Tang Soo Do
The martial art known as Tang Soo Do (also Soo Bahk Do) was created in Korea by Hwang Kee. Hwang Kee as a child saw a man at a fair defend himself with crude Korean martial arts and vowed at that early age to dedicate himself to martial arts practice. By the time he was 13 he was considered a master of Tae Kyun an old Korean form of foot fighting. He was a very gifted natural athlete. After his schooling he went to work for the Korean Railroad system. He traveled into China to study Chinese martial arts. He trained in Yang style Tai Chi Chuan under a member of the Yang family, and also learned the Pin Yan (Pyong Ahn) forms as well as other systems while in China. He returned to Korea at the end of WWII and started teaching his art. It went through several name changes until he settled on "Tang Soo Do". He founded his organization, the Moo Duk Kwan (The Institute of Stopping/Preventing Conflict) on November 9th 1945. By 1960 the Moo Duk Kwan was larger than all the other systems in Korea combined. In 1961 the Korean Government formed Tae Kwon Do and nationalized the martial arts. Hwang Kee resisted and was ultimately left with only a few schools in Korea. In the late 1950's a professor at the University in Seoul discovered a 300 year old military manual in the Seoul library. Knowing Hwang Kee, he gave it to him to study. From this manual Hwang Kee recreated a number of forms (kata, hyung) that were referred to as "Soo Bahk Ki". In 1974 he came to the U.S. and formed the U.S. Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation, Inc. In the 1980's he renamed the art "Soo Bahk Do" to address it's Korean heritage. (In fact, "Tang Soo Do" is a Chinese way of saying "Kara-te" - empty hand fighting.)
Many soldiers in the U.S. armed forces studied Tang Soo Do in Korea, and came back to the U.S. and started teaching. The most famous of those was Chuck Norris. Others, who were under Hwang Kee ultimately left him and started their own organizations. Thus there are many Tang Soo Do schools and organizations, all of which can trace their heritage to Hwang Kee. The art continues following his teachings in the U.S. Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation, Inc. under Hwang Kee's son, Grandmaster H.C. Hwang. Both "Soo Bahk Do" and "Moo Duk Kwan" are registered trademarks of that organization.
