My sites URL says "JungDoKwan-Taekwondo", the reason is that I struggled to find a name for the blog and you had to make something up. So I figured I could honor my original teacher (Gm Cho Woon Sup) who is born in the year of the Dragon. Dragon in Korean is written either as yeong 용 (龍) which is the standard Korean word, some might even say the modern Korean spelling, the alternative is the same Hanja but the hangul would be ryeong 룡. My transcription skills very pretty poor at the time (the URL dates back to ca 2008ish and I wrote initially in Norwegian), but for a Norwegian "Jung" makes a lot of sense. I hope you forgive this diversion before we even start, but I wanted to start this post off by explaining that I am not affiliated with, nor do I have any connection with (except arguably through the Kukki Taekwondo as seen as a merger of all Kwan) the Jung Do Kwan that I am writing about here in this post. I am born in the year of the Ox which explains so much of my long nerding sessions. Slow but steady :-P
In this post I want to introduce you to:
- The Jung Do Kwan
- The Founder of Jung Do Kwan
- The Jung Do Kwan Creed
This post is just a small part in a much larger (and longer) writing project where I try to provide a thorough introduction to each Kwan, their history but also and more importantly perhaps, their philosophy by zooming in on their creeds. Following is a list on the posts as they appear. If you want to start at the beginning click the first one, if there is any school you really want to know more about and you do not care about the rest click whichever you want. And if you want to read the whole thing start to finish I salute you. Chung Do Kwan part 1.1, Chung Do Kwan part 1.2, Song Mu Kwan, Kang Duk Won, Chang Mu Kwan, Mu Duk Kwan, Ji Do Kwan part 1 of 2, Ji Do Kwan part 2 of 2.
Jung Do Kwan History & Background
Much of the source of this is from the 2015 historical document collection thingy
Jung Do Kwan was founded in 1950, 1st of April by Lee Yong Woo, who was a student of Lee Won Kuk at his school; the Chung Do Kwan. The name "Jung Do Kwan" was suggested to Lee Yong Woo by his friend Eom Un Gyu who suggested that he should remove one "dot" from Chung Do Kwan. For non Korean readers out there look at Chung Do Kwan (청도관) and Jung Do Kwan (정도관) and compare the first Hangul in each school ㅊ VS ㅈ for this to make sense. Whereas (I have misspelled this word my whole career :-O ) Chung Do Kwan means Blue Wave School, Jung Do Kwan means "To walk the right path" (正道館). To make this work he did not just change the "dot" he also changed the "Do" in Chung Do Kwan (Wave) with a different "Do" (Way/Path) both being read as Do and written in Hangul as "도". The latter one is the same Do as in TaekownDO, TangSuDo, MuDo, etc.
Lee Yong Woo showed himself as a diplomatic individual who stayed clear of the normal political pitfalls in the Kwan-era, and so he was able to maintain a good relationship with the Parent-Kwan (Chung Do Kwan) while developing the Jung Do Kwan. As most other Kwan, Jung Do Kwan had to close down during the Korean War (1950-1953, not ended-ended, but an armistice was agreed upon which still holds), before opening up again after the fighting had died down. Some reports say that the Jung Do Kwan got its real push to expand in the mid to late 50s.
By 1969 he had established at least 10 Dojang at different locations. Lee Yong Woo acting as the first Kwanjang of Jung Do Kwan was succeeded in 2006 by Kim Gi Dong who is still (at least in 2015) the current head of the Jung Do Kwan.
Background on Lee Yong Woo
Lee Yong Woo started practicing Tang Su Do in the Chung Do Kwan in 1946. Several people he trained with might be known to many readers of this blog; Son Duk Sung and Nam Tae Hi being perhaps the best well known of them. In an interview Lee Yong Woo shared that he performed in a demonstration that was held after liberation when the Song Mu Kwan opened a Dojang in Kaeseong, both Son Duk Sung (who would later become the 2nd Kwanjang of the Chung Do Kwan) and Nam Tae Hi demonstrated at the same event. In the same interview he talked about how he and his friend Eom Un Gyu demonstrated at an event organized in conjunction of Mu Duk Kwan opening a Dojang along the Yongsang railway line. I find the mention of Mu Duk Kwan opening a training hall along a railway line very interesting, because I have read several places that Hwang Kee (founder of Mu Duk Kwan) could expand his Kwan rather quickly by using his job in the railway company to open up Dojang in storerooms and other places connected with the railways.
Later on around 1962 Lee Yong Woo would hold several important titles in the Tae Su Do Association where he played a key part in promoting the development of the sport aspect of what was then called Tae Su Do. In his own teachings he explained he had a fondness for a complete mastery of the basic techniques, because you needed to master those before you started training the more difficult movements. Gibon Dongjak was therefore a staple of the training in his Jung Do Kwan.
"Only when the basics are firmly ingrained in the body can one refine techniques of a higher level"
- Lee Yong Woo (slightly smoothed and paraphrased by me)
In western Taekwodo literature Jung Do Kwan is treated primarily as a annex kwan of Chung Do Kwan, and mentioned only in passing.
Jung Do Kwan Philosophy:
Original text carefully transcribed from the photo:
Title: 館訓
Text:
나는 떳떳하고
부끄러움이 없는
무도인이다.
-仰不愧天 俯不作人-
Translation:
I am upright and honorable
without shame,
a Mudo-In (martial arts practisioner).
떳떳하다 in the first line can mean: morally upright, clear of shame, able to stand openly before others
This is ethical, not emotional or legal.
This is ethical, not emotional or legal.
부끄러움이 없는 in the second line does not mean shameless in a bad sense but in the sense of "having nothing to be ashamed of". 없는 signifies the "non-existence of something".
무도인 in the third line is "Mudo-In", Mudo as in Martial Way and In as in people or person. Taekwondoin/ Taekwondo-In could work in a similar manner when referencing a Taekwondo person, student or practitioner. (In Japanese martial arts you have the "-ka" ending doing the same job; Karate-ka (Karate person/ student/ practitioner), Judo-ka (same thing but with Judo), and so on. Some people want to use this ending in writing on Taekwondo so they write Taekwondoka/ Taekwondo-ka but if you want to respect the language of Taekwondo you will use the "-in" ending as seen in practical use here. It is a pet peeve of mine. )
As for the bottom line in all Hanja writing (仰不愧天 俯不作人) it can be translated as:
"Looking up, I am not ashamed before Heaven;
looking down, I do not wrong other people."That line is a very famous classical East Asian moral maxim, which is extremely well known (but new to me).
Putting it all together in a possibly smooth English rendering; (keep in mind that I am a Norwegian nerd that is not writing in his native language translating from a language he is not fluent in, and that he is not a professional translator)
"Kwan Creed
I am an upright and honorable martial practitioner,
one who lives without shame.
Looking up, I am not ashamed before Heaven;
looking down, I do not wrong other people".
The Chung Do Kwan link:
Jung Do Kwan was as mentioned within the lineage of Chung Do Kwan, so it might not be a surprise that they actually share some material. We looked at the Chung Do Kwan pledge before but here it is presented once more within the context of Jung Do Kwan who also used this:
"1: We, the members of the Kwan, discipline our mind and body, based on the martial spirit." (or mudo-spirit).
"2: We, the members of the Kwan, trust and care for one another and firmly strengthen our unity.”
“3: We, the members of the Kwan, strictly observe the Kwan’s rules and obey the orders of the instructor.”
I hope you enjoyed this post and this look at Jung Do Kwan, which I think (I do not know if it is true) might possibly be the only such post on Jung Do Kwan in English you will find. I had to rely purely on Korean language sources for this one.
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