History of the Dan Bon

The Dan Bon is a record of all Black Belts who test under an organization for the purpose of establishing seniority within that group. In the Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan style of Korean Karate, Grandmaster Hwang, Kee set up this type of record keeping regarding Black Belt promotions and many Tang Soo Do organizations used this model when tracking its Dan promotions regarding seniority. Grandmaster’s Hwang, Kee’s system was a numerical system that started with one was went on from there and is still in use with the United States Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation and it’s international affiliates.

Its Current Use

The Traditional Tang Soo Do International, headed by Master Frederick Scott, pioneered and elected to use a Dan Bon based on the year a student tested to Black Belt and a numerical designation assigned to them. This system is superior to the numerical system in a number of ways and avoids abuses of the Dan Bon that defeat its purpose and in fact makes it useless as an indicator for seniority purposes. A student testing to Black Belt or Dan rank is assigned a “Dan Number” based first on the year they tested and then on the numerical order assigned by Master Scott. An example of this is as follows: The Spring Dan Testing for the United States is the first Dan Testing of the year. Therefore the year of the testing would be “010.” A student would then be assigned a numerical number. The final number would be 010-001 and would continue as 010-002, 010-003, and so on. This would continue throughout the year 2010. In the year 2011, the numerical order would start again with the number one.

Avoided Complications

The system used by our association avoids many problems associated with a strictly numerical system. The Dan Bon used by the Moo Duk Kwan under Grandmaster Hwang, Kee has experienced serious problems over the years. Senior Instructors who broke away from the Moo Duk Kwan and started their own associations, elected to continue their seniority tracking process by continuing to use the Moo Duk Kwans Dan Bon numerical system. The heads of these organizations simply started their “New” Dan Bon by assigning numbers to newly tested Black Belts based on the last number their members were assigned by the Moo Duk Kwan. This maintained their seniority within their organization but distorted their membership’s seniority as compared to the Moo Duk Kwan. This was because the Moo Duk Kwan, being the larger organization, promoted more people to Dan rank and within a few years was using higher numbers. These newer organizations were promoting less students to Black Belt and therefore had lower numbers, which is the criteria for seniority in all Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan type schools.

Another problem that was created was when the Moo Duk Kwan started sending its instructors overseas to establish schools in foreign countries. To alleviate the problem of having a large volume of paperwork going back and forth and a disruption of assigning Dan numbers in Korea, Grandmaster Hwang, Kee elected to assign “blocks” of much higher numbers to foreign countries and let the heads of those countries process their own paperwork. This decision didn’t affect the seniority in these countries too much but completely gutted the original purpose of keeping a Dan Bon. Since the Dan numbers in these “blocks” were higher than in Korea, all Koreans testing to Black Belt received lower numbers than the rest of the world testing earlier or at the same time. In addition, some Koreans living in the United States were assigned “lower” numbers from Korea to establish their seniority over Americans who tested before them simply because they were Korean. This double standard completely destroyed the “special” feeling or pride associated with a lower Dan number among a number senior Americans who had dedicated themselves to the Moo Duk Kwan. Being made to acknowledge a senior who really wasn’t your senior causes a breakdown in the esprit de corps and moral among the ranks, especially if that “senior” isn’t competent or uses his seniority in a detrimental or unethical way.

Additional

The Traditional Tang Soo Do International acknowledges within its membership Dan numbers issued by the Moo Duk Kwan under Grandmaster Hwang, Kee and the International Tang Soo Do Federation under Grandmaster Kang Uk Lee. These two men are acknowledged to be the most senior men within the Moo Duk Kwan established in 1945. Senior Masters within Traditional Tang Soo Do International such as Master Robert Woodiwiss, Master Thomas Wasylyk, Master Gordon Rickard, and Master Frederick Scott are some examples of members who still retain their original Dan numbers assigned by Grandmaster Hwang, and Lee. Traditional Tang Soo Do International accepts students with Dan numbers assigned by these organizations but retains the privilege of assigning them a new number to place them in an appropriate seniority position with our group. It also will accept Dan numbers from organizations that have adopted a Dan Bon system like our own. As time goes on and today’s seniors pass on, eventually the Traditional Tang Soo Do Internationals Dan Bon will become reflective of the true seniority of its entire membership based on the year and numerical position of its membership.