Kwan Heon - A closer look at Kwan creeds of early Taekwondo part 8.1: Oh Do Kwan

We continue our journey through the schools of early Taekwondo, and we now arrive at what many people refer to as “the original Taekwondo”: Oh Do Kwan.

This label does not mean that Oh Do Kwan was the oldest Kwan as several schools predate it. Nor does it mean that it was the largest. Instead, Oh Do Kwan occupies a unique position in Taekwondo history for a different reason: it was the first Kwan to formally adopt the name Taekwondo, and the first to deliberately move away from simply preserving what its founders had learned toward shaping something consciously new and Korean. In the early years, these changes were subtle. The first major push was not technical, but linguistic. Choi Hong Hi gradually began developing his own terminology and, most importantly, replaced the names Tang Su Do and Kong Su Do with Taekwondo. While the individual characters were Sino-Korean, their combination and the identity they represented was something distinctly new.

The first major physical step toward a uniquely Korean identity came later, with the development of Chang Hon Ryu, a series of forms created specifically for Taekwondo rather than inherited from Japanese Karate. This marked a clear departure from the shared Kwan curriculum of the 1950s.

Choi Hong Hi also played a foundational role in Taekwondo’s documentation and international spread. He published the first Korean-language textbook to use the name Taekwondo in 1959 (not the first Korean martial arts manual, but the first under this name), followed by the first English-language Taekwondo book in 1965. His Oh Do Kwan lineage was also the first to be taught outside of Korea, whether in Vietnam or Malaysia depending on the source, with the difference in timing being minimal.

In later years, Choi increasingly presented himself as “the Founder of Taekwondo” or “the Father of Taekwondo.” This narrative was strongly promoted by his students and by the organization; the International Taekwon-Do Federation (established in 1966). Understandably, this has been controversial to some people.

In 1965 most of the Kwan adopted the Taekwondo name, after heavy lobbying by Choi himself, and these schools possessed their own legitimate histories, instructors, and lineages. As a result, many practitioners outside the ITF tradition have reacted negatively to claims of a single founder or to the idea that one branch alone represents “original” Taekwondo.

Having no political ties to either side, and holding direct lineage connections to both Ji Do Kwan and Oh Do Kwan, I understand where both perspectives come from. I do not believe Choi Hong Hi should be dismissed or reduced, his influence on Taekwondo in Korea during the 1950s and 1960s was enormous and undeniable. At the same time, I do not agree with the view that there is only one legitimate Taekwondo, or that it exists solely within Choi’s Taekwon-Do.

I am, unapologetically, a Taekwondo nerd. I recognize all of Taekwondo, and I believe we can learn something valuable from every branch, every Kwan, and every interpretation that grew from this shared root.