The name is the more popular than any
other on the traditional
Taekwon-Do
sphere. The pivotal factors of Kwon, Jae-Hwa's make-up are his
personalized training methods, the ability to correlate with his
counterparts on any and every level and his philosophical outlook. Kwon,
Jae-Hwa was born in 1937 in Pusan, a large harbour town in South Korea.
He began practicing Taekwon-Do in his youth and soon made notice of
himself through his exceptional talents. In Hae, Dea-Yeong, 6th Dan, he
found a devoted mentor and coach who was totally devoted to the
advancement of his students. Upon completion of college studies, in
journalism, he was employed by Pusan IIbbo, the town�s largest daily
news publication. But his life�s main commitment was still Taekwon-Do.
At the age of 24 he was Chief Instructor (highest ranking coach) of the
Yonmu-Kwan Taekwon-Do Schools. In 1964 he was appointed to the post of
Association Technical Director for most of the Taekwon-Do departments at
public schools - as well for private Taekwon-Do schools, and
universities in the region of Pusan. Grandmaster Kwon, Jae-Hwa is also
active functionary in both of these positions until this very day.
At 29 he was a member of the six-man
Korean Demonstration Team chosen to venture out and introduce Taekwon-Do
to the western world. A year later, Kwon, Jae-Hwa�s, 6th Dan at that
time, utmost goal became making the practice of Taekwon-Do common place
in Europe. He founded the German Taekwon-Do Association, was appointed
its Head Coach as well as Chief Representative for Europe and the Middle
East. Unfortunately, Taekwon-Do was soon propagated in the western
hemisphere as a 'modern fight sport'. Grandmaster Kwon, Jae-Hwa deemed
it most necessary to distance himself from this developmental trend:
'malicious or intentional injury of others is not the true persuasion of
the spirit of Taekwon-Do'.
Taekwon-Do�s foremost goal is the quest toward completeness and
perfection of ideas, form and technique. It would be illusionary to
undermine the psychological Zen roots � on which he reiterated upon in
his book 'Zen-Art of Self-Defence', published in 1970, and simply view
Taekwon-Do as just another form of sport. Grandmaster Kwon continues to
practice and teach the traditional Taekwon-Do system actively in New
York City and has stayed true to the innate idea of 'Do'.
Official Site
