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Master Ki Yun Yi has dedicated his life to the art of Tang Soo Do.  As founder and President of Yi's Martial Arts Institutes, Inc., and the International Martial Arts Association, he is a moving force in the worldwide Tang Soo Do community.  He strives to bring the art of Tang Soo Do to practitioners throughout the world, while maintaining the traditionalism and spirit of this ancient and time honored martial art. 



Master Yi is a native of Yong In, South Korea, a small village near Seoul.  Master Yi spent his childhood years in a country devastated by the Korean War.  He began his training in Tang Soo Do at the age of nine, shortly after the Korean war ended, as a means of survival and self-protection. Among his early instructors were Master Song Si Kim and Master J. C. Shin, the founder of the World Tang Soo Do Association. 



Master Yi excelled in martial arts and received his first degree black belt at the age of  twelve.  He decided early that he wanted a career in the Martial Arts.  During the late 1960's and early 1970's, Master Yi taught Tang Soo Do at the Osan Air Force Base in Osan, South Korea.  Master Yi also distinguished himself in national competition and won the Korean National Championship in 1970.  In a country with limited educational and economic opportunities, his career in martial arts was the vehicle that allowed Master Yi to emigrate to the United States.



Master Yi came to the United States in 1974 to teach Tang Soo Do at the request of  The Korean Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Association of which he was then a member.  He founded the first Yi's Martial Arts Institute in Woodbury, NJ in 1975. Over the last 25 years, Yi's Martial Arts Institutes have grown and prospered. Master Yi founded the International Martial Arts Association (IMA) in 1984, in an effort to retain the traditionalism paramount to the true spirit of Tang Soo Do.



Over the years, Master Yi has been featured in several martial arts publications, including Black Belt Magazine, Tae Kwon Do Times, and the UK's Tae Kwon Do and Korean Martial Arts Magazine.



Master Yi still teaches actively in addition to managing the affairs of Yi's Martial Arts Institutes and the growing International Martial Arts Association.