Hwa rang do is claimed by its practitioners to be the direct descendant of the martial art practiced by Korea's sixth-century Hwarang warriors. The Hwarang were similar to Japan's samurai, but the corps was composed of boys who also studied fine arts such as calligraphy, music and poetry.

Hwa rang do includes kicks, punches, throws, joint locks, pressure-point strikes and internal-energy development. Dr. Joo Bang Lee is the highest-ranked hwa rang do expert in the world. He claims to be the 58th descendant in the arts lineage. The arts similarity to hapkido and kuk sool is often explained as having resulted from the fact that numerous martial arts experts—who would later become masters and found their own styles—trained together in Korea during the 1940s and 1950s.


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