I have been asked lately to explain why the ASMKA has photographs of the late Grand Master Bong Soo Han on its website.  After all, Song Moo Kwan is in Master-Han-and-Master-Koskellaassociation with Taekwondo.  The lineage being from Supreme Grand Master Ro, Byung Jick.  Though there are schools around the world that use the name Song Moo Kwan in association with their respective Hapkido disciplines.

The answer is both simple and not so simple.

So where do I place Grand Master Han on the Lineage chart?  Do I explain his intervention when I sought Grand Master Chang Soo Ma for instruction?  Or, our mutual friend, Grand Master Ho Jin Song. In my life, I knew a man who once permitted me to call him “father” (아버지), then “friend” (친구); and, finally he called me something after I had walked from him.  After I had moved out on my own and asked him to step aside from me.  He said, “You have found your place. We are generals. To lead is often lonely. But to lead means to accept a greater responsibility.  As my friend, you are now a “general” (일반). Lead well, my friend.

My lineage is through Supreme Grand Master (Doju) Ro, Byung Jick, Grand Master Park, Byung Hoon, and Grand Master Kim, Yong Kil.  But for my Hapkido lineage, I remain a friend and under the lineage of (Doju) Choi Yong-Sool, and Grand Master Han, Bong Soo. Though he has provided the means for me to continue under another, I have yet found no other who can eclipse what I have learned of being a man and standing on my word that Grand Master Bong Soo Han.

It matter not what others profess. We find truth – on the mat. (그것은 중요 하지 다른 고백. 우리는 매트에 진실-를 찾아.)

Continue Reading: ASMKA Lineage Part Two