Often something
get displaced in the mists of time.
I believe this
has been one of them. Jhoon Rhee one of America’s founding fathers of Tae Kwon
Do is such an individual.
He taught a very
large group of schools in the Baltimore and Washington DC area. Among his other
accomplishments he created the first form rubber safety gear that was to become
the upcoming world wide standard.
He had many
accomplished students in Fighting and Forms. He even had a role in a Tae Kwon
Do Movie, “When Tae Kwon Do Strikes”.
I believe it is
one of the more unique endings I have seen. This is a clip of the closing
fights.
But I believe
one of the things he attempted has been lost in time.
He had the idea
to mesh forms with classical music.
Some examples:
Beethoven Form
Theme of Exodus
And here is
Jhoon Rhee doing the form Chosang. The name means Ancestors and he created it
to honor America’s founding fathers.
I believe this
is worth remembering his driving force was on the face of American Martial
Arts.
1 comment:
It WAS Jhoon Rhee who created Safety Gear which became the standard for kumite in almost all styles as time went on. When I began kumite was "naked' using fists and feet almost uncovered.
I remember when safety gear was new and we had to learn how to adjust to it for fighting.
It was not exactly safe, for I have seen more injuries with it, than fighting without it.
But Jhoon Rhee was first all the same.
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