- "You wanna defeat your enemy, you need to learn to fight like your enemy. That's how I learned Tang Soo Do under Master Kim Sun-Yung. You'll learn the same."
- ―Captain George Turner to John Kreese[1]
Tang Soo Do (Hangul:: 당수도, "The Way of the Open Hand"[3]) is a karate-based Korean art of empty-hand, foot, and weapons fighting that was, while a conceptually defensive art with an adjacent philosophy similar to that of Miyagi-Do,[4] Master Kim Sun-Yung would later master and adapt it for the purposes of combat during warfare by eschewing the philosophical aspects of the style in favour of a narrow focus on the destructive capabilities of its physical techniques, creating what is known as "The Way Of The Fist".[5]
Description[]
Tang Soo Do is a composite martial art that blends elements of the “hard”, linear strikes and kicks of Okinawan karate with the circular, “soft” blocking, countering, and parrying moves of Chinese kung fu.[6] Noted for its emphasis on hip movement to generate power for its superior kicking techniques,[7] it also complements its equally wide variety of empty hand techniques with weapons training, such as staff, sword, nunchaku, tonfa, and sai.[8] Training in Tang Soo Do consists of forms; or "hyeongs",[9] point-based sparring marches,[10] line work, (executing the various kicks, punches, and blocks in a line),[11] and self-defence moves such as wrist grabs, etc; all of which were carried over into sensei Kim's more violent variation.[12]
History[]
Tang Soo Do, as practiced in modern-day martial arts, was developed between 1936 and 1945 by Grandmaster Hwang Kee of Hanbando. Born in Colonial Korea, during his early life, his home country was occupied by Japan, and its regimen regulated all of the population’s activities in the peninsula, which included a blanket ban on the practice or teachings of any martial arts by the Korean citizenry. Those interested had to go outside of Korea to learn the arts, and among these were Kee, who spent his self-imposed exile traveling extensively throughout the Orient studying other various art forms, and ultimately ended up developing his own whilst under the tutelage of Master Yang Kook-Jin of Manchuria.[13]
This, he did by combining elements from the Tang Method of Kung Fu from northern China and the Shōtōkan karate from Okinawa with the traditional Korean martial arts of Taekkyeon and Subak; whose systems of unarmed combat were cantered around on powerful kicks and empty-handed strikes, respectively. After Kee's eventual return to Korea after the end of the Japanese occupation, Tang Soo Do was officially registered, recognized and declared a separate martial art on November 9, 1945, and Kee devoted the reminder of his life to the promotion and instruction of the art of Tang Soo Do Karate.[13]
Miyagi-verse[]
Sometime before 1950, Kim Sun-Yung of Korea became a master of Tang Soo Do, which resulted in a significantly more aggressive offshoot of Tang Soo Do known as "the Way of the Fist";[14] a merciless variation of Kee's style that is diametrically opposed both to its more traditional counterpart, as well as to Miyagi-Do Karate; if only philosophically in the case of the former, and both philosophically and in application to the latter. Students are taught to defeat their enemies through strength and determination, to not hold back or accept surrender, and to "finish" their opponents by striking when they are weak.[15]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Cobra Kai, S3 E6: King Cobra
- ↑ History of Tang Soo Do
- ↑ The term “Tang Soo Do” was initially a Korean pronunciation of “The Way of the Chinese Hand”, though modern day Americans typically translate it as “The Way of the Open Hand”
- ↑ Read about the philosophy of Tang Soo Do here.
- ↑ Cobra Kai, Season 5, Episode 6: Ouroboros.
- ↑ The difference between a "hard" and "soft" style of martial arts is described here.
- ↑ The Karate Kid Part III - While teaching Daniel the Quick Silver method, Terry Silver tells him to put his "hip into it, that's where the power is." Terry Silver practiced his forms as part of his Tang Soo Do training.
- ↑ See this image.
- ↑ The Karate Kid Part III - Terry Silver practiced his forms as part of his Tang Soo Do training.
- ↑ The Karate Kid - Kreese trained his students this way.
- ↑ Cobra Kai - Johnny instructs Miguel to warm up his fellow students through line work.
- ↑ John Kreese, who was trained in Tang Soo Do by Master Kim, was proficient at wrist-grabs. (See here).
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 The history of Tang Soo Do.
- ↑ Cobra Kai, Season 3, King Cobra
- ↑ Cobra Kai, Season 5, Episode 6: Ouroboros.