Styles

[amolao]

Tang soo do or Shotokan which would you pick to train and why?

[Spartacus Maximus]

The instructor is more important than the system. There is absolutely no reason to choose shotokan over tang soo do or vice versa if there is no information to make a choice other than the style itself. There must be a reason to choose one or the other.

[Wado Heretic]

I concur with Spartacus Maximus; the instructor, and in turn the school/dojo/club, itself is the most important factor. Which has a type of class environment which works for you, has an instructor you get on with, and has reasonable rates and so forth so that your ability to train is best accommodated.

Beside that though; both are very athletic systems with strong emphasis on flexibility and basic technique. Tang Soo Do emphasises kicks more than Shotokan, however, Shotokan has perhaps the most diverse kicking beside kyokushin within Japanese Karate. The forms/kata are very similar as many of the individuals involved in Tang Soo Do coming into being were students of Funakoshi Gichin prior to the end of the Second World War; although the Tang Soo Do forms are closer to the original Shorin/Shuri forms, beside a greater emphasis on dynamic kicking, and some differences in body mechanics due to the influence of Korean and Chinese martial arts. Plus, Tang Soo Do often uses Tae Kwon Do forms as well, if the school in question is attached to a Tae Kwon Do Association.

In terms of formal kumite/partner-work they are again very similar; although Tang Soo Do may incorporate and borrow techniques from Hapkido, the partner work often consists of fixed routines called one steps or three steps, or semi-free sparring wherein students exchange attacks while alternating between the role of defender.

The greatest difference is in terms of formal sparring formats; if attached to a Tae Kwon Do association a Tang Soo Do school will most likely utilise olympic style Tae Kwon Do sparring. However, most independent schools will use sparring rules very similar to the Sun Dome Kumite rules followed in Shotokan and other Japanese styles.

All in all, they both have very similar things to offer. However, if you are most interested in competition I would advise Tang Soo Do as a blanket suggestion. However, Shotokan is very wide-spread and very uniform; you can be certain that if you walk into one Shotokan club, if you walk into another it will be the same style. Tang Soo Do cannot offer that same sort of uniformity.

If I were to pick; I would pick Shotokan, but simply because I have trained with Shotokan people before and have an estimate of what it is about. Plus, my grasp of Japanese is much better than my Korean; every time I have tried to pick up some Korean I find I butcher it when trying to speak it.

[Spartacus Maximus]

The only other criteria that matters besides the instructor is one's training goals and purposes. The wisest and most fitting choice is whatever style has what one is looking for and both TSD and Shotokan can be the best choice. In the two styles there are so much variations.

[sensei8]

Tang soo do or Shotokan which would you pick to train and why?

Neither!! As others have already said, the style becomes mute without great instructors; dormant to the nth degree.

[bushido_man96]

If these are your two options, you should go watch a few classes of each if you can, and then speak with each of the instructors, and ask any questions you have about training, schedules, etc. You'll want to make sure that the quality of the class is high.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Observing is certainly the first thing one ought to do before choosing where to train and whom to learn from. Without information, the choice is just chance and as in anything left to chance, the results are often not exactly as one would have expected.

Shotokan or Shotokan. Choose wisely, the difference between the two is in the dojo, on the floor, not in the name of the "style"

[Karatefeet]

I would choose tang soon do ,cause of the high kicking techniques!

[ashworth]

I would choose tang soon do ,cause of the high kicking techniques!

You can have high kicking techniques in shotokan as well...

[Montana]

If you are a novice and have no background in the arts, you won't know what you're looking at in EITHER schools by watching a class, or talking to the instructors/students. See if both will give you soem free classes and go with which feels better to you.

As for the instructor being the most import, I disagree with that statement, and always have.

Yes, a good instructor is vital and very important, but there are some systems that are inheriently flawed IMO and nothing more than ineffective moving around the floor. You'd have a better chance of learning martial arts at a country western dance class IMO.