by Bill Klase
During the “Flowering of the Arts” period in Korea, two thousand years ago, the various fighting arts began to emerge. Among these first martial arts systems were Hwa Rang Do and Tae Kyun, from which came the birth of Tang Soo Do, but that was only the beginning.
The art of Tang Soo Do, which was called Soo Bahk Do originally, grew through the years. In 1909 when the Japanese occupied Korea, the government forbade Koreans to practice any form of martial art. Despite this, the Soo Bahk Do practitioners went underground and continued to practice and many of the Soo Bahk Do masters fled to China to further refine their art. At this time, practitioners also began to incorporate jujitsu techniques and Japanese karate hand techniques into their fighting art, learning from sympathetic Japanese. Many of these jujitsu techniques later evolved into aikido techniques, which became a part of the Soo Bahk Do arsenal.
In 1945, Hwang Kee, the master of Soo Bahk Do, changed the name to Tang Soo Do. The word “Tang” represented the Tang Dynasty of China, the period in which the Chinese techniques became a part of the art. “Soo” means hand; while “Do” means way, or method.
Korea is full of hills and steep valleys, which accounted for powerful legs among the Korean people. Therefore, a great deal of emphasis is placed on kicking in many of the Korean martial arts, including Tang Soo Do.
Tang Soo Do instructor, Michael Kinney, a 5th Degree Black Belt, based in St. Petersburg, Florida, began his Tang Soo Do training under Ki Wang Kim, in Washington, D.C., in 1963.
“Basically there were two main schools in Washington, at the time, Jhoon Rhee’s and Kim’s. I watched classes at both schools and decided on Kim’s. The deciding factor was that the Tang Soo Do school was teaching joint locking and throwing techniques, as well as kicking and punching techniques, and the Tae Kwon Do school only taught the kicking and punching aspect of martial arts,” said Kinney.
“My mother, who had brought me up by herself, had to take a third job to pay for my training and she met with a lot of resistance from my grandparents, who had no concept of what the martial arts was all about. But, she enrolled me anyway and I’ve been involved in the arts ever since.”
Kinney, one of the founding members of the Tang Soo Do Karate Association, finally received his first black belt in 1967. Kinney’s instructor, at this time, was Dale Thompkins, another Tang Soo Do black belt and the two began teaching jointly, eventually teaching and overseeing the training of over 3,000 students weekly.
“Mr. Thompkins had the unique ability to be an extremely good teacher, especially at the beginners level,” Kinney said of his former partner.
In 1978, Kinney decided it was time for a change and he moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. Once there, he began teaching at Eckerd College and over a period of time, moved his classes to a city community center. He now has a contract with St. Petersburg’s Recreation Department and teaches at most of the community centers in the city and has over 400 students.
It is estimated that there are over four million Tang Soo Do students around the world, with seven hundred and fifty thousand of them in the United States.
“One of the main principles of Tang Soo Do is development of the mind and body; which is so very necessary to become a well-rounded martial artist. This, of course, means focusing the mind and body to work in unison. This principle should be the main objective of students and it is the instructor’s responsibility to make this a high priority in his teachings. The self-defense and sparring aspects of Tang Soo Do are secondary to the development of the mind and body,” said Kinney.
He continued with, “Forms, or hyungs, are an important part of this principle. It has been said that you don’t need forms to be a good fighter, but, I’ve come to question that. I’ve seen many good fighters who don’t practice forms, although, they have an aggressive side to them. I don’t think forms are necessary to become a good fighter, but I do feel they are an important part of becoming a well-rounded person and martial artist.”
“In Tang Soo Do there are twelve forms necessary to reach first degree black belt. After black belt, there are twelve advanced hyungs. The first twelve forms are not necessarily tournament winning forms because they are too short for competition. The advanced black belt forms are much longer. The hyungs in Tang Soo Do vary greatly. We practice some forms which are of Japanese origin; others are Chinese origin; and still others which are Korean origin; so you see a lot of variety in the forms, which use both hard and soft techniques.”
Tang Soo Do is also an art of illusion. This is readily evident in the fighting stance and, especially, in the kicking techniques.
When a Tang Soo Do stylist loads his leg for a kick, it is done in such a manner that he can execute a side kick, hook kick, or round kick all from the same load position. Famed fighter Bill Wallace uses this same type of load position.
Kinney discussed this, saying, “Our load position for kicking is really effective because when the foot and knee move into a load position, the opponent will usually anticipate a certain kick coming and begin his blocking movement. As soon as he begins to block, you have the option to change the kick, or throw a series of kicks all out of the same load position. It can really confuse an opponent. The load position also makes it possible to kick an opponent who is extremely close to you without the kick being jammed.”
The fighting stance of Tang Soo Do practitioners is also very deceptive. One of the reasons for this is that the stance constantly changes from long to short while sparring. This makes it difficult for the opponent to judge the Tang Soo Do fighter’s range. Also, the hand positioning in the fighting posture hides the rear hand, which is in a half-load position, behind the lead arm, making it tough to figure out where the hand is coming from or when it begins a striking movement.
Another illusion is the manner in which the kicks and punches are executed. Tang Soo Do fighters lean into their kicks and punches; unlike many other styles that teach keeping the body erect while kicking. This lean gives the practitioner added reach in his techniques and allowing him to hit a fighter who believes he is out of range.
Distraction is another area in which Tang Soo Do deals with. Using such movements as shuffling the feet, finger flicking the eyes, or a quick slap to an opponent’s face will cause the opponent to become very confused. This is an extremely effective method of overcoming an opponent’s guard and finishing him off with a kick, punch, joint lock, or throw. Many of these distracting techniques
were derived from jujitsu.
Traditionally, there are no weapons taught in Tang Soo Do dojang. But, Kinney does practice with the bo and teaches bo techniques to his more advanced students.
Kinney explained, “Tang Soo Do is an extremely well-rounded art; blending the soft Chinese movement with the hard Japanese hand movements and the Korean kicking techniques together with the Japanese joint locking and throwing techniques. I can learn constantly from other stylists and add their techniques into my arsenal, but Tang Soo Do is my art.”
