Information on Hwang Su-Il

Hwang Su-Il (6th Dan)

Master Hwang Su-il is one of the most famous Taekwon-Do practitioners, in part because of his involvement with the Tekken 3 fighting video game. The movements of the character Hwaorang (introduced in Tekken 3) were based on actual movements of Master Hwang, using motion capture technology. Since I posted about having met him back in 2009, many people in search of information on Master Hwang's Taekwon-Do school in Japan end up here. That original post on Master Hwang has proven to be the second most viewed entry on my blog. (The most viewed post is “What I Have Against Tournament Sparring – Part 2.”)

People landing at my blog in search of information on Master Hwang Su-Il are usually looking for information about his dojang in Japan. I asked a Japanese friend, Instructor Yuki Kaneko, to translate some useful information about Master Hwang Su-Il from Japanese into English for me, which he graciously did. I hope it is of value to some of you.

The name of Master Hwang's dojang is Taekwon-Do Hwarang Hwang Dojo. (Dojo is Japanese for the Korean dojang; roughly translated in English as gym or school.) Master Hwang's dojo has eleven branch schools; however, the main branch is the Taekwon-Do Nakano Dojo.

Contact details:

E-mail Address: hhtc.tkd@gmail.com
Homepage URL: https://tkd-hhtc.jp

Some Basic Information About Master Hwang Su-il

Master Hwang Su-il (6th Dan) was born on 31 July, 1970. He is a Japanese citizen, but of Korean ancestry. Apart from being the athlete on whom the Tekken character Hwaorang's movements are based, Master Hwang has a very successful career as a ITF Taekwon-Do competitor. In 1992 he was the Sparring World Champion during the ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships in the light weight division. At the next World Championships (1994) he obtained a bronze medal in the middle weight division. In 2000 he was the middle weight champion at the 1st Asian ITF Championships. In 2010 at the ITF World Veteran Championships, he won gold in both sparring (under 64kg) and patterns (6th Dan class). The ITF World Veteran Championships are for adults of forty years and older. During his career, Master Hwang has consistently proven to be one of the world's great Taekwon-Do players and through his example continues to be a role model for other Taekwon-Do practitioners around the world.

Hwang Su-Il

(Are you looking for information on Master Hwang Su-Il's gym in Japan? See this post.) 

I've met Master Hwang Su-Il on one or two occasions and found him to be a very friendly and humble person. During one formal occasion he quickly noticed that I do not drink (I'm a teetotaller), so he helped me out in a sticky situation: alcohol is a very integrative part in Korean social life and often at such formal events, a lot of toasting and drinking occurs. If you do not participate, it might be seen as an insult to your guests. First, he indicated to me to allow someone to pour me a drink, and to use this glass to toast with. Then he immediately ordered me some sodas and tea to drink.

Hwang Su-Il is Japanese-Korean; he is Korean but was born in Japan -- 3rd generation -- and still lives there. You might be more familiar with him as the character Hwoarang in the Tekken-game series. He was used for the first motion capture of this fighting game character, introduced in Tekken 3.

My instructor here in Korea told me earlier this week that there is a possibility that Hwang Su-Il will be the chief examiner on the panel to test me for 4th Dan, around September/October. Of course this makes me a little nervous, since the Japanese standard is exceptionally high.

Below is a YouTube-video of Hwang Su-Il in action.