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The martial art Taekwondo was designed to unify a range of martial arts in Korea and act as a military training system. Since the 1960s, it has undergone significant evolution and now has certain stylistic differences based on the major organisations that promote it worldwide.
Our syllabus is heavily influenced by Taekwondo as it was conceived in the 1950s-1960s, prior to much of Taekwondo's sport based evolution, and when it was brought over to the Southwest United States by a South Korean called Jhoon Rhee.
Korean Karate, as it was called then, was still influenced by its Karate origins. Over the next thirty years however, it would co-exist with other Japanese hard styles explored by American stylists interested in overall combat effectiveness.
In 2004, I, re-assessed the Chang Hon patterns as used in Taekwondo and discovered a rich source of instructional and combat material. My book ‘Fighting Heaven and Earth’ was the impetus to produce a syllabus that promoted the best that Taekwondo had to offer in a traditional and forward-thinking manner.
Welcome aboard!
Yours,
Colin Wee
Please note that links to associated
sites are guides only, the Hikaru Ryu way should be followed over
anything that deviates from our training.
Date Tue, 23 Sep 2003 104921 +0800
To everyone@hikarudojo.com
From Colin Wee
Subject Mail Broadcast September 23 2003
Dear Member,
While my mind was on the groups' continued training, I did enjoy my
three weeks vacation through Singapore-London-Paris-Burgundy.
My trip through London was quite interesting and significant, allowing
me the opportunity to meet with the founder of the International
Alliance of Martial Arts Schools and teaching at his school.
We had about 30+ TKD exponents go through some of the lessons
and philosophies that we study. They were a very disciplined and
enthusiastic bunch.
So positive was the experience, I am arranging another meeting. This
time it'll be with IAOMAS Singapore when I'm back there end Jan 2004.
For more on this, please check out the IAOMAS forum available at
http//www.iaomas.org.
I have been reflecting on our martial arts group, and on the last two
months in particular. As mentioned, I am still convinced that we will
have to establish a Thursday evening training session. The classes
currently are great for beginners, but I need an extra time slot to
ensure the intermediate belts are getting the training that they need.
It is no secret that our school is expanding, slowly but surely. I
envision that with more frequent classes, we will be able to maintain
the quality of instruction and the tight social network that we initially
started out with. Growing pains tend to put a strain on such issues,
but rest assured I intend to constantly overview the skills development
of all our members. This should be apparent in the upcoming months.
Also, we will eventually review the pricing structure for training. This
will be in line with the increased value we will be offering members
(more training slots, more free courses, merchandising, etc). Other
institutions are charging anywhere from double to three times as much
as the $35 we're currently paying. My stand is that we will increase our
fees, but will still remain very competitive. Such a review will possibly
be somewhere around the middle of next year. I will like your input before
that happens, if you are up to it, on any critical developments you'd like
to see from us.
Date Thu, 18 Sep 2003 100834 +0800
To everyone@ninjado.com
From Colin Wee
Subject Saturday Timings for Hikaru Dojo
Bcc rossana.panetta@police.wa.gov.au
Here is a mail broadcast regarding new training times for Saturday.
830am - 900am Absolute Beginners With No Uniform
900am - 945am White Belts
945am - 1030am Coloured Belts
1030am - 11am Non syllabus oriented training (optional)
Beginners (No Uniforms)
Those who are intending on visiting and practising, please meet at
the carpark next to Hollywood Primary school at 825am. It's on
the corner or Smythe (Off Stirling Hwy) and Monash. Please confirm
that you will be coming to practise by calling either myself or Niaal
Holder. If you are coming only to watch, please come at 9am. Otherwise
you are still invited to stay on and watch the other white belts learn
the basics.
White Belts
Please come at 845 for a 9am start, and please warm up yourselves.
You may also want to stay on and continue training while the coloured
belts train.
Coloured Belts
You may choose to come and help with the white belts. This is in fact
part of your training and helps you learn the techniques from a different
perspective. Otherwise warm up yourselves.
1030am - 11am
Free and easy. This is where we discuss and do 'non-syllabus' oriented
training. I would suggest everyone participate in this. Depends on
your schedule.
Date Sun, 03 Aug 2003 171636 +0800
To everyone@ninjado.com
From Colin Wee
Subject News for Hikaru Ryu Gendai Budo
This is a mail broadcast, and the first ever news message for our dojo.
Dear Lifetime Member of Hikaru Dojo
Congratulations to all those who recently attempted their grading with us.
- Sonia Joseph is promoted to green belt
- Thembi H-F, Kathy S-J, and Thai Nguyen are promoted to orange belt
Everyone did remarkably well; and we were blessed to see some real
life innovation again from Sonia Joseph (to the chagrin of Thembi who was
at the receiving end).
For those of you who do not know, I am going away on annual vacation
from August 23 to September 14. For those Tuesdays that I will be away,
Sifu Vincent Cordeiro will be taking classes at our Wesley venue on
Tuesday evenings and Niaal will be leading training at our Nedlands venue
on Saturday mornings. Those inactive members (you know who you are -
including Mr Crumple Zone), are more than welcome to partake or watch
Sifu Cordeiro. He comes to us from a very different system, and lessons
with him promise to be quite exciting.
Another bit of news, we are slated to provide a self defence training program
to an international pharmaceutical company, at their Sydney branch. They
will be flying us out there end September.
Our website has officially passed 1500 visits per month for the month of July.
I aim to increase this figure by 30% in the next 6 months officially through
website optimization techniques, unofficially this entails subversive and
sometimes unethical procedures which produce a lot of giggles from
all round.
Wine. Wine. Wine. How come Team Wasabi seems to be dealing with
so much wine in the last couple of days? Something tells me that there's
a fallen-from-the-back-of-a-truck operation going. Talk with Thembi, he's
got the goods. Forget about coherent conversation with Thai and Kathy -
they're going to be sloshed for some time.
While we're getting quite a few inquires (2-3 every week or two) on regular
basis, those that seem to be very interested in joining our club seem to
always disappear when it comes time to visit our dojo. If anyone has an
idea how to generate more interest or get more people down, please let us
know. Or send them to our new website (with compliments from Hollywood
Holder himself) at http//www.hikarudojo.com. Maybe we should package
some wine for beginners? Or crack some open?
FYI - There's this wonderful link regarding the learning of martial arts. Check it out
at http//www.24fightingchickens.com/101/index.html.
Keep training folks!
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