Kwan Heon - A closer look at Kwan creeds of early Taekwondo part 3: Kang Duk Won

Yun Byung In is one of the more interesting Kwan founders to research in that he had multiple sources for his martial art. Unfortunately he disappeared from viewpoint of the south during the Korean war (1950-53), but Gm Kim Soo found out he had made a life for himself in North Korea, unable to return to the South after the country was divided up in 1953 in a truce. 

Yun Byung In not only made his mark in his own school, he worked as an instructor in the Yeon Mu Kwan Kong Su Do Bu together with Chun Sang Sup (who also disappeared during the Korean war) and while his exact school did not survive the war, he did in a way father two prominent Kwan or schools through his senior students; Chang Mu Kwan and Kang Duk Won. These two schools shared a lot of material both being from the same "ryupa"; Yun Byung In, but they did have their own Kwan Heon, creed or philosophy. In this post I want to look specifically on the Kang Duk Won one, and I guess it is only natural to go to Chang Mu Kwan in the next part. 

I have so far in this series shared snippets of my first book (The Lost Forms of Oh Do Kwan Taekwondo Volume 1) to set these creeds in a sort of historical context. I think it is fascinating to see where the likely originators of the creeds came from in terms of social status, training, prior style(s) etc. In this post you can read what I wrote about Yun Byung In below, I do know his story continues after his disappearance during the Korean war, but from the perspective of his students until recent years he simply vanished. I will ask you to google "Kim Soo + Yun Byung In" if you want to read more. 

Quote from "The Lost Forms of Oh Do Kwan Taekwondo" page 20-21:

"Yun Byung In and the YMCA Kwon Bup Bu

Yun Byung In was born in 1920 and grew up in Manchuria, China, where his family had relocated. In his youth, he studied an unspecified Chinese martial art before traveling to Japan in 1938 to continue his academic studies at Nihon University in Tokyo.

While in Japan, Yun became known for an incident that showcased his martial skill. He intervened when a fellow Korean Karate student was attacked by his seniors, who resented the student’s decision to spend time with his girlfriend rather than train. Yun successfully defended him by skillfully deflecting all attacks, and word of the encounter soon reached the university’s Karate instructor; Toyama Kanken.

This encounter led to a friendly exchange: Yun taught Toyama elements of his Chinese martial art, while Toyama taught Yun Shudokan Karate. Yun earned instructor certification in Shudokan before returning to Korea in 1945.

Upon his return, he initially assisted at the Yun Mu Kwan, but soon began teaching his own system at the Jung Ahn YMCA in Seoul. There, he established what became known as the YMCA Kwon Bup Bu. The term Kwon Bup (권법, 拳法) is the Korean pronunciation of the same characters as the Chinese Chuan Fa, often translated as “Fist Law.”

Tragically, Yun disappeared during the Korean War (1950–1953). It was later discovered that he had been taken to North Korea, where he reportedly died in 1983.

Despite his absence, Yun Byung In’s teachings lived on. His school would go on to give rise to two important postwar Kwans: Chang Mu Kwan and Kang Duk Won - both of which continued to carry elements of his unique blend of Chinese and Japanese martial influences." End quote

Seeing as Yun Byung In is not the originator of the Kang Duk Won Creed I find it only fair to include a little history on Kang Duk Won and the founders:

Kang Duk Won 

The school is said to have been founded in September 1956 in Seoul by two senior students of Yun Byung In: Hong Jong Pyo and Park Cheol Hee. (The latter name might be a little familiar if you have done a really careful read of my book as it is from him I got the Kang Duk Won variations.). The school was unofficially started even earlier calling it the Mudo-won Taekwondo/Kwonbeop training hall. This proto Kang Duk Won consisted primarily the Tang Su Do students of Yonsei University. The title Kwanjangnim was not in use at this time, Hong Jong Pyo served as the instructor (Sabeom) of the Mudo-won. 

Several months after the founding of the school Mudo-won Hong Jong Pyo withdrew due to personal circumstances, and Park Cheol Hee took up the mantle of instructor, formally establishing the school as Kang Duk Won. The name of the school means "Institute for Teaching Virtue", and Park Cheol Hee would later go on to publish one of the earliest manuals of Korean Martial Arts; PasaKwonbeop in 1957. 

The reason he used the term "Won" instead of the more common "Kwan" was that Park felt that "Kwan" had Japanese connotations. Won meaning Institute was chosen because Park was trying to break away from Japanese influence. In his book (which I have not read myself, I have just read some of the forms) Park references Haeinsa Temple Gyeonghakwon as the place where he got the "won" from. 

According to “(2015-07-30) Taekwondo Grand Masters Invitational Commemorative Project - Historical Source Collection”. Park himself stated that Chang Mu Kwan was established first, Kang Duk Won second, so that Kang Duk Won was a sister school or sub-kwan of Chang Mu Kwan. Most of this post draws from that work so now you have the source I am using :) The document also cites a Chang Mu Kwan dan certificate record of 1954 which might suggest that from a Chang Mu Kwan perspective the Kang Duk Won could be seen as having branched off from the Chang Mu Kwan. 

In the 1958 Kang Duk Won instructor committee list we find that the recorded personnel were:

Instructor Park Cheol Hee

Senior Instructor Hong Jong Pyo

Assistant Instructor Lee Eun Jae, Joo Jin Cheol, and Kim Yang Il. 

Forms practiced in the Kang Duk Won (Not a complete list)

• Pyeongahn - Pinan/Heian
• Jinjeong (there is a tutorial available on my Patreon) - Chintei/Chinte
• Gong Sang Kun - Kushanku
• Balsaek - Bassai
• Gima 1-3 - Naihanchi - Tekki (Gima = Kibadachi, the stance used throughout the forms)
• Balchae (not sure what form this could be)
• Wanshu - Empi
• Jaeun - Jion
• Nopae - Rohai
• Oshipsabo - Gojushiho

There were more forms than this, but these are the ones listed in the 2015 document. The document itself says that the list is incomplete ("Kang Duk Won training includes: ...."). Again I would look to Kim Soo and his Chayon Ryu if you want to know exactly how the forms were performed and see more than what is included in this list. The Jinjeong form could be a different version to the one I teach on my Patreon as "my" Jinjeong is sourced from the 1959 Taekwondo Textbook. 

I have provided all of this info since I do not know exactly who made the Kwan Heon, but if I am allowed to speculate I might put forth Park Cheol Hee. It was he who formally founded the Kang Duk Won, he was the one who wrote a whole book on martial arts, so I am inclined to think it was him that made the Creed as well.

Kang Duk Won Creed:

Original text

• 우리는 무도를 수련하여 국민체위 향상을 도모하자.

• 우리는 무도를 수련하여 정도선행하자.

• 우리는 무도를 수련하여 민족사회의 모범이 되자.

As you can see we have 3 sentences that in this case explains why we train and for what. All sentences starts the same way and translating them directly makes for very clunky English. In essence the sentences starts with "we train martial arts for ...." or We martial arts training....." followed by some more words that do differ :-) The term used for martial arts is Mudo, so Martial Way might be more appropriate here. I have written about the term "Mudo" several times before on this blog. It is often translated as Martial Arts, but in this context it is the philosophical Do (道) that I think is important, the Mu (武) is simply the means to the Do - The Way. I think whoever made the pledge specifically chose this term carefully.

The term I translated as "train/training" is suryon 수련(修鍊) in the original text, and I doubt this term was chosen at random either. There are several terms in Korean that we can translate into "train/training" in English, but suryon has been chosen here. It consists of two Hanja 修 and 鍊 which we can then break down to see what these means.

修 (수) "Su"  in SuRyon can mean several things , some of the core meanings that show up when you look at the Hanja (character) in isolation is: "to refine", "cultivate", "improve", or "to put in order". In Confucian and Buddhist texts, 修 (수) is overwhelmingly used to imply deliberate self-cultivation and moral or spiritual refinement over time.

A few examples of this is:

• 修身 (수신)  "SuSin" meaning cultivation of the self (from Confucian moral philosophy)

• 修道 (수도)  "SuDo" meaning cultivating the Way (Do)

• 修行 (수행)  SuHaeng meaning ascetic or spiritual practice

All of these terms are often used in Hwang Kee´s 1958 textbook, showing that these are things appearing in several different Kwan.

鍊 (련) "Ryon" can also be seen in isolation and mean several things. If you have read anything about traditional taekwondo or Korean Martial Arts litterature using Korean terminology you have likely come across this many times. The literal meaning(s) that shows up when you look up this Hanja (character) are:

• to smelt metal

• to refine by fire

• to temper steel

鍊 "Ryon" originally refers to the process of repeatedly heating, hammering, and purifying metal to remove impurities and make it stronger. In Traditional Taekwondo it sometimes shows up as "Forging"; Dallyon 鍛鍊 (단련), or forging"/striking post = Dallyon Joo. Ryon/Lyon is the same, only the sound changes sometimes in Korean. In East Asian philosophy, 鍊 is commonly used metaphorically for "forging character through hardship".

Now that we have looked at the two characters in isolation, lets put them together and we get something along the lines of "deliberate self-cultivation through a process of refining and tempering". "Training" is certainly a valid translation but you see how much nuance is lost in translation. Suryeon can also be paraphrased quite literally to: “To improve oneself by repeatedly refining one’s body and mind, like metal forged in fire.” It is therefore not "training" in a modern sense, i.e. what we think about when we hear the word training.

I hope you all forgive me for this detour, but this is Traditional Taekwondo Ramblings so some ramblings is to be expected. I have broken down the term used in the creed that is often translated into English as "training" and I did allude to there being several terms in Korean that also translates into English, so let us compare these to the one we actually got:

One of the first words I learned in Korean language outside of just Taekwondo terminology was  "Hunryeon/Hullyeon" 훈련 (訓練), as in "Taekwondo hunryeon" = "Taekwondo training". I asked my original teacher about this and he thought it was an inapropriate word for taekwondo training due to it being more militaristic and dependant one someone else training you. In some schools the word works just fine, and I guess General Choi would have used it in his context. If you look the word up you get:

• 訓 = instruction / command / drill

• 練 = practice / repetition

"Training through instruction and repetition". So it is great for military drills, if someone trains you, you are following orders. So in a sports team setting, police and army training etc this is a good word, but it is not suitable in a philosophical manner. Perhaps instead of translating the word to "Training" we should translate it as "drilling under orders" :-) (I guess that depending on the individual Dojang and or teacher the term is perfectly usable as Taekwondo Training, I just wanted to add that.)

The other word (the third one I know) for "training" is "undong" 운동 (運動). This word is what I think is closest to the English word "Training". If you look up the Hanja characters you get:

• 運 = move / carry

• 動 = movement

In other words: "Physical movement / exercise". It is all about health, fitness and bodily activity, and nothing about any spiritual/ moral/ philosophical things. Dallyon is also sometimes translated as "training" but we have already looked at that one.

(I attended a talk done by Master Jon Lennart Løbak and took notes for this part of the post (Suryon/ Dallyon/ Hunreun and Undong. So thank you for holding that talk.)

So you see the exact wording in the Kang Duk Won Creed are carefully chosen, and translating it into English puts us in risk of losing so much nuance, but having done a deep dive on the key phrases (Mudo I have written about before on my blog) I think it is time to look at translating the creed itself.

Sentence 1: 

• 우리는 무도를 수련하여 국민체위 향상을 도모하자.

"We cultivate ourselves in the Martial Way to improve the physical strength of the nation"

"We shall train ourselves in the martial arts to help rise the physical fitness of the nations people"

"Let us by training in the Martial Way to seek the improvement of the nations physical strength"

I have done three valid translations here based upon the Korean original text playing around with different translations to the key terms use. "Let us" is perhaps the most literal translation but I prefer:

"We shall cultivate ourselves through the Martial Way to improve the strength of the nation".

I think that in this translation we preserve much of the original nuance, and the general vibe of the creed. "We shall ... " seems more appropriate in a Creed to be recited. Having played around with a few examples I will simply translate to the best of my ability the rest of the creed and summarize them at the end. Please remember I am not fluent in Korean, nor am I in any way a professional translator. I am simply a very very very eager student of Taekwondo.

Sentence 2:

• 우리는 무도를 수련하여 정도선행하자.

Just a tiny bit of neuance of key terms: "Jeongdo" 정도 (正道) means the right path/ righteous way/ proper course and it is a strong moral/philosophical flavor (very Confucian or purely ethical). "SeonHaeng" 선행 (善行) means good deeds/ virtuous conduct. If we put these two together as in the creed we get something along the lines of “to follow the right path and do good” or possibly “righteous living and virtuous action”. The second line is therefore quite tricky to get right but I will try my best (keep in mind what I have said about my abilities):

“We shall cultivate ourselves in the Martial Way so that we may follow the righteous path and practice virtuous conduct.”

We can also be quite brief and get much the same meaning but might lose some of the neuance:

“We shall train in martial arts to live rightly and do good.”

Sentence 3:

• 우리는 무도를 수련하여 민족사회의 모범이 되자.

“We shall cultivate ourselves through the Martial Way to become exemplary members of our national society.”

So what do we have here? We have a creed that in the first sentence stresses that the reason for training is to become strong, fit, healthy individuals to help build a strong nation, i.e. contribute well to society. In the second sentence the creed stresses moral and ethical conduct, again so martial artists trained in the Kang Duk Won is a positive contribution to society as a whole. In the third one we again see the importance of the nation, where we are asked to be so strong (sentence 1) and morally just (sentence 2) and that we serve to be an inspiration for all others (sentence 3). Kang Duk Won therefore did not teach martial skill only as a way to learn how to fight, but it was very much geared to the betterment of society through the betterment of one self. The plural "We" in the creed stresses that this is the whole school (Kwan) responsibility, not just the individual student or teacher. 

The amalgamation of all the Kwan into one single "style" organized  in the Kukkiwon meant that we kinda lost the original Kwan (schools) teachings. We gained a lot by the founding of the Kukkiwon style, we got standardization, new forms, terminology, etc and all of this coupled with government support meant that the art of Taekwondo could spread far and wide. What I find kinda sad, is that on the way to standardization we also lost some of the unique things relevant to each Kwan. If you in 2026 try and google Kwan Creeds or Kang Duk Won philosophy for instance you will find relatively little information.  I do hope that this series highlights what the original intent of the early Taekwondo (Kong Su Do/ Tang Su Do/ Kwonbeop etc) was. I really think this helps us understand our modern martial art of Taekwondo much better looking at where we came from.

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