Decathlon of Hwa Rang Do® (Black Belt Magazine – Sep 2014)

Posted on April 1, 2014May 3, 2021 by taejoonlee

By Fernando Ceballos

Photos by Robert Reiff

"New Form of Standup Competition is the Final Element Needed to Evaluate All-Around Martial Arts Skill!"

At first glance, you’d think you’re watching a Muay Thai match up. However, if you look closer at their equipment you’ll notice some key distinctions.

They have shin guards and black head gear, however the head gear itself has a face guard and padding on the top of the head. And the gloves are open finger gloves similar to MMA.

The fighters engage with lighting fast punching and kick-combos, including flying and spinning kicks followed by takedown attempts and throws.

They go to the ground frequently, but there is no long drawn out grappling stalemate. In fact, after a 5 count, the fighters are always brought to their feet if there is no successful submission victory.

We see a single leg takedown attempt, immediately followed by a leg lock and yell of “tap” within a second of hitting the mat. It happens so quickly, you look around for a replay monitor.

The fighters return to center ring, the referee gives the command to bow, raises the winner’s arm and brings the two combatants together for a hug. After some good sportsmanship, the two depart to calmly take their seats beside an open mat ring and the next two fighters are announced.

What is being described is one of the many martial sporting events, Yongtoogi (or Stand-Up & Submission Fighting), which takes place during 2 days of competition for the World Hwa Rang Do® Championships. Other events during the Championships include grappling, sword fighting, stick fighting, and other events comprising of over 10 categories of competition.

“This is our unique and the world’s only, decathlon of martial arts competition” Lee says – 8^th Dan Hwa Rang Do Grandmaster and President of the World Hwa Rang Do® Association.

“Most martial artists spend months training for 1 fight or at most one tournament. Yet, over 40% of our competitors will compete in 10 tournaments, over the course of the two days, not only testing their skill in each category, but their endurance. Our advanced students compete in 1 additional tournament - Yongtoogi – our advanced submission fighting category, designed to condition fighters to master Hwa Rang Do’s Self-Defense formula – Defend, Takedown, Quick Submit”.

Lee observes all matches from behind the time keeper’s table, with a stoic expression on his face. Only smiling and clapping, along with the audience when the match finishes, acknowledging BOTH combatants for their efforts, displaying no favoritism.

What is most striking about the end of all matches, is how calm the winning fighters are after each match. None of them raise their own hands, gloat and celebrate after their victory – regardless of how difficult or dominant they performed.

The fighters’ mutual respect for one another clearly overrides any desire for an understandable emotional outburst, which follows most martial arts victories we may see on television or other live sporting events.

Yongtoogi and the rest of Hwa Rang Do’s tournament categories are held within a “closed tournament” format – meaning no groups without a direct affiliation to the World Hwa Rang Do Association (or WHRDA) may enter any of the tournaments.

“We’ve pretty much kept this format a secret, and have only recently held these events in public places, such as at the Origins International Martial Arts Festivals at Disneyland in 2011 and 2012. Those events were the first time, we allowed the rest of the martial arts community and general public to see what we have.”

A Brief History of Tournaments in 70’s & 80’s

It has been almost 25 years since Hwa Rang Do participated in any open tournaments – whether organized by the WHRDA or other martial arts groups.

“Before developing this decathlon of tournament categories we have today, like other martial arts groups, we previously participated in competitions all over the country and the world, dating back to the mid-70’s.”

In the 70’s, Kenpo and Karate groups hosted stand-up fighting tournaments, each with their own rules. There was no protective gear and the rules were similar to what we all saw in the film, ‘The Karate Kid’ – one hit, one point.

Some of the Kenpo organizations allowed groin strikes. None allowed takedowns, except Karate but only in the form of a leg sweep, however no points were awarded for sweeps.

Rotational kicks were also not allowed, which posed a problem for Hwa Rang Do and other dynamic fighting arts.

“We couldn’t fully express the comprehensive nature of our art. We would be disqualified if we attempted a spinning kick or takedown, but since we were a small group at the time, we wanted to show the martial arts community that even with these limitations, we could still win and we did win – a lot.”

As described in Black Belt Publication’s new book, ‘The Complete Michael D. Echanis Collection’ book, these frustrations were even apparent when military combatives legend, Michael Echanis, who was studying Hwa Ran Do under it’s founder, Joo Bang Lee, would storm into tournaments and challenge the champion to a street fight, most of the time leaving the champion bloodied and unconscious.

“My father certainly did not condone or endorse Michael’s actions, which is why he encouraged him to go back to military and teach the Special Forces. He was a warrior, born for combat and he was better suited for the military, not civilian life. However, the statement he was trying to make was clear. We have an art which cannot be fully expressed in, what at the time, were contemporary martial arts competitions.”

According to Lee, eventually Hwa Rang Do began running their own “open tournaments” organized by his father Joo Bang Lee, but they stuck to common rules, in order to attract outside groups. While they were very successful, the tournaments were a challenge to coordinate and appeasing all groups and their requests for rules changes and special treatment was not easy.

In the early 80’s the politics of running tournaments became more than Joo Bang Lee wanted to take on and Hwarangdo ceased running tournaments for 4 years and chose to simply participate in open tournaments hosted by other groups.

“The benefit of participating in tournaments & demonstrations were obvious. It was a marketing tool and a way to allow our students to test their skills and overcome fear through the experience of competition. When we performed in tournaments, other martial artists and those in attendance wanted to join our organization. That allowed what at the time was a little known art called Hwarangdo to grow!”

When Taejoon Lee, entered college at the University of Southern California in the mid- 1980’s – already recognized then as a “master” rank – he had opened clubs not only at USC, but his group spread to UCLA, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, Arizona State and others. News of these clubs spread and within a couple years, Lee literally led an army of college-age practitioners in the art of Hwarangdo.

He asked his father permission to run inter-school closed tournaments and eventually received his blessing to once again hold 2 open tournaments per year under the name of ‘BIG MAC’ – “Martial Arts Championships (MAC)”.

They did this in partnership with NASKA, the North American Sport Karate Association, whose rules allowed fighters to get points for takedowns, which was important for Hwarangdo practitioners, giving them more freedom to express their skills.

Hwarangdo practitioners competed in BIG MAC, in addition to outside open tournaments through the 80’s. However, once again, the challenges of working with outside groups became a problem, but this time, it was far worse.

Lee states that, “Tournaments became increasingly unruly with a loss of respect for each other and poor sportsmanship, which severely diminished the value of participating. Etiquette and respect for one another is a core part of our martial way, so clearly this was a problem.”

Lee recalls two incidents in particular, which ‘broke the camel's back’.

“There was one incident, I recall, where a competitor didn’t like a referee’s ruling, punched him in the face and a melee ensued. A few weeks later, at another event, 2 opposing teams were fighting on a stage at the Team Fighting finals and spectators started throwing chairs across the stage at each other.

“We started losing students because of negative experiences. As a result, we reduced our participation by sending only select students as representatives and then stopped completely by the early 1990’s.”

Developing the World’s First Martial Arts Decathlon

Lee and his father, Joo Bang Lee, decided that developing their own tournament format exclusively for Hwarangdo, which also reflected the comprehensive nature of the art, was the best course of action.

Adding to the Point Fighting, Open-Hand and Weapon Forms competitions, which were already in place, Lee first implemented a Gotoogi (or Submission Grappling) program adapted from self-defense techniques in Hwa Rang Do, with no striking for the purposes of competition. You could only win by submission or points, similar to Jiu Jitsu or Catch Wrestling.

Then came the development of the ‘mugidaeryun’ or weapon fighting categories, which began as Kumdo, Korea’s counterpart to Japanese Kendo.

As documented in the article of January 2014 issue of Black Belt Magazine, ‘Hwa Rang Do Weapons: Taejoon Lee and the Korean Martial Art’s New Spin on Traditional Sword and Stick Fighting”, Lee developed & patented a leg attachment to the traditional Kendo armor called the “Hache Hogu” or leg protector, which opened the category up to allow for strikes to the leg and spinning attacks, creating a new dynamic weapon fighting sport - Gumtoogi (Sword Fighting) and Bongtoogi (Stick Fighting).

Expanding the competitive categories further, the same armor was used for long sword, twin short swords, long staff, twin stick fighting and mixed weapon fighting competition as well.

By the late 2000’s, Hwarangdo’s World Championships had evolved from a simple half-day 3-category event consisting of forms and point fighting, into a 2-Day 10-category martial arts decathlon.

During this period, the advent of MMA had also simultaneously transformed the martial arts world, with a greater emphasis on ‘reality based’ competition.

It is said that MMA is “as real as it gets”, however that too would prove to be far from what would take place in a street fight or self-defense situation, yet there was clearly an interest in what a martial art like Hwarangdo could do in a full-contact format.

“Even back in the 80’s, my father had deep philosophical conflicts, about having our students engage in full contact fighting, yet always knew that competition would eventually evolve to what we’ve come to know today as MMA.

“However, being who we are, we had to think more deeply about what we wanted to represent. Our art transformed the early days of empty hand and armed combatives in the Special Forces through Michael Echanis. We were dominant in the late 70’s and 80’s in sparring and forms competitions. And we now run the world’s only 2-day martial arts decathlon. From a self-defense and combat sport perspective, we’ve had nothing to prove and since the 1990’s, we’ve only gotten better.

“In the past, there have been students of ours whom wanted to compete in full-contact tournaments outside our organization. We could not allow it while they were affiliated with our association, so in those cases, we mutually agreed to part ways so they could pursue their goals and they performed extremely well. However, we asked that they not claim having trained in Hwa Rang Do nor did we want credit nor did we support them. It wasn’t what we were about.”

“Our priority has always been maintaining that which is unique to us – our sense of brotherhood, our family bond, the spiritual component, our hwarang heritage and respect to our higher ranks and masters.”

In the late 1990’s & early 2000’s, Hwarangdo did in fact develop a full-contact sport category, “Kyuktoogi” with only advanced students & those demonstrating a strong mental maturity allowed to train and compete in. However, Lee was not yet comfortable with the social dynamics it created.

“In Full Contact Fighting, the goal is to hurt or incapacitate your opponent. How does a group or organization who thrives on our bond and brotherhood, operate like a family, while having the goal of hurting each other, inside the ring?”

“We also wanted to maintain our leadership hierarchy. In sport, that is broken. The champion and contender rankings is what dictates the hierarchy, however just because you are a champion, does not make you a leader, nor does it make you wise nor a good person. What we wish to cultivate are leaders, not just fighters.”

“That’s not to say we didn’t want to create a ‘reality based’ fighting format, but it had to align with our values and goals.

“First, it had to promote the altruistic ideal of competition, which is to push one another and test the skill of our brother or sister across the ring from us. Second, the rules had to promote the development of a valuable skill set which could be potentially life saving, if mastered.”

Hwarangdo’s Fight Plan – Defend, Takedown, Submit

The answer came when Lee authored ‘Hwa Rang Do: Defend Takedown Submit”, published by Black Belt, which outlined the art’s self-defense strategy, which could be adapted for military, law enforcement or personal self-defense.

The strategy is broke down into 3 components:

Defend – Using distancing and striking techniques to defend and setup the next stage of the formula…

Takedown – Engage in a lock or hold, which will neutralize your opponents striking by taking them to the ground, then…

Quick Submit – While maintaining a dominant top position on the ground, quickly apply a lock-up to either, submit your opponent, choke them out or inflict more serious injury through a bone break or dislocation, should they not submit or pass out.

The important thing to know is that Hwa Rang Do emphasizes the “quick submit” strategy – meaning to quickly recognize the lock-up opportunity present and immediately execute the most effective finishing technique to dispose of an opponent, while avoiding a BJJ style ‘roll’ on asphalt or concrete, which leaves one vulnerable to injury and multiple attackers.

The dominant top position also allows the Hwa Rang Do fighter to quickly recover and react to other threats.

This formula is what the ‘Yongtoogi’ sport became based on. Rather than encouraging Hwa Rang Do competitors to go for the ‘knock out’, Lee wanted them to focus their efforts on mastering the ‘quick submit’ and showcasing the full breadth of the art.

The matches would entail two continuous minutes of fighting. The striking would be limited to medium force attacks to the head and body, to prevent unnecessary injury while at the same time encouraging them to fully express the striking and takedowns available in Hwa Rang Do’s vast curriculum and to setup for a ‘quick submission’. However, a fighter would have only 5 seconds to submit their opponent, before they are stood up by the referee and the match is allowed to continue.

Should a competitor successfully apply a submission and get the other person to ‘tap out’, the match would be over and he or she would be declared the winner.

Should the match go the full 2 minutes, 3 judges would score the bout for each fighter on a scale from 1 – 10, in the areas of “striking”, “takedowns” and “spirit”. Each judge would add up their score and choose a winner.

The fighter with 2 judges scoring in their favor would win the match.

The “spirit” category is left up to the judge’s discretion to award a fighter credit for things not covered in the other two categories, such as energy level, difficulty of techniques performed and aggressiveness.

Now, five seconds on the ground may seem like a very short period of time, but that is precisely what Lee wanted. He wants to train his practitioners to quickly recognize the available finishes and apply them without hesitation and with precision.

This experiment has proven fruitful in the past 2 years that these rules have been in place for Hwa Rang Do, with matches resulting in tap outs via armbar, shoulder locks, ankle locks in addition to many decisions.

Lee says “My goal is not really intended to create champion fighters, although that certainly is fun to watch and an excellent test of skill for our students via competition. My goal is to help my students develop the self-defense skills against each other, which could one day save their lives, without the ego-driven culture of full contact fighting gyms and most importantly, preserving our martial way – our traditions, respect for your senior ranks, respect for one another and our familial bond.”

Hwa Rang Do®’s Weapon Fighting (Black Belt Magazine – January 2014)

Posted on January 1, 2014May 1, 2021 by taejoonlee

Hwa Rang Do Weapons: Taejoon Lee and the Korean Martial Art's New Spin on Traditional Sword and Stick Fighting

By Black Belt

Photos by Robert Reiff

Grandmaster Lee's task at hand: modernize hwa rang do's sword method for more modern appeal while preserving expression, uniqueness and safety. No easy task, surely -- but Lee is no ordinary martial artist.

The two competitors kneel at opposite sides of the ring, a bamboo sword at each person's side. They slowly don their armor. As they stand, two additional plates — called hache hogu (leg armor) in Korean — reveal themselves, hanging down from their belts and covering their thighs. The referee brings them to the center, after which they bow, draw their swords and begin the bout. So far, it looks like a standard kendo or kumdo match, but as they clash, the flavor of the fight changes — with lightning-fast spins, low-level maneuvers and attacks aimed at more than just the head and wrists. While numerous forms of weapons sparring are practiced around the world, none is better-known than kendo. It's the frontman of competitive sword fighting and boasts more practitioners than any other art. However, in the eyes of many, it's badly in need of an update, especially with respect to the variety of techniques permitted. Enter hwa rang domaster Taejoon Lee. Taejoon Lee, president of the World Hwa Rang Do Association and son of the art's founder, Dr. Joo Bang Lee— as well as co-author of the landmark book Hwa Rang Do: Defend, Take Down, Submit— had his work cut out for him. The eighth-degree black sash knew that his art categorized its plethora of weapons according to how they're used in battle — slicing, striking, thrusting, throwing and so on. He also knew that much of that versatility was prohibited by kendo's rule structure.

Taejoon Lee tasked himself with modernizing his art's method of conducting sword fights to make it more appealing to modern practitioners. He wanted a solution that would permit the greatest possible expression of technique with both bladed and impact weapons, thus preserving the Korean art's uniqueness. And he knew that the solution would have to maintain the safety factor for which kendo is renowned.

To give a glimpse into the thought processes that went into the endeavor, he recalls an allegory from his homeland.

A Tale of Three Nations

“Three martial arts masters — one from China, one from Japan and one from Korea — came up to a massive stone wall," Taejoon says. “The Chinese master walked up to it, touched it, gave it a little push and then, realizing the wall was solid, went to look for a way around. The Japanese master walked up to the wall and stared at it, then took a stance and proceeded to punch it repeatedly. His fists were reduced to bloody stumps, but he eventually broke through. The Korean master looked at the wall, threw his favorite jump-spinning back kick and bounced off. He shrugged his shoulders, then went to search for a way around."

While it may sound like a cultural joke, the sociological implications of the story are spot on. The martial arts of each nation have been influenced not only by the personalities of their masters but also by the geography of the land.

Japan is a collection of islands. When attackers invaded, the locals had precious little room to retreat before ending up in the sea. Thus, it's not surprising that their combat mindset evolved to favor powerful and direct killing techniques. Systems such as kyokushin karate and kendo exemplify this idea with their hard-charging, one-punch-one-kill mentality.

China, on the other hand, is a vast land mass. If an invader came from one direction, retreat was almost always an option. Military strategies took into account the availability of maneuvering room and thus emphasized avoidance. That gave the Chinese the chance to develop martial arts that focused on yielding before delivering a finishing blow.

Situated between China and Japan, both geographically and ideologically, Korea is a peninsular nation. Historically, that afforded Koreans the ability to retreat toward the mainland if attacked from the ocean yet forced them to develop hard-core fight-or-die skills if backed up to the seaboard. Thus, their combative tendencies exhibit both linear and circular approaches.

Back to the Present

While striving to accomplish his task, Taejoon Lee appreciated that kumdo gave his students a chance to develop their linear sword skills in a sparring format, but he thought the standard rules prevented too many of the circular, spinning techniques that have always proved invaluable in combat.

“Hoi-jeon is a central concept in power development for hwa rang do," he explains. “To develop greater power output, you have to accelerate your weapon through a greater distance or place it under a greater torque. So when we spin — whether for a kick, a strike or a cut — we're trying to capitalize on that rotational force to impart the maximum damage to the target. It's not that you can't do that in kendo or kumdo; it's just that nobody really does it. So as soon as we implemented our new leg armor, which is now patent pending, spinning strikes or cuts to the thigh or belly suddenly had a lot more relevance."

To demonstrate his point, Taejoon Lee puts on his armor, picks up his bamboo sword and squares off with a student. They exchange blows and blocks for a few seconds, feeling each other out. As the opponent charges in with what ought to be a decisive head strike, Taejoon Lee blocks, spins and drops to one padded knee. The sound of his sword striking his adversary's leg armor resonates throughout the school. If the training equipment were replaced with live blades and the armor removed, a leg would have gone sailing through the air.

Circular Attack

Taejoon Lee then launches into an offensive application of the spin, upping the tempo of his footwork and movements. As the first few strikes are executed, it's obvious he's headhunting, unleashing heavy blows at his opponent, who can barely block in time. After each charge, Taejoon Lee backs off a bit more. Finally, he darts in with speed and ferocity, his weapon held high for a head attack. His opponent lifts his sword in hopes of blocking, but Taejoon Lee is one step ahead. Having drawn the man's weapon upward, Taejoon Lee spins underneath, effecting a beautiful belly strike. "A lot of martial artists say that any spinning technique is turning a blind eye to the opponent — they say that as soon as you turn your back, a straight- line technique will dominate you," Taejoon Lee says. "That's true — up to a point." To illustrate, he spins, and his opponent strikes him easily each time he does so. Point made: Using a blind spin without setting up the technique is a Hail Mary play in combat. Taejoon Lee then shows how the hoi-jeon principle should be used: He deflects his opponent's sword to the side, and by the time the man regains his composure and centerline control, he's already been cut. Mentally and physically, Taejoon Lee breaks his balance, drawing him into a specific reaction and capitalizing on the opening that's created.

With the modifications Taejoon Lee made to the safety gear, weapons training enters a whole new realm. Angles of attack and defense become less predictable — and more exciting to watch. Best of all, the improvement doesn't apply just to bamboo swords.

Taejoon Lee walks to the side of the ring, lays down his training weapon, picks up two shorter swords and goes to work. Then he switches to a rattan stick, a pair of sticks and a rattan staff. He and his opponent go sword against sword, double short swords against sword, double sticks against staff, and staff against staff, and the flavor of each weapon remains visible throughout.

“When I first implemented sword fighting, we used the standard kumdo format and I referred to it as kumdo," Taejoon Lee says. “But with the new safety armor and the emphasis on wider technique, we now call it gumtoogi (sword combat) or bongtoogi (stick combat)."

Like Against Like

In hwa rang do, impact weapons vie against impact weapons, and bladed weapons vie against bladed weapons because there are major differences in the associated strategies. With a stick or staff, students are allowed to make contact with any part of the shaft. With a sword, however, a cut must use the simulated edge and a thrust must use the tip and target the opponent's throat guard.

“It'd be easy to allow whatever contact to score, but that wouldn't honor the principles of each weapon's strong points," Taejoon Lee says. “Training should honor technique and revolve around principle. Scoring whatever just reinforces sloppy technique and dishonesty."

To that end, the spinning leg attacks effected with a simulated sword must be done with one knee touching the floor, and cuts that target the belly must be delivered from a standing position. Although, in reality, an edged weapon could certainly attack a leg from the standing position or the midsection from the kneeling position, the rule forces students to execute deliberate technique with a greater degree of precision. It also makes each move easier for officials to judge at tournaments, where more points are awarded for high-difficulty techniques such as spins.

Ready for Launch

To maximize the propagation of gumtoogi and bongtoogi, the World Hwa Rang Do Association has made the new weapons-sparring format open access. “This is a good program for traditional schools to teach applied weaponry with," Taejoon Lee says. “We took what kendo and kumdo brought to the table, used the majority of the targets and equipment, and modified it to allow for a wider expression of technique using a greater variety of weapons — while maintaining safety and emphasizing clear-cut attacks. For those who practice Korean martial arts weaponry, we've created a sparring format that allows them to express the real flavor of their art and develop the ability to attack at angles they couldn't use before."

As hwa rang do moves forward through its fifth decade, it's especially impressive to see a traditional art whose leadership has such a passion for maintaining and preserving ancient combat skills while applying ingenuity to improve the teaching and training methods. Taejoon Lee's commitment to this makes him one of the martial arts trailblazers of the 21st century.