TANG SOO DO (art of the knife hand; way of the Chinese hand) is relatively modern. Its basis, however, the Korean art of Soo Bank Do, dates bank many centuries. Tang Soo Do is a compos-ite style, being 60% Soo Bank Do, 30% northern Chinese, and 10% southern Chinese. Kicking techniques are based on Soo Bank. Soo Bank was first developed during the Silla Dynasty (A.D. 618-635), but enjoyed its flowering during the Koryo Dynasty (A.D. 935-1392).
Tang Soo Do is both a hard and soft style, deriving its hardness in part from Soo Bank and its soft flowing movements from the northern Chinese systems.
The man who developed Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan, Grandmaster Hwang Kee, is a martial arts prodigy, having mastered Tae Kyun (another Korean system not related to Tae Kwon Do) and Soo Bank Do in 1936 at the age of 22. At that time, he traveled to northern China. There, he encountered a Chinese variation of martial artistry called the T'ang method. From 1936 to 1945, he combined Soo Bank Do with the T'ang method and developed what was to be known as Tang Soo Do Moo Kwan.
Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan (a brotherhood and school of stopping inner and outer conflict and developing virtue according to the way of the worthy hand) is not a sport. Though it is not essentially competitive, it has great combat applications. It is a classical martial art, and its purpose is to develop every aspect of self, in order to create a mature personality who totally integrates his intellect, body emotions, and spirit. This total integration helps to create a person who is free from inner conflict and who can deal with the outside world in a mature, intelligent, forthright, and virtuous manner.
Over the past 20 years, thousands of Americans have studies Tang Soo Do in Korea. Korean instructors have been sent around the world, and there are now major Tang Soo Do organizations in many countries of the world. In the U.S., the most famous Tang Soo Do practitioner is Chuck Norris. |
