Tangsoodo or Tang Soo Do is an empty handed, traditional Korean martial art of self defense. For other uses see Tang Soo Do (disambiguation).
Tang Soo Do Videos
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Tang Soo Do Demonstration - World Championships 2009 in Rotterdam
Rating: 5
Views: 187925 |
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CMK Vintage Tang Soo Do.mp4
Rating: 5
Views: 20382 |
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The Storm of Tang Soo Do
Rating: 5
Views: 4696 |
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Taekwondo WTF and Tang Soo Do training
Rating: 5
Views: 17178 |
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Tang Soo Do Ireland - Basic Kicks
Rating: 5
Views: 4478 |
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TangSooDo self defense #1
Rating: 4
Views: 38205 |
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Hwa Rang World Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation Black Belt Testing
Rating: 4
Views: 7532 |
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A Tang Soo Do girl
Rating: 5
Views: 19865 |
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Soo Bahk Do / Tang Soo Do Kicking Drills
Rating: 4
Views: 9320 |
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Tang Soo Do (New Age Slow Motion)
Rating: 5
Views: 1204 |
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Mystery Us #32 & 33 - Tang Soo Do Self-defense
Rating: 4
Views: 5184 |
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Dang Soo Do vs Tang Soo Do
Rating: 4
Views: 9203 |
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AMAWA / GM Robert Haritonov's Tang Shou Dao / Tang Soo Do Team / Kick Techniques
Rating: 4
Views: 23585 |
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karate vs Tang soo do
Rating: 4
Views: 88312 |
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Tang Soo Do Poland - PointFighting Techniques
Rating: 5
Views: 5151 |
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Ier Encuentro de Cinturones Negros Tang Soo Do Panama 2011
Rating: 5
Views: 1251 |
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Tang Soo Do Poland - demo
Rating: 5
Views: 2517 |
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Cardiff Tang Soo Do Promo - Ketelaar Sport
Rating: 5
Views: 1716 |
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EMTF - European Championships - Tang Soo Do 2002 Rotterdam
Rating: 5
Views: 1607 |
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European Tang Soo Do Federation - Promotional Video
Rating: 5
Views: 375 |
Name
Tang Soo Do (Hangul: 당수도) is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters 唐手道. In Japanese, these characters mean "karate-do", but in contemporary Japanese karate-do is written with different characters (空手道). The Japanese pronunciation of both sets of characters is the same, but the newer version means "Way of the Empty Hand" rather than "Way of the T'ang (China) Hand", although it could also be interpreted as "Way of the China Hand".
Prior to the unification of the Kwans under the Korea Taekwondo Association, most of the major Kwans called their style Tang Soo Do, Kong Soo Do, or Kwon Bup. The first recorded use of the term "Tang Soo Do" in contemporary history was by Chung Do Kwan founder, Won Kuk Lee. The Chung Do Kwan, along with the rest of the Kwans, stopped using the name 'Tang Soo Do' and 'Kong Soo Do' when they unified under the name Taekwondo (and temporarily Tae Soo Do). The Moo Duk Kwan, being loyal to Hwang Kee, pulled out of the Kwan unification and remained independent of this unification movement, continuing to use the name 'Tang Soo Do'. Some Moo Duk Kwan members followed Hwang's senior student, Chong Soo Hong, to become members of a unified Taekwondo. Their group still exists today and is known as Taekwondo Moo Duk Kwan (Moo Duk Hae) with an office in Seoul, Korea.
The late Hwang Kee officially changed the name of the Moo Duk Kwan style to Soo Bahk Do as early as 1957, shortly after his discovery of Korea's indigenous open hand fighting style of Subak. This change was officially registered, and the Moo Duk Kwan refiled with the Korean Ministry of Education on June 30, 1960. The organization was officially reincorporated as the "Korean Soo Bahk Do Association, Moo Duk Kwan."
Most schools of Tang Soo Do use the transcription "Tang Soo Do". However, scientific texts apply the official transcription 'tangsudo', written as one word. Some authors write "Tang Soo Do" and give "tangsudo" or "dangsudo" in the parenthesis.
Founder
The origin of Tang Soo Do can not be traced to any single person. However, the history of the Moo Duk Kwan (from which the majority of all modern Tang Soo Do stylists trace their lineage) can be traced to a single founder: Hwang Kee.[1] Hwang Kee claimed to have learned Chinese martial arts while in Manchuria.[2] He also was influenced by Japanese Karate, and the indigenous Korean arts of Taekkyon (택견) and Subak. Hwang Kee also was highly influenced by a 1790 Korean book about martial arts called the Muye Dobo Tongji (武藝圖譜通志 / 무예도보통지).[citation needed]
Early history
Much like Tae Kwon Do, historians have described ancient connections to Korean history to legitimize the art. According to texts published by Hwang Kee, the ancestral art of Korean Soo Bahk Do can be traced back to the period when Korea was divided into three kingdoms: Silla, Baekje, and Goguryeo.
Goguryeo was founded in 37 BC in northern Korea. The Silla Dynasty was founded in 57 BC in the southeast peninsula. The third kingdom, Baekje (sometimes written "Paekche") was founded in 18 BC.
Finally, after a long series of wars, the Silla Dynasty united the three kingdoms in 668 AD. During this period, the primitive martial arts (including an art known as Soo Bakh) were very popular as a method of self-defense in warfare. This is evident in the many mural paintings, ruins, and remains, which depict Taek kyon in those days. Among the three kingdoms, the Silla Dynasty was most famous for its development of martial arts. A corps composed of a group of young aristocrats who were called "Hwa Rang Dan" (화랑단) was the major force behind the development of the art. These warriors were instrumental in unifying the Korean peninsula under the new Silla Dynasty (668 AD - 935 AD). Many of the early leaders of that dynasty were originally members of the Hwa Rang Dan. Most Korean martial arts trace their spiritual and technical heritage to this group. In fact, the names of some martial arts such as Hwa Soo Do, still reflect this origination.
The united Silla Kingdom was ultimately overthrown by a warlord, Wang Kun, in 918 AD. The new kingdom, Goryeo, lasted for 475 years (918 AD - 1392 AD). During the Wang Dynasty, the "Hwa Rang Dan" became "Gook Sun Dul" or "Poong Wal Dul." "Gook Sun" or "Poong Wal" is considered as modern army general, each could have several hundreds to several thousands private armies to protect the country and the region. This system was later adapted by the Japanese and became the Samurai (Hangul: 랑인, Hanja: 郞人) system. In 1392, the Yi Dynasty succeeded the Goryeo kingdom. The Yi Dynasty remained intact for 500 years. During the 1000 year period of the Goryeo Kingdom and the Yi Dynasty, what we today know as Taek kyon was increasingly popular with the military. More importantly however, the art also became very popular with the general public. During this period, Taek kyon was referred to as Kwon Bop, Tae Kyun, Soo Bahk, Tang Soo and other names. The first complete martial arts book was written at this time, the "Mooyae Dobo Tongji". It was written in 1790 and its illustrations show that Taek kyon had developed into a very sophisticated art of combat. Although it was popular among the public, it was eventually banned by the Yi Dynasty due to fear of rebels. Therefore, the Korean traditional martial arts were taught as one teacher has only one student throughout the teacher's life. Later, this forced the Korean martial arts practitioners to turn to the Japanese martial arts thus binding the two arts together to create Tang Soo Do.
20th Century
During the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-1945), many Koreans were exposed to Japanese versions of Chinese martial arts such as Karate. As the Japanese moved deeper into the continent, Karate was adopted and mixed with more traditional Korean martial arts such as Taekkyon, as well as traditional Chinese martial arts studied by Koreans in Manchuria and China.
Around the time of the liberation of Korea in 1945, five martial arts schools were formed by men who were mostly trained in Japanese Karate. They taught an art they called Kong Soo Do or Tang Soo Do, and their schools were called the Kwans. The Kwans and their founders were the Chung Do Kwan (Lee Won Kuk), Jidokwan (Chun Sang Sup), Chang Moo Kwan (Yoon Byung In), Moo Duk Kwan (Hwang Kee), and Song Moo Kwan (Roh Byung Jick).
Around 1953, shortly after the Korean War, four more annex kwans formed. These 2nd generation kwans and their principle founders were: Oh Do Kwan (Choi Hong Hi and Nam Tae Hi), Han Moo Kwan (Lee Kyo Yoon), Kang Duk Kwan (Park Chul Hee and Hong Jong Pyo) and Jung Do Kwan (Lee Young Woo).
In 1955, these arts, at that time called various names by the different schools, were ordered to unify by South Korea's President Syngman Rhee. A governmental body selected a naming committee's submission of "Taekwondo" as the name. Both Sun Duk Song and Choi Hong Hi both claim to have submitted the name.
In 1959, the Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) was formed in an attempt to unify the dozens of the kwans as one standardized system of Taekwondo. The first international tour of Taekwondo, by General Choi Hong Hi and Nam Tae Hi (founders of the Oh Do Kwan) and 19 black belts, was held in 1959. In 1960, Jhoon Rhee was teaching what he called Korean Karate (or Tang Soo Do) in Texas, USA. After receiving the ROK Army Field Manual (which contained martial arts training curriculum under the new name of Taekwondo) from General Choi, Rhee began using the name Taekwondo.
Despite this unification effort, the kwans continued to teach their individual styles. The Korean government ordered a single organization be created and, on September 16, 1961, the kwans agreed to unify under the name 'Korean Tae Soo Do Association'. The name was changed back to the 'Korean Taekwondo Association' when Choi became its president in August 1965.
Modern Tang Soo Do
Tang Soo Do continues to expand and flourish under numerous federations and organizations that, for various reasons separated from the Moo Duk Kwan. It can be argued that Tang Soo Do is one of the most widely practiced martial arts in the United States, although no official "census" of martial arts practitioners exists. Despite the style's nation of origin being different, many Tang Soo Do schools continue to advertise themselves as Karate schools, for reasons that can usually be traced back to the ease of marketing under that moniker.
Belt System
By and large, Tang Soo Do uses the colored belt system instituted by Jigoro Kano, with minor deviations according to organization and/or individual school. One differentiating characteristic of the style however, is that the traditional black belt is frequently replaced by a Midnight Blue Belt for students who attain Dan rank, although many schools and organizations opt to use the black belt. The reason for the midnight blue belt is due to the belief in Korean culture, that black symbolizes "Death", or a finishing point. Practitioners of Tang Soo So believe that receiving ones black belt is another step, rather than the higest level of your training. Furthermore, Tang Soo Do incorporates a red-striped midnight blue (or black) belt to denote individuals who have reached the rank of Sabeomnim (사범님/師範님), or Master Instructor (usually awarded at Fourth Dan).
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