarters to Toronto. (It again relocated to Vienna Austria in 1985 to allow equal access to the communist, socialist & 3rd world nations. It was also centered in Europe, which was between the Americas & Asia & above Africa. Given the above, anyone can use the terms, ODK, Chang Hon, original TKD or ITF style of TKD if they have roots to this begining, which was TKD as a KMA of SD, not a martial sport, which we know started as Tae Soo Do & eventually accepted the name TKD & became an Olympic sport. Now here is the important part for me: You can use ODK TKD or Chang Hon TKD, original TKD or ITF style of TKD. HOWEVER in order to someone to realy understand what you are doing & how you are performing, you must add in the era of this particular brand of TKD. While the ODK was the birth place of TKD, it was essentially karate or Tang Su Do in the 1950s. It slowly morphed into the version left to us in 2002, when the principle founder passed away. Or if you say I do the Chang Hon forms, hyungs, tuls or patterns, you also need to add in the era that reflects the movement, order & number as well. You see in Gen Choi's 1st book on TKD (1959) there were only 4 hyungs. In 1965, his 2nd book the number rose to 20, with 24 in his 3rd book, while his 1983 15 colume Encyclopedia of TKD replaced 1 Tul (Kodang) with another (Juche). Labels can be decided by you, but then can be confusing, as the same term(s) can describe things that are now very different. So I can be comfortable in saying I do Original TKD, the 1st TKD that was for SD in the ROK Armed Forces that was developed in their military gym called the Oh Do Kwan. My style of this Original TKD is overseen & governed by the ITF, the world's 1st international governing body for TKD. In this original TKD we do the 24 patterns called tuls in Korean, that were the 1st Korean patterns devised. They were developed by Gen Choi & his soldiers. These forms are commonly referred to as the Chang Hon set.
In a bit of a rush, so havnt read TKDStudents full post (sorry), but ITF is an org, so, though an accepted term, calling patterns "ITF patterns" is incorrect. Its a bit like saying we do JKA karate - when in fact its simply Shotokan. Gen Choi's penname was Ch'ang Hon, so calling them the 'Ch'ang Hon patterns' is correct as they are the patterns of Gen Choi/Ch'ang Hon. Calling them the 'Chon-ji patterns' is okay as its the 1st one in the set and 'Chon-Ji' is not part of any patterns set, but still incorrect. 'Oh Do kwan' IMO is defunct and was AFAIA very karate like - it could (in theory) be used to decribe an older stylist of the Ch'ang Hon system (say 1960 to 1970) before many of the changes/updates were made, but for most (in the UK at least) it would ulimatly be incorrect if being used as an actual description of the style, as opposed to a name just to link back to Gen Choi/ITF etc. Stuart
Dear All, As the internet has emerged as a powerful tool for the exchange of information, and also as Korean national leadership has changed, there is still a bit of propaganda to be sorted through! The individual kwan(s) continued in their own evolution, following their traditions aside from the kukkiwon "merger". As propagated by the likes of wikipedia and other internet information buckets we read... " However, these "social certificates" are issued after physical testings, utilizing the individual kwan's preferred set of hyung, tul, or poomse, and exchangeable for even rank with the Kukkiwon without any physical examination. In saying this I believe the Oh Do Kwan as well as the other kwans are far from outdated, as they may still provide the most direct lineage to the fighting art of Taekwondo! Tae-Kwon! SPKs
I think this is basically true. The KKW took over the issuance of BB certs from the KTA, but the Kwans were not numbered, retired & rolled over into the KKW till August of 1978.
This is essentially the purest definition of Chang Hon. It was Gen Choi's pen name, meaning blue cottage. He applied the name Chang Hon to the 1st set of Korean patterns that he was developing for his KMA of SD which he called TKD. However the use of Chang Hon has also evolved & expanded over the years. You see in the formation of TKD, there was only 1 TKD, that was the military TKD as taught in the ODK. No one else was doing TKD, they were all, including the early days of the ODK, doing karate & calling it Tang Soo Do. Once it became popular for others to use the name TKD (1965 to 1978), in part due to Gen Choi's pressure of his demands & the work he & hos team did to spread the name & Art around the world, the confusion began. Now there are so many factions calling what they do TKD, even though they can be doing things very differently. So many have used the term Chang Hon to describe a system of TKD, which of course is problematic, as depending on how much of the system who adopted & how updated or how much revisions you did, make using this name Chang Hon fairly useless as well
Chang Hon... Dear All, In agreeing with the previous threads, I believe the current Utilization of the words Taekwondo, and Chang Hon parallel each other in the following way: 1. Taekwondo / which scoop of alphabet soup, what generation, what lineage, how far removed from that lineage, etc. 2. Chang Hun / (Wash Rinse Repeat - see definition above) There are so many variations of the Chang Hun Hyungs, that two persons preforming the same hyung may appear completely different, although they may each be preforming the hyung appropriately for the lineage and generation of the instructor. Additionally, I will add that many of the more prominent secondary organizations (not current ITF or WTF affiliates) were founded by Chung Do Kwan masters that were of the "Chang Hun" era. However, there explanation and demonstration of movements in the pattern are distinctively different from the original (Ohdokwan / Early ITF) hyungs. This thread is almost a trick question, because outside of Mr. Anslow's expressing Chang Hun to be General Choi's pen-name there is not really a clear answer! TAEKWON! SPKs
In the Republic of Korea the Chung Wa Dae, (Blue House) is the equivalent to the United States White House, home to the Head of State. It is surmised that as a founding member of the Republic of Korea Army, and as a Korean patriot he chose the name for supportive symbolism. This however is speculation, as I do not believe their is any print to support it! TaekwoN! Spooks
