The last part of the special summer events in LA is the annual Black Sash Conference.  Every year black sashes, instructors, and masters gather to further their knowledge of Hwa Rang Do’s vast curriculum.  Also the refinement of the fundamentals is necessary in order to gain deeper understanding and gain true mastery.  The conferences encompass both of these aspects in a way that all participants not only improve their personal skills, but also their articulation of the techniques to their students.

Definitely, the highlight of the Conference this year was the Mugi Daeryun training at the beach and the Begi-sul (cutting techniques).  Many of us from the Midwest have never seen the Pacific Coast before and it is always a pleasure to visit the beaches of California.  Often our plans to train at the beach are spoiled by either a crunch for time and/or the difficulty of finding a suitable beach which is somewhat isolated.  This year we lucked out.  We came upon a beach where the lifeguards were sword friendly and the beach was somewhat isolated with friendly folks.  We finally understood the purpose of starting our Mugu Daeryun with Kumdo principles.  Chief Master Taejoon Lee showed us some basic movements with the Jang Bong and the Ssang Jukdo and told us go have fun.  To our surprise, we had no problems in transitioning to the other various weapon fighting.  It was a blast!!  And, we have decided to make this an annual event.

As some dojang members around the world have noticed, additional classes to supplement the core curriculum material are providing greater opportunity for the students and instructors alike to explore the skills needed to become a complete martial artist.  This year’s conference continued the focus of past years of developing a dynamic understanding of the various applications learned through the curriculum and help provide a means for the general population of students to effectively progress through all Hwa Rang Do skills.  Those of you who are on the cutting edge, the Warrior’s Path program is going to enhance your results of your martial art journey from the beginning at a TSD white belt status all the way through HRD dan ranking.  Of course you will have to put in sincere training time, but you will now be able to go through a progression that will help you prepare and then fully understand all the aspects of HRD on an advanced level.