Soo bahk Do

[brawler1245]

I'm a practitioner in this Art. I love it more than any other. And i was just wonderin what other SBD prationers thoguth of the Art. And what part of the Art do You think excels beond others.

[WesQ]

Practitioner since 1998.

"Tae Kwon Do is the sport of Korea where as Soo Bahk Do is the art of Korea."

I remember hearing that quote from someone. I just love the emphasis on tradition and the art itself, actually teaching about history. Not just only about the formation of the federation in the 40's and 50's, but about ancient times and the hwarang too.

EDIT: Another thing I forgot to mention is the dan bon #'s, its amazing how we all have our numbers. I am the 42327th person to recieve a blackbelt in the federation (I believe its the federation), and I can trace it back all the way to Hwang Kee. My Instructor's number is somewhere in the 32,000's I believe, and his instructor's before that, and his instructor, and keeps going back to #1.

[UpTheIrons]

Tae Kwon Do is the national martial art of Korea. Granted, the sparring aspect gets much of the publicity, but Tae Kwon Do is still a martial art. Otherwise you would not have the Kukkiwon which oversees training and development of all aspects of Tae Kwon Do in Korea and the world.

For the record, Tang Soo Do/Soo Bak Do is just as guilty of embellishing its historical credibility as Tae Kwon Do. In fact, Moo Duk Kwan TSD founder Hwang Kee at one time was a student of Chung Do Kwan founder Won Kuk Lee. Lee was the first to call his style Tang Soo Do.

[Sam]

Again the murky waters of Korean history come up.... its amazing how important people found it to try and give their art credibility by making it sound older

[EternalRage]

Tae Kwon Do is the national martial art of Korea. Granted, the sparring aspect gets much of the publicity, but Tae Kwon Do is still a martial art. Otherwise you would not have the Kukkiwon which oversees training and development of all aspects of Tae Kwon Do in Korea and the world.

Actually the Korean government named Tae Kwon Do the national sport of Korea. Last I heard, Kuk Sool Won was named martial art of Korea (although the source where I read that from was kind of old). I think TKD didn't start out as a sport, and whether it was meant to become a sport is beyond me.

I think if TKD masters wanted to, they could easily change the training to more traditional methods, but I have to disagree with you UpTheIrons, I think most TKD these days is more focused on competition (and that goes double for the WTF/Kukkiwon TKD, especially with the onset of olympic TKD). Which there's nothing wrong with that, I think TKD's a great sport.

For the record, Tang Soo Do/Soo Bak Do is just as guilty of embellishing its historical credibility as Tae Kwon Do. In fact, Moo Duk Kwan TSD founder Hwang Kee at one time was a student of Chung Do Kwan founder Won Kuk Lee. Lee was the first to call his style Tang Soo Do.

This of course is highly debated, Hwang Kee argued against this obviously, stating that his only formal instructor was Master Yang Kuk Jin during his stint in China. History is always subjective and often always is used to try and enhance one's position especially in the martial arts, so I dunno what to believe when it comes to Korean martial arts history - probably have better luck defining the 'real' wing chun or other hopeless history inconsistencies.

As for WesQ's post about the Hwarang - it always gets messy when the topic of Hwarang comes up, because every art claims that there's some link to the ancient elite class as well as TaeKyon and those two stupid statues that recently I believe a highly researched contention was released stating that those statues have nothing to do with martial arts. Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan was started in 1945. Period. It is not the ancient SuBak nor does it have anything to do with the Hwarang. It is a conglomeration of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean martial arts, therefore obviously it cannot resemble anything from the Three Kingdoms, which most of that stuff is lost forever anyway.

[brawler1245]

Acctualy Soo Bahk Do is the national martial art of south korea.

[mattkulma]

actually WesQ the dan bon system is world wide not just the federation so you dan bon is 42327 so you are the 42327th person in the world to recieve your cho dan in our art. My dan bon is 36434, and i am wondering who all is going to nationals in florida next month, i am on the region 5 sparring team and i hope to see alot of people there.

-Soo Bahk!

[TSDMGK_K40]

I was a member of the Soo Bahk Do (Tang Soo Do) Moo Duk Kwan Fed for nearly 15 years. My dan bon is 31020. I had many great times and memories as a member of the USTSDMDK Fed. I have been a member of the Tang Soo Do Mi Guk Kwan association now for almost 10 years, since we left the Federation in December 1995.

[EternalRage]

Acctualy Soo Bahk Do is the national martial art of south korea.

Can you cite your source? Because alot of people in Korea don't know what Soo Bahk Do is. Tang Soo Do and Moo Duk Kwan - usually only more older generations recognize these terms. Honestly, due to the government's efforts in the early 1950's, Tang Soo Do/SBD/MDK was squelched in most Korean communities.

I am told this by Soo Bahk Do practictioners from Korea.

[WesQ]

actually WesQ the dan bon system is world wide not just the federation so you dan bon is 42327 so you are the 42327th person in the world to recieve your cho dan in our art. My dan bon is 36434, and i am wondering who all is going to nationals in florida next month, i am on the region 5 sparring team and i hope to see alot of people there.

-Soo Bahk!

I'm on the Region 9 Team Hyung, I'll see you in Florida.