The Jidokwan founder who vanished during the Korean War
The foundations of what was to eventually become Jidokwan were laid down by GM CHUN Sang Sup, who was one of the earliest Koreans to bring Japanese karate back to his homeland.
When he was seventeen years old, GM Chun relocated to Japan to attend College at Takushoku University in Japan, where he took up Shotokan karate under Gichin Funakoshi Sensei, the founder of that system and one of the first to bring karate (originally an Okinawan martial art) to Japan.
Upon GM Chun's return to his native Korea, he began teaching this fighting art at the Chosun Yun Moo Kwan school of Judo , one of the few martial arts schools the Japanese occupying forces allowed to remain open during the period of their military occupation of that country. At this time, GM Chun became very close with another Korean practitioner of the Okinawan/Japanese fighting arts, GM YOON Byung In, who was said to have also studied Ch'uan-fa another word for Kung-fu in Manchuria. GM Yoon eventually became a Shudokan karate "Shihan" (Sabum or teacher) under Kanken Tōyama Sensei while studying in Japan. Toyama Sensei was a colleague and fellow martial artist of Funakoshi Sensei, although he did not consider the karate he
was teaching to be a distinct style that differed in form or substance from the generic brand of Shuri-based karate (derived from the Shuri district in Okinawa where it initially evolved) that Funakoshi Sensei had introduced to Japan and which was eventually named Shotokan by Funakoshi Sensei's successors.
https://taekwondo.fandom.com/wiki/Yun_Moo_Kwan
GM Chun and GM Yoon traveled extensively together to train with other martial artists in Manchuria (northern China). They trained with each other so much that they came to be thought of as brothers. GM Yoon taught at GM Chun's Choson Yun Moo Kwan Kwon Bup Bu (권법무) for about six months before opening his own club, which he called the YMCA Kwon Bop Bu.
GM Yoon's YMCA club later became the Chang Moo Kwan, which was founded by his most senior students, including GM LEE Nam Suk.
During the Korean War, all schools of martial arts were closed in Korea, including the Chosun Yun Moo Kwan.
GM CHUN Sang Sup and GM YOON Byung In both vanished during the Korean War and GM Chun was never heard from again. Byung In Yoon died of lung cancer on April 3, 1983 in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province. After the Korean War, the Chosun Yun Moo Kwan Kwo Bup Bu program (sometimes "Yun Mu Kwan") school was restarted with new teachers and a new name, Ji Do Kwan (or "Jidokwan") meaning the Way of Wisdom School ("ji"= wisdom, "do" = way and "kwan" translates as hall, school or institute, depending on context). The older name, "Yun Moo Kwan," roughly translates as the Institute (or Hall) of Martial Study.
Jidokwan was subsequently absorbed into the newly unified Korean system of Tae Kwon Do (Taekwondo), which translates as the Way of Foot and Fist, so that it ceased to exist as a distinct style of Korean "karate." However, Jidokwan still exists in Korea today as a fraternal order which endorses the Kukkiwon martial arts system and supports World Taekwondo. There are still branches of the old Yun Moo Kwan style practicing today although in some cases they may only be using the old "Yun Moo Kwan" name. Some have gone their own way, with many adopting taekwondo-like formats and methods while others have ranged farther afield (e.g., Nabi Su, a modern hybrid style that traces its roots back to the old 'Yun Moo Kwan' style although it's hardly recognizable as a form of traditional Korean karate today).
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jidokwan
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