If you think you know all about Tae Kwon-Do, try these obscure facts!
• General Choi Hong Hi’s pen name was Chang Hon, which translates as Blue
Cottage.
• Bob Howe was one of the first people in the UK to be awarded a black belt in Tae
Kwon-Do in 1970. He later became the first chairman of the TAGB.
• To reach 9th Dan – Grand Master in the TAGB requires a minimum of 48 years
continuous training.
• The patriot Ahn Chang-Ho chose his pen name Do San (Island Mountain) after
seeing Hawaii during his emigration to the USA in 1902.
• General Choi Hong Hi achieved a 2nd Dan in Shotokan Karate in the early 1940’s
while studying in Japan.
• In the video game Tekken, the character Hwoarang performs part of pattern Hwa
Rang in his opening sequence.
• The monk Won Hyo died in 686 aged 69.
• The blocking tool for U-shape block (digutja makgi) is reverse knife-hand (sonkal
dung).
• October 3rd is celebrated in Korea as Dan Gun day.
• Only 2 patterns in Tae Kwon-Do start with an attacking movement, Ul Ji and
Tong Il.
• In 1983 General Choi replaced the 2nd Dan pattern Ko Dang, (named after Cho
Man-Sik a nationalist politician who was executed by the communist authorities in
North Korea), with pattern Juche (based on the philosophy of Kim Il-Sung “the
great leader” of North Korea). The TAGB and many other organisations have
never accepted this change.
• The 24 patterns in TAGB Tae Kwon-Do have a total of 968 moves.
• Grand Master Jhoon Rhee (the father of American Tae Kwon-Do) invented foam
safety sparing gear in 1972.
• Buffy the vampire slayer star Sarah Michelle Geller is a brown (red) belt in Tae
Kwon-Do.
• Reflex kick (bansa chagi) involves running at a wall then springing off to kick in
the opposite direction.
Instructor : Phil Thomas Schools : Milton Keynes / Banbury
AVALIBLE ONLINE AT : w w w.TAGB.ne t / w w w.TAGB.inf o
• In 1982, General Choi Hong Hi graded 19 North Koreans to 4th Dan and 25 to 3rd
Dan after they had spent just seven months training in Tae Kwon-Do under
Master Park Jung Tae.
• In the 1970’s television series “Kung Fu”, the part of Master Kan (mentor to David
Carradine) was played by Philip Ahn, eldest son of Ahn Chang-Ho.
• Base of the knife-hand (sonkal batang) is only used to attack one target – the
clavicle.
