Taejoon Lee: Black Belt Author | Hwa Rang Do Instructor

Taejoon Lee

Black Belt author Taejoon Lee is the chief master at the West Coast Hwa Rang Do Academy.
Taejoon Lee
(Photo by Rick Hustead)
Few men are born into martial arts like Black Belt author Taejoon Lee. At the time of his birth in the Korean springtime of the early 1960s, his father was the most visible and most active man in the Korean martial arts scene. Dr. Joo Bang Lee almost single-handedly brought Korean traditional martial arts out of the dark ages following the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. His first son, Taejoon, was destined to follow in his footsteps.

Lee was raised in his father’s dojang, and his early childhood was filled with training that most other martial artists would envy. While other children were playing outside, he was rolling on the mats with hwa rang do masters and learning to perform physical feats that others could only marvel at.

At age 9, Lee came with his family to America. Those early years in the United States presented many challenges to the young Korean immigrant; he had to learn the language and adopt new customs while preserving the heritage of his ancestral homeland. Throughout his school years, Lee also maintained a rigorous schedule as a master instructor of his father’s art, managing and teaching at his own dojang at only 16 years old.

As a young adult, Lee chose not to pursue a modern American career and instead focused all his energy on the preservation and propagation of his father’s legacy—hwa rang do. Lee has ventured into every medium as a means of spreading Korea’s most comprehensive martial art, and his influence can be seen in feature films, magazine articles, instructional videos and on the Internet.

Lee serves as the vice president of the World Hwa Rang Do Association and holds the position of eighth-degree black sash chief master of the West Coast Hwa Rang Do Academy in Los Angeles.

Lee, along with Black Belt contributor Mark Cheng, collaborated with Black Belt Books to produce Hwa Rang Do: Defend, Take Down, Submit. This easy-to-understand manual covers self-defense technique combinations complete with setups and variations for different attack situations.

For more information about Lee, visit hwarando.net.




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Hwa Rang Do Chief Master Taejoon Lee Visits Black Belt

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