HWA RANG KWAN MUYE- Taek Won Do

9th Dan GrandMaster D.K. Shin established the Traditional Martial Arts school - Hwa Rang Kwan in 1971. It is currently the oldest running martial arts school on the West Coast.

The roots of this school lie in the very start of Taekwondo - in the 5th century.

Hwa Rang Kwan - literally, The School of Flowering Youth - is named after the Hwa Rang - the Flowering Knights, an elite warrior group of the Silla kingdom in Korea existing in the 5th century AD. This warrior group had to have superb fighting techniques, courage and mental strength, as the Silla kingdom was the smallest of the three kingdoms and the Hwa Rang warriors had to fight against much larger forces.

The Hwa Rang were also enlightened individuals, schooled in both Confucianism and Buddhism. The latter philosophy encouraged them to develop and refine their Ki, or internal energy, and enabled them to enter battle with a refined spiritual purpose. The Hwa Rang fought with dignity and nobility and became legendary warriors, eventually bringing an era of epic conflict to an end by unifying Korea.

The school's Hwa Rang Creed is based on the original 5 ancient principles of the Hwa Rang Warriors.

Hwa Rang Kwan Muye is thus the Traditional Martial Arts (Muye) school of the Hwa Rang Kwan.

It is these noble, honorable Korean warriors that we acknowledge every time we step into Hwa Rang Kwan and train.