Black belts Spring 2025

In the spring of 2025 five guests from the Netherlands visited Seoul to train with Korean instructors and students of the World Hankimuye Federation. Three of them tested succesfully for their next grade.

Klaas, Roland and Joris arrived early on Friday and were put in charge of leading the Saturday afternoon class in Seoul. Klaas took them through the basics of hankimuye, while Roland followed up with some practical application. On Sunday Richard and Maartje joined the group. Classes started on Monday morning.

Program

Lead instructor Ko Sehwan taught three classes per day. The days started at nine with one hour of hwansangdobeop training. Followed by one and half hour of striking, practicial application and conditioning. The evening training started at seven and focussed on hankimuye self defense and exam training. On Tuesday night the visitors joined a grappling class at the gym of master Nam Gisuk of the World Kyuksuldo Federation which was followed up on Wednesday afternoon with a private class on striking.

Exam

On Friday afternoon Richard, Maartje and Joris were put to the test for their next grade. Richard and Maartje tested for second dan, while Joris test for his first dan. Instructor Roland lead the exam while masters Yang Yong-seok, Ko Sehwan and Klaas Barends acted as judges. With the thorough preparations of the week behind them, it came as no surprise that all three passed the test.

Enjoying Korea

In the afternoons the visitors did a little sighteeing. Since most of them had been to Korea before, they could skip the touristy spots and just enjoy Korean culture at their own pace. Joris decided to climb both mount Gwanak and Bukhan and Klaas gave a quick tour of Seoul with a visit to the royal palace, Insadong, Gwanjang Market and Jogyesa. Another visit was made to Master Nam Gisuk and the regular trainings in Seoul continued in the morning and evening.

All and all we can look back on a succesful two weeks of training. If you are interested in training with us, there is a very affordable guesthouse just across the street and our mat is always open to anyone that wants to train with us.

Memories