Was Elvis Presley holding 7th Dan black belt?

11:21:00 AM Tkd kwan 2 Comments


Not everyone got a honoray martial art black belt, and our article guest today was a very famous personality but who actually trained martial arts.

He started his journey in martial arts by training Karate and a German master then later under grand master Ed Parker.

Few years later grand master Ed Parker recommended another master for Elvis, that was a Taekwondo grand master named Kang Rhee.

Lets introduce grand master Kang first.

Grand master Kang Rhee was a student of GM Byung In Yun, Nam Sak Lee and Chul Hee Park in South Korea.

GM Kang trained several martial arts before moving to the United States in 1964, He trained in Kong Soo Do, Chang Mu Kwan, Kwon Bup, Kang Duk Won and Han Kuk Hap Ki Do.

Grand master kang Rhee established his system and named it Pasaryu, It was a mixture of elements from the Japanese Karate, the Chinese Kung Fu and the korean Taekwondo.

GM Kang did not cut ties completely with Taekwondo and Korea and he earned his Kukkiwon seventh Dan in 1975 .

Let's go back to our guest Elvis Presley :)

Elvis trained under GM Kang 4 years and was awarded the seventh Dan, and at the time Elvis already did about 16 years in martial arts in general.

Many would of course say that being awarded this high rank would be kind of honorary belt even though he was training, but let us ask you: who would not award Eevis Presley a high rank at the time when Elvis was the king :)

It was honestly amazing to see some videos when Elvis was doing a demonstration and showing off his skills.

According to some sources, Elvis was an instructor in Pasaryu association and he was also testing students who were holding lower ranks than him.

GM said that Elvis was a humble person who admired martial arts and the movements.

It is true that Elvis was not a talented martial artist but i personally think that he was promoting the martial art more than many professional martial artists.  

Imagine if Michael Jackson for example was practicing Taekwondo, I am saying ''IMAGINE'' :) , for sure that would have been the best Taekwondo promotion ever :)

In normal systems of martial arts, 16 years is short if you want to earn a grand master rank, but as we mentioned above, it was kind of honorary belt :)

The truth is that Elvis was a humble person, because someone in his place would not want to train in a normal class with other students, but he did.


Here is a footage where Elvis Presley was demonstrating some of his skills.




2 comments:

  1. It's like grandma telling you about something she saw in a movie

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