Choi Kwang-Do
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Choi Kwang-Do | |
|---|---|
| Hangul: |
최광도
|
| Hanja: |
崔光道
|
| Revised Romanization: | Choe gwang do |
| McCune-Reischauer: | Ch'oe kwang do |
Choi Kwang-Do is a martial art derived from Taekwondo created by Grandmaster Kwang Jo Choi. Choi was a chief instructor for the International Taekwondo Federation from 1964 to 1978. His new style, Choi Kwang-Do, was officially inaugurated by him on March 2, 1987. With the goal of creating a safer and more effective martial art, Choi said that he formulated his new style based on bio-mechanical principles.
Choi Kwang-Do adherents say that all movements in their style follow the body's natural movement pattern, and are performed as one sequential movement. Their theory is that power is thereby increased and risk of injury is reduced. In Choi Kwang-do, martial arts competitions are viewed as counter-productive for health and self-defense purposes. Training is geared towards the stated goal of practical responses with maximum power in realistic situations.
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[edit] Grandmaster Kwang Jo Choi
Also known as Sahjonim (most senior instructor), Kwang Jo Choi was born March 2, 1942 in Daegu, Korea. He began his formal study of martial arts at age twelve in the art of kwon bùp, under the famous Master Instructor, Dong Ju Li. Driven by the need to survive in the war-torn streets of South Korea, Kwang Jo Choi soon became one of Master Li's star pupils.
After his tenure in the Korean Army, Kwang Jo Choi began his study of Taekwondo (Korean hand and foot fighting art) under its founder, General Choi Hong Hi. Through Kwang Jo Choi's talent and dedicated training, he was awarded the prestigious title of Chief Instructor under General Choi's International Taekwondo Federation before he was twenty five years old. Due to his excellent Tae Kwon Do technique, Kwang Jo Choi was named the "Model of Tae Kwon Do" by General Choi Hong Hi.
In addition to teaching self-defense to the Korean Army and National Police, Kwang Jo Choi was personally selected by General Choi to serve as an elite member of a group of experts chosen to spread Taekwondo throughout the world. Through his mission, Kwang Jo Choi became one of Taekwondo's most prominent ambassadors and was directly responsible for its spread throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and eventually, the United States.
Motivated by his dedication to the advancement of the martial arts, Choi searched for ways to improve on techniques and teaching methods of his predecessors. It was during his first years in Hong Kong, where he settled twenty years ago, that Choi began consolidating his martial arts theories and concepts.
For some time, Choi had felt that many of the traditional techniques he had learned were too stylized and rigid for practical self-defense. He discovered that many of these same techniques could actually harm the body and he thought, over the long term, they were detrimental to health and longevity. In fact, Grandmaster Choi had completely injured his body due to the lock out movements in his previous training, which forced him to move to North America in order to seek medical treatment. It was during this recuperation period that Choi created new techniques that would later form the initial foundation for Choi Kwang-Do.
Choi witnessed what he felt was too much importance being placed on sports competition, with the winning of trophies taking precedence over the ideals of personal and human development. The classical Instructor-Student relationship, which is crucial to development of a student in the martial arts, was quickly fading into a coach-athlete relationship where the only goal was to win, he believed.
Named after its founder, Choi Kwang-Do was officially introduced on March 2, 1987. Choi has since founded his own world organization, Choi Kwang-Do Martial Art International, and spends his time teaching, training Instructors and giving seminars at his many branches throughout the world. In addition, he is currently involved in producing videos and written literature from his headquarters in the Atlanta, Georgia area. The culmination of this work so far has been the release of a book about his art, the release of a video tape series and DVD series on the art, training and curriculum.
Choi Kwang-Do has schools in many countries, though none in South Korea.
[edit] Ranking system
In the Choi Kwang-Do system there are eighteen belt ranks until a black belt is achieved. The belt colors are broken down into Solid and Senior (or striped). Solid color belt (no additional stripes, or tags), and senior is the same color with a large single black stripe down the middle. Black belt progression is more complex than simply training for several years; instead, there are colored stripes placed at the end of the black belt that must be achieved before progressing in Dan Rankings.
[edit] Black belts
Note that before one receives any stripe they start with none and must advance from there. For example, within Sam Dan there are four ranks, with three stripes.
- Il Dan (Through Yellow, Gold, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Brown stripes) (Eligbile to become Head/ Chief Instructor)
- Ee Dan (Through Gold, Green, Blue, Red, Brown stripes) (Eligible to become Asst. Examiner)
- Sam Dan (Through Green, Blue, Red, Brown stripes) (Eligible to become Examiner)
- Sa Dan (Eligible to become International Instructor)
- Oh Dan (Master)
- Yook Dan
- Chil Dan
- Pal Dan (Grandmaster)
- Koo Dan (The highest Degree attainable in CKD)
4th Degree black belts are titled 'International Instructors'. Fifth degree black belts are titled 'Master', eighth degree black belts are titled 'Grandmaster'. Currently there are only two grandmasters: Grandmaster Woo, who has been Grandmaster Choi's student for 30 years, and Grandmaster Choi, who is the founder and 9th Degree Black Belt.
[edit] Conversion
Due to Choi Kwang-Do being a rather new art, and with Grandmaster Choi himself a former 4th Dan in Kwon Bup & Master of Taekwondo (as well as a black belt in Yudo, a Korean version of Judo), there is a system of 'conversion', in which higher ranked students can transfer their rank over. They must train intensely for at least six months, learning all the curriculum they must know to have the equivalent belt rank in Choi Kwang-Do.
