Supreme Grand Master
Kee, Hwang 기황 (黄琦)
He was born on November 9, 1914, in Jang Dan, Gyeonggi province, South Korea. It is said that his father Hwang Yong Hwan, a scholar who had reached a high level of academic knowledge in the history of King Ko Jong last of the Yi Dynasty, had a dream in which he saw the luminous star Sam Tae at the time of birth. of his son. Due to that dream he gave him the name of Tae Nam, "boy of the star.", Later it would be changed by Kee.
In May 1921, counting Hwang Kee when he was seven years old and during the celebration of the traditional festival of "Dan O". He traveled to the neighboring town where festive and sporting activities were being held such as Sirum (traditional wrestling), archery and races around the town, passing near the town's tavern, he observed a group of people and imagined that it existed. Some kind of problem, I observe that a group of eight or nine young people surrounded and argued with a man, this group of words became deeds and began to try to attack the man, this at first only dodged and evaded the attacks without any difficulty, until suddenly he went on the attack, in brief moments with hand and foot techniques, all the young people were on the ground quite battered, Hwang Kee heard people commenting “he is a Taek Kyeon”, and others “he is the partner of Sip Pal Ki ”, he was so impressed by the strange movements and the result that he decided to find out that“ it was that ”, he began to follow the man to find out where he lived, several days later, he approached again He went to the man's home and sitting on a nearby hill he began to observe the house, from there he saw the man practicing "those strange movements" of feet and hands with a partner. He watched the practice with great interest and discovered that they were the same ones the man had used against the group of young people at the May party. He continued to visit these men's homes frequently, observing all the movements with interest and then calmly repeating them at home.
One day he decided to learn these techniques and approaching the man he asked if he would like to teach him, he refused that request saying that Hwang Kee was still very young. Disappointed by this refusal, he returned home, but continued to visit the man's home, carefully observing and practicing alone what he had seen that day. These techniques were none other than "Taek Kyeon" that had been practiced since the Yi Dynasty. This experience was his greatest influence in the decision he made to become a Kwan Jang Nim and that he would dedicate his entire life to the style of the created Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan.
In Korea in the early 1930s the educational system differed significantly from today. Few were the students who managed to graduate from high school, Hwang Kee started elementary school at the age of 11 and then finished high school, graduating in March 1935. Upon graduation, he joined the company. from the railroad and destined for Manchuria in May 1935. In May 1936 and through Park Kyo Pil, a friend and co-worker at Jo Yang Station, he had the opportunity to meet the Chinese master Yang Kuk Jin at whose house they were invited. During this visit, he observed that Master Yang taught privately in his own home to a group of students the practice of a Chinese martial art. Hwang Kee despite the time that has elapsed since his experience when he was seven years old, never lost his dream of being able to learn a martial art in depth and from the hands of a master.
Certainly he had been trained when he had the opportunity for the last 20 years but in a self-taught way, taking and copying from one place and another, however he never had the opportunity to be guided and structured or to get a reliable bibliography on what he was interested in, These were the times of Japanese domination and the practice of martial arts was based on Japanese techniques as well as the control of those who practiced them, he, like the vast majority of Koreans, was against that invasion. Hwang Kee before this visit was excessively nervous, he saw the possibility that his dreams would finally come true, he knew that he was in the home of Master Yang, who was considered a great master of Chinese martial arts. Mrs. Yang received them and welcomed them, while they waited and served them tea, when Master Yang appeared he saw a man of about 50 years of age, with a very calm and healthy appearance as well as an impressive inner energy.
In August 1937, he had to leave Master Yang and return to Seoul for personal reasons. In 1941 he returned to Manchuria again for a time to continue with Master Yang's instruction, this was the last contact he could have with Master Yang, both physically and in writing, Korea cut off all kinds of relations with China in 1946 once this became a communist country and that part of Manchuria was left in Chinese hands. Upon his arrival in Seoul after leaving his instructor Master Yang, Hwang Kee restarted the search to continue training and the possibility of starting teaching. It was impossible, the Japanese authorities had them totally prohibited, only the Japanese styles of Judo and Kendo were practiced and under strict control, these were the two martial arts known to the people in general.
All Korean styles or those that were not purely Japanese were strictly prohibited, although clandestinely and at the risk of being arrested, tried, imprisoned and possibly executed, the people continued their practice, thus Korean styles such as Taek Kyeon and Soobahk, Chinese like the Wu Shu and the Kwon Bop or the Okinawan, Okinawa Te, were practically unknown. Due to this situation it was impossible for Hwang Kee to make his dream come true, he returned to self-taught practice, but this time with bibliography and a very strong foundation. His work in the Survey department of the Cho Sun Railway Bureau in 1939, was quite quiet, it was also separated from the central building and luckily, the building where he worked was precisely where he was, the auditorium, the library and some rooms conditioned for physical exercise.
In his job, although the salary was low, he was quite comfortable with the conditions and environment of the job. He spent most of his time reading books from the library. Particularly about Astronomy, Philosophy, History, Medicine and Okinawan Te - Karate techniques. It was a very pleasant surprise for him to find Karate books in the library, even though they were all published in Japan. Like many other things, publications of any kind were censored, on the other hand it was the first time he saw modern editions on martial arts. This was his first encounter with Okinawan Karate, later this knowledge influenced the Moo Duk Kwan system when "Tang Soo Do" was created by ya Kwan Jang Nim (Grand Master) Hwang Kee during the beginnings of Moo Duk Kwan.
During that period of time he developed his maturity as a martial artist. Due to his work on the railroad, he could travel free of charge wherever the train would arrive. He traveled throughout Korea and most of Manchuria, contacting masters of other disciplines both in martial arts and in philosophy, history, medicine, which added to his experience and maturity in the discipline of martial art that he was creating. Korea finally became an independent country on August 15, 1945, when World War II came to an end. At that time it became possible for Hwang Kee to fulfill his lifelong dream of being able to dedicate himself exclusively to teaching martial arts.
For the previous 25 years, his maturity as a martial artist had been conditioned through hard but self-taught Taek Kyeon training, as well as his various experiences in other martial arts, but what marked him significantly was the length of time he spent in China training with Master Yang. It was not only the technical influence of Master Yang but also his teaching to improve human character, all this as a whole can be said that it was what definitely indicated the way forward, being for him a unique experience.
Master Hwang Kee passed away in Incheon on July 14, 2002, at the age of 88.