Hwa Rang Do

Hi Matt, thanks for the response. I am under no illusions that Korea is choc-o-blocked full of martial art schools. Indeed, I concur that the USA is the epicentre of Martial arts, due to the variety of systems that are available in the country.

I should maybe have explained further (sorry!). I wish to explore all aspects of Korean culture, not just martial arts. Of course I plan a very limited stay, certainly not of a duration that would accommodate a long-term martial study. But I reason that any experience would be worthwhile.

Tang Soo Do and Tae Soo Do are separate martial arts. Tae Soo Do was a former title of the martial art that is now Tae Kwon Do (the modern manifestation of Tae Kwon Do at least), or so I believe (as I have always said I am open to being corrected). However, Tae Soo Do is currently the sporting aspect of Hwa Rang Do. I have a limited knowledge of Hwa Rang and am aware of their place within General Choi's 24 patterns, but their recognition in modern Korean martial arts does not cease there. Dr Joo Bang Lee, the founder of Hwa Rang Do, allegedly (I have never seen/heard any quotes from the man himself, hence the "allegedly") claims that he an his brother were taught the ancient fighting system used by the Hwa Rang, and this is the system that Dr. Lee taught.

As I alluded in my original post, I am aware of the controversy of Hwa Rang Do's origins. Presently I am very sceptical of its purported history.

I am sorry if my original post was vague in any way. Sincerest apologies.

That always happens! I ramble on during my responses and in that time someone else posts!

Chakuy, thanks for the response mate. Hwa Rang Do is a Korean martial art, not dissimilar from a technical point of view to Hapkido.

It doesn't seem to be too widely spread across the world. I know that we here in Europe have less than ten dojangs across the entire continent.

You need anymore info let me know, will share my (limited admittedly) knowledge with you. Or enter a Hwa Rang Do search into Wikipedia.

P.S. Tae Soo Do, as mentioned, is the sport part of HRD.

Sounds interesting, but I can’t see anything has to do with flowers

Ha ha! According to those who practice, Hwa Rang Do exponents "flower" in terms of their own personnel development.

Thanks for all the responses and happy holidays to all.

Hello your in a bit of a slump here and I figure the best I can do is spill the beans on what I know or read on Hwa Rang Do.
Lets see it seems we all have the same info on Dr. whats his name. who actually seems to be the only authrority on Hwa rang bo. I suppose we've all red his magazine intervies from Black Belt and those other mags, and I suppose we've all seen his sons particularly the one in that Martial Arts documentary video from the Discovery Channel.

So here's what I know. From my readings on Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido. They mention these Hwa rang warriors (way of flowering manhood) I dont want to get into it with anyone, but I doubt these flower boys existed nor do I rally care. That was a joke by the way "flower boys"

From what I can tell Hwa rand do seems to be the combination of Tae kwon do (kicks) with Hapikido (join locks, circular manipulations).

As far as this Tae So Do sport version of Hwa rang do, I believe one of the sons from the Dr whats his name, admitted that its a new sport created for young martial artist. To me it seemed like a gimic so they can attract more practicioners to thier art. Because it looked exactly like modern sports taekwondo.

Wait it just hit me, isn't this guys name is Dr Bong something? I dont mean to insult your arts master, I just cant remember his name. From what I have read this arts is not just about combat but about healing, herbal medicine, spiritual meditation, flowering, basically its a slice of korean/japanese culture. I was curious about this art however I remember what really turned me off to it was the price they charge to learn it. Oh and I'm not to keen on those fancy uniforms, I mean the black one is cool but those bright colored ones...no thanks not for me.

Well I hope my research helped you and I hope you didnt get offended by my sad attempt at humor. I to tend to babble.

"Do or do not...there is no try" -Yoda

May I suggest contacting Sabunim C.M. Griffin, columnist for Tae Kwon Do Times magazine (he writes the column "The last word", usually found on the last page of the magazine). He is a Hwa Rang Do practioner and operates a HRD dojang in Cinncinati,OH. His e-mail address is cmgriffin@taekwondotimes.com . He is very knowledgable of martial arts in general and is very respected. Could help you with alot og your questions. Hope this helps.

TK
VDJ

Just to clarify Tang Soo Do is very similar to TKD in many ways. The differances are that TSD is a "traditional art" with focus on philosophy, self improvement, self defense, forms etc. TSD generally does have tourneys and sport sparring but it is of a lower priority while TKD alot of times is at the top. I have trained for a number of years in both and this has been my experience. I have also done some hapkido. IMO in all of the above arts the hand and foot tecniques are essentially the same. Of course these statements are genralizations that will have exceptions to the rule but are my observations.

Just an update for all. I e-mailed Mr Griffin, and he sent back a very nice and helpful response.

The gist of it relates to the common truth in any martial art really, i.e. it’s not the art, it’s the artist.

He also stated for a more in-depth discussion on Tae Soo Do, the sporting aspect of Hwa Rang Do, it is best to contact the West Coast Hwa Rang Do dojangs.

Just as a further point, I notice quite a few people also talking about Tang Soo Do, which I am happy to hear about. If anyone else wants any further info on this, I also have another post in MA Teaching & Learning relating to Tang Soo Do. I have had some excellent responses there as well. Below is the link:

http://www.fightingarts.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/15813596/an/0/page/0#15813596

Thanks to everyone who has replied in both posts.

Just an update:

No response yet from HRD HQ, save and polite acknowledgement. But what with the holidays and all, they are probably just catching up.

This has been posted before, but for anyone who has not yet seen it: http://www.hwarangdo.com/videoclips.htm

Go to the clip entitled "7th Dan Promotion". It shows HRD in action. Please note, the above clip was not choreographed in the slighest way

I actually can appreciate this. Sometimes I was expecting Jackie Chan to show up but I have had the opportunity of seeing something like this up close. Even at my level we do something similar with partners but nothing so extravagant. I have not doubt about this guys abilities.

Have to agree with you there Dereck, the guy certainly has a high skill level.

I would recommend reading Black Belt's "Hwa Rang Do" by Taejoon Lee. He is the son of the founder Dr. Joo Bang Lee. He explains the history of the art.
I too am interested in this art. I was first exposed to it from the books by Michael Echanis (rip.) He has three books that are based on HRD that address knife fighting, stick fighting and unarmed against the knife. I have all three of these books. What impressed me about HWD is that it seems to incorporate a lot of arts into one. It has an Aikido flavor (this is explained in the book) and it incorporates elements of other Korean striking arts as well as chokes, throws, etc. I would like to study the art but I was not able to locate any schools in my area. From what I can tell it would appear to be a well rounded method and would offer the practitioner a life time of study if a suitable instructor was available.

I just watched some of these videos and I have a few comments;

Although the demos were highly choreographed and relied on a well trained partner, the speed, intensity, angles of attacks, counter attacks, methods of attack and defense spell one thing to me, COMBAT EFFECTIVE.

Thanks Intrepid, I will check out the literature.

I understand your frustration and not being able to find somewhere to train. There are very few dojangs located around the world. I think this may be due to the strick control the HRD HQ excercise over there art (such as TM'ing the name Hwa Rang Do, so as to stop an phoney dojangs from opening up)

Hey Prize have you recieved any correspondance from the Hwa Rang Do association as of yet? Just curious.

I seen a demo by Chief Master Taejoon Lee and I was very impressed. He is one of the finest if not the finest Martial Artist I have seen. Was a humbaling and great experience.