Thursday, July 02, 2015

THE GODFATHER OF TAEKWONDO SUPREME GRANDMASTER KIM KI-WHANG,

Chating with Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang in Pittsburgh.
When I think about it I am humbled and honored to have been able to say that I knew Supreme Grandmaster Kim and considered him a friend. In fact he often looked out for me at tournaments and I would co-ordinate THE EAGLE CLASSIC his tournament every June with my partner in crime Grandmaster Stepan and his amazing student Grandmaster James Roberts, Jr. who continues to teach Kim's system in the Washington DC area. 

FRIENDSHIP BASED UPON AN ARREST 


The reason that Supreme Grandmaster Kim was so kind to me was his relationship to my Sabam (master instructor) Supreme Grandmaster Chun Kae-bae.  Their friendship began in a quite interesting way. At some taekwondo event, probably here in America, Supreme Grandmaster Kim was talking about one of his best friends a Moodukkwan master that he use to train with in Korea. My instructor Supreme Grandmaster Chun overheard this conversation and interjected: "He's your friend? I arrested him!"



So the story goes that Supreme Grandmaster Kim's friend was AWOL from the military and they got a tip that he was hiding up in some mountain dojung that the Moodukkwan men would train in on the weekends. Because this man was a well known Tangsoodo man in Korea, the police were afraid to arrest him, so someone in charge decided that Chun Kae-bae, Korean National Police Force Chief Taekwondo Instructor and Coach of the Police Force Taekwondo Team [which included Supreme Grandmaster Park Dong-keun (Grandmaster Gerry Robbins' of THE OFFICIAL TAEKWONDO HALL OF FAME's instructor), Supreme Grandmaster Ahn Dae-sup and many others] would capture and bring in this man.


So to make a long story short Supreme Grandmaster Chun arrived at the mountain Dojung. He said: "I cannot go back without you, NO CHOICE, if you choose to resist, both of us will be injured, maybe one of us will die." The master knowing that there was no way out surrendered. Well as the press has been known to do, they turned this event into a battle worthy of a Bruce Lee movie and Supreme Grandmaster Chun became a hero. When Supreme Grandmaster Kim realized who Supreme Grandmaster Chun was they instantly connected and became the best of friends.


My relationship with Supreme Grandmaster Kim 

I've mentioned before that due to naivete and miss-understanding I broke down the boundary between American black belts and the Korean masters by sitting down at the Masters' table in Charleston West Virginia at Supreme Grandmaster Kang Sok-ho's tournament. It was at this tournament that Supreme Grandmaster's Kim Il-joo and Supreme GrandmasterKim Ki-chung began teaching me to co-ordinate tournaments. From this point on I began to run tournaments all over the northern part of the country including the legendary S. Henry Cho ALL AMERICAN OPEN TAEKWONDO TANGSOODO KARATE KUNGFU CHAMPIONSHIP in THE FELT FORUM OF MADISON SQUARE GARDEN in New York City.

At every tournament the masters would welcome  then usher me quickly to the microphone. When Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang saw what I and my cohort Grandmaster Charles Stepan were doing, he started chastising all of the other masters: "Look what K.B. Chun's students are doing, why your black belts no help?" Of course Supreme Grandmaster Chun loved hearing these stories from the other grandmasters.

KIM KI-WHANG THE 7TH FATHER OF TAEKWONDO? 

 Having done extensive research on the history of Taekwondo and the four era's before the creation of Kukki Taekwondo and the World Taekwondo Federation. The founders of the five original kwan's (schools): Whang Ki, of the Moodukkwan; Rho Byung-jik of Songmookwan; Lee Won-kuk of the Chungdokwan; Yun Byung-in of the YMCA Kwonbup Bu; and  Chun Song-sup of the Yunmookwan Kongsoodo Bu (my style).  With the exception of Whang Ki, who trained in China and probably with Gogen Yamagushi founder of Japanese Goju in China, all of the founders trained in Japan.

Lee Won-kuk, Rho Byung-jik and Chun Song-sup studied under Gichin Funakoshi founder of Shotokan in Tokyo. Yun Byung-in and Dr. Yun Kwae-byung who would replace Chun Song-sup after his disappearance during the war studied with Toyama Kanken at Nihon University. All of the early fathers had a karatedo background.

So did Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang. It is well known that Kim was a student of Okinawan master Toyama Kanken and that he was the first Korean to be Captain of the Nihon University Karate Team. When he joined the club he asked if he had a chance to make it to the top of the team. Master Toyama replied: "I don't care what someone's race is, only how hard he works." Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang outworked all of the other team members and in fact was called Typhoon because of his amazing way of nonstop attacking. 

Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang did not create his own kwan in Korea! 


Though if was often stated that Toyama Kanken's style was Shudokan, he denied this. When he moved to Japan he had an "L" shaped house.  His family lived in one wing and he trained students in the other wing. His students called this wing Shudokan. But master Toyama insisted that he did not create a style and that he only taught what he had learned from his instructor Anko Itosu back in Okinawa. He claimed that he only taught classical Okinawan Karate as he had learned and practiced since he was 9 years of age. Master Toyama Kanken in fact created the All Japan Karate-Do Federation (AJKF) with the intention of unifying the various forms of Karate of Japan and Okinawa under one governing organization. 

I believe that it was in this same spirit, the spirit of Toyama Kanken who he so admired to purposely not create his own style but to just keep teaching the principles of MooDo (the martial arts) as he learned it from his master.  In fact Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang, though a member of Supreme Grandmaster Whang Kee's Moodukkwan, was not a student of Supreme Grandmaster Whang Kee.


Anne and James Roberts
Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang upon his return to Korea was looking for a dojung where he could train hard and someone told him: Those Moodukkwan guys work really hard. So he joined to have a place to practice what he had learned from Master Toyama Kanken, a place where he could contribute his knowledge.


After Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang's move to America he joined Taekwondo organization, though he continued to teach the arts of Itosu and Toyama Kanken. His successor Master James (Jimmy) Roberts and his wife Anne Roberts continue this tradition even today. Anne and Jim Roberts are pictured with my instructor Supreme Grandmaster Chun Kae-bae upon their induction into the BRUCE LEE LEGENDS OF HONOR HALL OF FAME in Columbus. Jim and Anne also accepted the award for Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang who posthumously was inducted.

It is pretty well accepted that Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang was the creater of the "Ax Kick" which was made famous by his two amazing fighters Grandmaster Michael Warren and Grandmaster Albert Cheeks. His list of students looks like a who's who list of taekwondo in America, including Supreme Grandmaster Richard Chun In-moon, Grandmaster Chuck Norris, Grandmaster Mitchell Bobrow, Owner of OTOMIX, George Thanos, and Pat E. Johnson (judge, stunt coordinator and actor). Marshall Collins, Marcella Byrd, John Bussard,  John Critzos 

So though  Supreme Grandmaster Kim Ki-whang did not start his own kwan, his focus was upon teaching the art he learned and developing the new art of Taekwondo into the world wide phenomenon that it has become.  It is because of this and the quality of his students, and his teaching as well as his developments in sparing that I believe he should be considered one of the FATHERS OF TAEKWONDO.

 


9 Comments:

At 11:42 AM, Blogger R. Machtemes said...

Are you at liberty to share or willing to say who the MDK sah bom was that GM Chun arrested? Can you post a follow-up with a newspaper clipping from that time? Even if it's in Hangul/Hanja? I suppose these stories are sensitive and not good publicity for those involved, but I think enough time has passed that we should celebrate these "fun" stories and share them with a new generation. I myself have started collecting these stories to tell my students.

 
At 2:37 PM, Blogger MasterSamNaples said...

Not a secret, I just don't remember the gentleman's name. Grandmaster Chun has mentioned it before. Problem is you have to get him when he's in the move to chat, LOL. Not news clippings that I"m aware of. Stay tuned as for as stories go. I love sharing.


 
At 2:34 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Great article. Im Hercules Baxter and I got my black belt from The Great Ki Whang Kim. Thanks for posting this. I think is was very informative. I recall Grandmaster Cheeks telling me how he and Mike Warren started using the Ax Kick back in the 70"s and people didnt know how to respond and would just get hit. LOL!!

I just started my own school and plan on continuing the teachings and training of Ki Whang Kim as well.

Thanks for the article.

 
At 1:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well written and informative. Thank you

 
At 11:47 AM, Blogger self-mastery-sam said...

Hercules, thanks for commenting. Grandmaster Stepan and I use to co-ordinate Grandmaster Kim's tournament for him and then later for Grandmaster Roberts. Your school and Grandmaster Kim Il-joo's were like our brother and sister schools, though we were Jidokwan, you were Moodukwan and Kim Il-joo was Songmookwan. Many great friends. You have an important tradition to uphold and continue! Good luck with your dojang!
In the spirit of Jidokwan

Grandmaster Sam Naples

 
At 7:23 PM, Blogger Jdk said...

So what did he call his actual style or system? Was it karate, taekwondo, tangsoodo, etc. Basically what do his students say they have rank in?

 
At 7:33 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

All our certificates say Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan.
And keep in mind that Ki Whang Kim was the only TKD Grandmaster that wasn't self promoted back then.

 
At 11:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Appreciate the response!

 
At 11:50 AM, Blogger Jdk said...

Appreciate the response!

 

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