The Founder of the WTSDA

Jae Chul Shin (1936-2012)

Grandmaster Jae C. Shin, the Founder of the World Tang Soo Do Association and World Ki Gong, is internationally recognized as a legend in the martial arts.

Born in 1936, he was inspired to study Tang Soo Do by an unknown monk when he was 12 years old. He rose to the rank of Black Belt and became a Tang Soo Do instructor at the Seoul Moo Duk Kwan central gym under the tutelage of Grandmaster Hwang Kee, the Founder of the Korean Moo Duk Kwan system.

By the time he was inducted into the Korean Air Force and began teaching American soldiers in 1958, he had a well-developed teaching career. Many excellent and well-known American martial artists, including Chuck Norris, began their path into the martial arts through him.

After receiving a Master’s Degree in Political Science at Korea University, he immigrated to the United States in 1968 and established the U.S. Tang Soo Do Federation, opening his first school in Burlington, New Jersey. Over the years he developed many areas of expertise, including self-defense, forms, breaking, weapons, health care, and meditation. Tang Soo Do under his leadership spread throughout the United States and abroad. Due to international demands, he restructured his organization and founded the World Tang Soo Do Association in 1982. His numerous areas of martial arts expertise were synergized into the World Tang Soo Do Association; one of the finest and most respected martial arts organizations.

Grandmaster Shin first introduced the concepts of Ki and Ki Gong in his first book Traditional Tang Soo Do Volume I – The Essence, which was published in 1992. Grandmaster Shin continued to develop his Ki Gong practice. He eventually formed World Ki Gong in 2003 to share his passion for Ki Gong throughout the World Tang Soo Do Association and with the families and friends of its members. In 2012, he published three distinct Ki Gong sets – Hyang Gong I & II, Yong Moon Gong, and Tae Kuk Ki Gong – in the book Traditional Tang Soo Do Volume VI – The Master’s Training Text.

Grandmaster Jae C. Shin wanted to share the science, art, and philosophy of Ki Gong with his students because he felt that in order to live a high quality life, a person needed to pay attention to health from the inside out.

Grandmaster Shin devoted his life to the martial arts and Ki Gong, traveling frequently over the globe to lead the World Tang Soo Do Association. Grandmaster Shin was a true leader, teacher, master of masters, and humanitarian. The World Ki Gong and the World Tang Soo Do Association Headquarters are dedicated to the preservation of the legacy of Grandmaster Shin.

Grandmaster Shin walking a beach labyrinth

Grandmaster Shin with the first World Ki Gong Director, Dr. Tim Schroeder