Kwon Jae-hwa
| Korean spelling | |
|---|---|
| Hangeul | 권 재화 |
|
Revised Romanization |
Gwon Jae-hwa |
|
McCune- Reischauer |
Kwon Chaehwa |
Kwon Jae-hwa (born January 10, 1937 in Fusan , then the Japanese Empire , now South Korea ) is a South Korean Taekwondo Grand Master. He is a 7th Dan bearer and became known through the pebble quarry test .
Live and act
Kwon Jae-hwa was born in Fusan (today's name: Busan) in 1937 . He received Taekwondo lessons at a young age and showed himself to be extraordinarily talented. Grandmaster Hae Dae-yeong, 6th Dan, became his teacher and devoted himself only to the education of this one student. Later Kwon was even taught by General Choi Hong-hi , one of the founders of Taekwondo.
In 1958, Kwon Jae-hwa began studying business administration at Dong-A University in Busan . After completing his studies, he worked as a journalist for Busan Ilbo , the largest daily newspaper. However, he mainly devoted his time to Taekwondo.
In 1961, at the age of 24, he became Chief Instructor ( German : highest teacher) of the Yonmu Kwan Taekwondo Association, which at that time was the largest association in the Busan district with over 5,000 members (including 200 Dan bearers). The Dong-A University of Busan, where Kwon had studied, as well as other universities and high schools, were also united in this association. In 1964, Kwon was also appointed technical director of the Busan Taekwondo National Association. Most of the Taekwondo departments of schools and universities as well as many free Taekwondo schools in the area belonged to this. He still performs both functions today.
In 1965, at the age of 28, he became a member of the six-man demonstration team that was supposed to promote Taekwondo in the western world. A year later, Kwon Jae-hwa, then 6th Dan, set himself the goal of spreading Taekwondo in Europe. In 1966 he founded the German Taekwondo Association and became its head trainer and representative for Europe and the Middle East.
After the Taekwondo World Association WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) was founded in Seoul and the Taekwondo philosophy changed from "martial arts" to "competitive sport", Kwon Jae-hwa distanced himself from the fact that others could be willfully injured, was his conviction according to the spirit of Taekwondo. The primary goal of Taekwondo is the pursuit of perfecting ideas, form and technology. It is wrong to forget the spiritual background of Zen, which he explains in his book Zen Art of Self-Defense , published in 1970 , and to regard Taekwondo as a normal sport. Against this background, Kwon consciously uses the spelling Taekwon-Do - with which the Do is emphasized more than in the spelling Taekwondo .
In 1972 he became the official national trainer of the Taekwondo section in the German Judo Federation . The following year he was promoted to 7th dan and moved to the USA.
Until 2005 he taught the traditional teaching system in New York City , staying true to the guiding principles of Do. Since then he has founded numerous Taekwondo schools, including in New York City, Fort Lauderdale and Munich . Even today, Kwon Jae-hwa regularly gives courses for his students in Germany and around the world. He is also the author of several books on martial arts and taekwondo. Today Master Kwon lives in New York in the Manhattan borough.
At the end of 2013, Kwon Jae-hwa ended his association work in Germany. Ralf Peter, 7th Dan, Wiesbaden, Michael Unruh, 7th Dan, Hamburg and Joachim Reinhardt, 7th Dan, Kempten, as the highest-ranking Dan bearers, are still in direct contact with him, as are some other school principals who follow his path. Schools and groups supervised by Michael Unruh are listed on the Taekwon-Do Nord website. Some of the former schools of his association have joined forces to form the United Traditional Taekwondo Centers. Other schools founded the Association Traditional Taekwon-Do Centers eV with the aim of keeping traditional Taekwon-Do according to Kwon, Jae-Hwa sustainable in an organized, nationwide structure. This also includes the introduction of transparent examination regulations legitimized by the association.
Pebble break test
Master Kwon Jae-hwa became world famous through his pebble stone break test. With the edge of his palm he smashes massive river pebbles .
During a test carried out in 1984 in the BMW test laboratories in Munich, a successful test carried out 1.5 milliseconds after the impact with a force of over 6000 Newtons (600 kg) on the stone; the more frequently quoted value of 10000 N (1000 kg) was measured on an unsuccessful blow.
literature
- Jae Hwa Kwon: Zen Art of Self Defense. Karate - Taekwon-Do. Otto Wilhelm Barth, Weilheim 1971, ISBN 3-87041-251-8 .
- Jae-Hwa Kwon: PO EUN HYONG. Self-published no year
- Jae-Hwa Kwon: SAM IL 16th Hyong. Björn Schunk Publishing House, Ahrensburg 2007.
- Carl Wiedmeier: Karate - The world of Taekwon-Do. Copress-Verlag, Munich 1966.
Individual evidence
- ^ Taekwondo Black Belt Center Wiesbaden - Home. Retrieved June 26, 2017 .
- ↑ www.taekwondo-unruh.de - Michael Unruh, 7th Dan Kwon, Jae-Hwa Taekwon-Do. Retrieved June 26, 2017 .
- ↑ Home . In: Traditional Taekwon-Do Center Kempten . ( taekwon-do-kempten.de [accessed June 26, 2017]).
- ↑ www.taekwon-do-nord.de. Retrieved June 26, 2017 .
- ↑ United Traditional Taekwondo. Retrieved June 26, 2017 .
- ↑ Traditional Taekwon-Do Centers eV - Association for Traditional Taekwon-Do. In: traditional-taekwondo.center. Retrieved May 22, 2016 .
- ↑ Public exams of the TTC eV and z. B. Website of the TKD Center Cologne, http://www.taekwon-do-koeln.de/schule/taekwondo-center-koeln.html#trainer , examination by Jürgen Collector for 7th Dan.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kwon, Jae-hwa |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 권 재화 (Hangeul); Gwon, Jae-hwa (revised Romanization); Kwon, Chaehwa (McCune-Reischauer) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | South Korean Taekwondo Grand Master |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 10, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Busan , Korea |