The Nine Original Kwans or early schools of Taekwondo

The 9 Kwans: The Early Schools of TaekwondoThose 9 kwans, the dojungs, or studios, that began at or near the end of World War II in Korea mainly took these Japanese arts, particularly KaraTe and Okinawan Kempo (both originally known as Tote-jitsu) and made them their own. This, however in not to say that our present art is the same as Japanese Karate-do. In fact in Taekwondo History, this was the beginning of truly Korean martial arts. Taekwondo has developed and evolved considerably since then.

The original styles of Tote-Jitsu became known as Karate-do. Gishin Funakoshi ,and Okinawan went to Japan and eventually changed the name of the art to Karate-do. The other instructors soon followed. In addition to Sensei Funakoshi, Toyama Kanken , Choki Mutobu and others brought their arts to Japan. Funakoshi’s art consisted of a short high horse stance, high upright front stances and a great number of sweeping and tripping techniques, along with a series of arm-breaking and in-fighting techniques.

Taekwondo which is known for its high kicks is very different from the early Tote-jitsu systems. The only kicks that Sensei Funakoshi used were low and below the belt. In his first book Tote-Jitsu he does the Pyong Ahn Hyungs’ (Pinon in Okinawan and Heian in Japanese) with front kicks in all the places that we now sidekick. The sidekick is not in any of these forms. Taekwondo has evolved considerably and barely resembles Funakoshi's Karate-do.

THE BIRTH OF THE NINE KWAN'S AND KOREA'S MARTIAL ARTS

In 1943 the ban on the practice of the martial arts in Korea was lifted and the arts began to flourish this was also the beginning of the History of the 9 Kwans. The five original Kwan's (schools) to surface were: Chungdokwan ; Chosen Yunmookwan (which became Jidokwan ); Moodukkwan; Songmookwan ; YMCA KwonBupBu which was later to be known as Changmookwan .

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Yours in the Spirt of Wisdom

Sam Naples
Grandmaster Chun Taekwondo Jidokwan

www.taekwondo-4self-mastery.com