HISTORY OF JANG MU WON HAPKIDO ASSOCIATION
The seeds of what would ultimately become an international organization known as Jang Mu Won Hapkido were planted when Grandmaster Chong Sung Kim began his study directly under Choi, Yong Sul the founder of Hapkido.
Following many years of training, Grandmaster Kim established his first martial art group in 1960 which was known as the Jang Mu Kwan Association. At this time he owned and operated a total of three schools, two of which were in the Yong San Ku District and were known as the Sam Kag Ji branch and the Nam Young Dong branch. Another school in the Yong Dong Po Ku District was known as the Bong Chun Dong branch.
Jang Mu Kwan's first instructor was Grandmaster Hwang In Sik (who presently serves as the Chairman of the World Hapkido Association). He had a reputation as a highly skilled, tough, no-nonsense instructor, and remained with Jang Mu Kwan until he decided to pursue his dream of being in the movie business.
In 1973 Grandmaster Kim immigrated to the United States and opened his first branch in Alhambra, CA which still exists to this day. It was at this time that Grandmaster decided to change the name of his original organization to the Jang Mu Won Association. This was a very symbolic move on Grandmaster's part because of the meaning of these words in Korean and the underlying ideology that they represent.
In Korean, the word JANG can be interpreted as a young, robust man, forever young and fresh. MOO (MU) means martial art, and KWAN means a (small) house or building. With the change from KWAN to WON, Grandmaster wanted to convey the idea of many houses or buildings under one roof much like a castle and its surrounding community all unified for one purpose. So, the new association name of Jang Mu Won Hapkido embodied the essence of his original vision which is that of a young, robust man's martial art organization or system that fosters and promotes health, strength, and vitality forever.
During the years that followed, Grandmaster Chong Sung Kim and Jang Mu Won Hapkido were featured in many renowned martial art publications. To name just a few, In June 1978 he was on the cover of Karate Illustrated, and in December 1994 another magazine, Karate-Kung Fu Illustrated featured yet another article. After years of hard work and as evidence of the respect and prestige Grandmaster Kim had acquired in the martial art community, in 2001 he was named HALL OF FAME INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR by Black Belt Magazine. In May 2002 and April 2007 Black Belt Magazine published other articles featuring Jang Mu Won Hapkido and Grandmaster Kim along with some of his students.
In July of 1992 Grandmaster Kim founded another branch of JMW Hapkido in the city of South Pasadena, CA. He also lived to see other branches established and currently there are schools in California in the cities of San Dimas, Fontana, Yucaipa, and Pasadena.
Grandmaster Kim had also established another organization known as the Dan Ki Woon Gong Association in order to promote the ancient breathing and meditation exercises which he had learned. He felt strongly about making this knowledge available to practitioners of other martial art styles as well as the general public, many of whom had no martial art background whatsoever.
Prior to his untimely and unexpected passing, Grandmaster Kim was able to create a small collection and sample of some of the thousands of Hapkido techniques in Jang My Won Hapkido in the form of 20 instructional DVD's. While representing just a tiny fragment of his 'wide and deep' art; the DVD's were the fruition of a project that had been years in the making. They are but a small part of a much larger and ever expanding legacy.
