The Lingo
What dose it all mean?
While reading this site you would have come across phrases that are unfamiliar, this is not surprising as most of them are in Chinese or Korean. So what do they mean? Most are to indicate rank and or position within the school.
Master Jackson holds may such titles and they all have a meaning, even if they are often the same. The highest of his titles is
“Kwan Jang Nim” roughly translated as "Grandmaster" or “Principal of school”, this title is given to instructors who run their own organisation. This is not to be confused with "The Kwan Jang Nim" a title reserved for our founder Grandmaster Hwang Kee. The second of his many titles is “Sah Bom Nim” or "master instructor", this title is given to instructors who hold the rank of 4th degree or above and have completed and passed the written test to attain a teachers licence, this allows the instructor to grade students to black belt levels two degrees, or Dun’s, below their own rank. His third but not last title (the last one to be covered here) is “Renshi”, or "Senior Expert teacher", this title is used in many arts and is often given at a certain rank, muck like the titles above, but the Renshi title held by Master Jackson is an international examiners title awarded by the International Kojo Sho Federation which allows him to grade anyone from any art to a rank two below himself. The rest of the Masters titles are honorary ones given for his dedication to the metal arts.
So how do you address someone with all these titles? Well Sah Bom Nim is the most commonly used title but his student just call him "Nim" for short, Nim is added to most titles of authority such as Sah Bom Nim or Kwan Jang Nim and is used in much the same way as "Sir".
Where Sah Bom Nim means “Master Instructor” Sah Bom just means ”Instructor” and is given to black belt teachers below
4th degree and that do not hold a teachers licence (cannot perform grading of students). Kyo Sa Nim means “Master of basics” or “Proficient Beginner” and is given to all black belts below 4th degree. From these meanings it becomes clear that a black belt is not
the pinnacle of all things but the beginning of a new journey toward perfection, a journey destined for failure but one that the most dedicated of us will take none the less.
So how do you address these ranks? Well Sir or Ma'am can work but for the most part their name works just fine.
Ok so if you have read this far then you are asking one question.“What’s a Dun? He must mean Dan, right?” Well yes I do mean Dan; and Dun is interchangeable with Dan, Dan is Japanese while Dun is Chinese and both indicate black belt ranks. As Grandmaster Hwang Kee did some of his training in China and he wanted to distinguish himself from the Japanese who had occupied his country for most of his life he chose to use the Chinese spelling (no equivalent exists in Korean). Other Chinese influences can be seen in the art of Tang Soo Do, the word “Tang”, for example, refers to the Tang dynasty of Chinese history.
Now I'll bet you're wandering if we have a special name for ranks under black belt; well we do and that name is “Gup”. Where Dun ranks run in ascending order from 1st to 10th, the Gup ranks run in descending order for 10th to 1st. See (belts and ranks) page.
Master Jackson holds may such titles and they all have a meaning, even if they are often the same. The highest of his titles is
“Kwan Jang Nim” roughly translated as "Grandmaster" or “Principal of school”, this title is given to instructors who run their own organisation. This is not to be confused with "The Kwan Jang Nim" a title reserved for our founder Grandmaster Hwang Kee. The second of his many titles is “Sah Bom Nim” or "master instructor", this title is given to instructors who hold the rank of 4th degree or above and have completed and passed the written test to attain a teachers licence, this allows the instructor to grade students to black belt levels two degrees, or Dun’s, below their own rank. His third but not last title (the last one to be covered here) is “Renshi”, or "Senior Expert teacher", this title is used in many arts and is often given at a certain rank, muck like the titles above, but the Renshi title held by Master Jackson is an international examiners title awarded by the International Kojo Sho Federation which allows him to grade anyone from any art to a rank two below himself. The rest of the Masters titles are honorary ones given for his dedication to the metal arts.
So how do you address someone with all these titles? Well Sah Bom Nim is the most commonly used title but his student just call him "Nim" for short, Nim is added to most titles of authority such as Sah Bom Nim or Kwan Jang Nim and is used in much the same way as "Sir".
Where Sah Bom Nim means “Master Instructor” Sah Bom just means ”Instructor” and is given to black belt teachers below
4th degree and that do not hold a teachers licence (cannot perform grading of students). Kyo Sa Nim means “Master of basics” or “Proficient Beginner” and is given to all black belts below 4th degree. From these meanings it becomes clear that a black belt is not
the pinnacle of all things but the beginning of a new journey toward perfection, a journey destined for failure but one that the most dedicated of us will take none the less.
So how do you address these ranks? Well Sir or Ma'am can work but for the most part their name works just fine.
Ok so if you have read this far then you are asking one question.“What’s a Dun? He must mean Dan, right?” Well yes I do mean Dan; and Dun is interchangeable with Dan, Dan is Japanese while Dun is Chinese and both indicate black belt ranks. As Grandmaster Hwang Kee did some of his training in China and he wanted to distinguish himself from the Japanese who had occupied his country for most of his life he chose to use the Chinese spelling (no equivalent exists in Korean). Other Chinese influences can be seen in the art of Tang Soo Do, the word “Tang”, for example, refers to the Tang dynasty of Chinese history.
Now I'll bet you're wandering if we have a special name for ranks under black belt; well we do and that name is “Gup”. Where Dun ranks run in ascending order from 1st to 10th, the Gup ranks run in descending order for 10th to 1st. See (belts and ranks) page.