• Karate

• Tang Soo Do

• T'ai-chi

THE MEANING OF KARA

Tang Soo Do

Literally translated, the word, "Tang" refers to the T'ang Dynasty of China which reflects the shared cultural background between China and Korea (617-907 AD).   "Soo" means hand but it implies fist, punch, strike or defense, etc. and "Do" means way of life or art.  Thus "Tang Soo Do" means the Korean classical martial art which was influenced by the T'ang method of martial art.

                              History

The exact origin of Tang Soo Do, as well as any of the martial arts in general, have many different historical theories.  However, the most credible and traditional view is that martial arts originated not in any one country, but in almost all parts of the globe, as they were needed by primitive people.

The ancestral art of Korean Tang Soo Do can be traced back approximately 2,000 years.   At that time, Korea was divided into three (3) kingdoms.

Koguryo was founded in 37 BC in northern Korea.  The Silla Dynasty was founded in 57 BC in the southeast peninsula, and Paekche, in the southwest, was founded in 18 BC.

After a long series of wars, the Silla Dynasty united the three (3) kingdoms in 668 AD.   During this period, the primitive martial arts were very popular in warfare.  This is evidenced by mural paintings, ruins and remains, which depicted Tang Soo Do in those days.

Among the three (3) kingdoms, the Silla Dynasty was most famous for its development of martial arts.  A corps formed by aristocrats who were called "Hwa Rang Dan" was the major group who developed those arts.  These warriors were instrumental in unifying the peninsula as the new Silla Dynasty (668-935 AD), and furnished many of the early leaders of that dynasty.  Most Korean martial arts trace their spiritual and technical heritage to this group.  The names of some groups and arts reflect this, such as Hwa Rang Do or Hwa Soo Do.  The Five Codes of Tang Soo Do, originated by Won Kwang, a monk, are part of their spiritual heritage.

Medieval Development

The unified Silla Kingdom was overthrown by a warlord, Wang Kun, in 918 AD and a new kingdom, called "Koryo", lasted for 475 years.  In 1932 AD the New Kingdom, Yi Dynasty, succeeded and lasted about 500 years.  Approximately a thousand year period elapsed between the two (2) dynasties.  Tang Soo Do became very popular among the military society.  However, most importantly, this art also became very popular with the general public.  In those days it was called Kwon Bop, Tae Kyun, Soo Bahk, and Tang Soo.

The very first complete martial arts book was written at this time.  This most important book is called "Mooyae Dobo Tongji."  It was written in 1790 AD and contained illustrations that substantiate the theory that "Soo Bahk Ki," the formal name of Tang Soo Do, had quickly developed into a sophisticated art of combat techniques.

Modern History           

The subsequent occupation of Korea by the Japanese military regime took place from 1909 to 1945.  During this period, practicing and teaching martial arts were restricted.

After World War II, this restriction was lifted.  Several martial arts training schools were erected at that time, as follows:

• Moo Duk Kwan by Hwang Kee
• Chi Do Kwan by Kwai Byung, Yun
• Chung Do Kwan by Duk Sung, Son
• Song Moo Kwan by Byung Jick, Ro
• Chang Moo Kwan by Nam Suk, Chull-Hee
• Yun Moo Kwan by Sang Sup, Chun

These founders started to organize their own organizations respectively and Master Hwang Kee organized the "Korean Soo Bahk Do Association on November 9, 1945.

Beside the Soo Bahk Do Association, there were various types of other martial arts called "Kong Soo" or Tae Soo" existing in Korea.  In 1965, all of these various systems were united into one (1) organization, called the Korean Tae Kwon Do Association and the art was called "Tae Kwon Do" uniformly.

As a Korean national sport, Tae Kwon Do initiated a new era; instructors were dispatched throughout the world and international tournaments were held.  In those days, Tag Soo Do and Tae Kwon Do were divided principally, with Tang So Do striving to remain as a traditional martial art while Tae Kwon Do held its world games and sports.

• Reprint from the Korean Martial Arts Institute

T'ai-chi

Introduction

Do the Chinese have a secret for youthfulness, health, long life, peace of mind, and the overcoming of obstacles?  If they do, surely an important part of it lies in T'ai-chi, the fascinating exercise that millions have been practicing for centuries.  The Chinese consider the purpose of T'ai-chi to be nothing less than rejuvenation and the prolonging of life.

Man cannot live fully without exercise.  Nature is always in motion, Man also should strengthen himself without interruption.  Exercise leads to robust health, high spirits, and rational thinking.  There are, however, many kinds of exercise:  ball playing, swimming, boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting, to name a few.   Without exception, each has built-in limitations.  Weather restricts ball playing, weakness prevents participation in the more rigorous sports, and age and sex inhibit activity in others.  More importantly, though these sports differ in form, they are similar in that most never go beyond reliance on weight, force, and speed.

T'ai-chi is both an integrated exercise and an enjoyable sport for all: rich and poor, strong and weak, young and old, male and female.  Weather does not inhibit its practice.  Requirements of time and space are minimal.  If one has a space approximately four feet on a side and can spare ten minutes a day, he can practice T'ai-chi without spending a cent.

For hundreds of years, Westerners have been puzzled at seeing Chinese from all walks of life doing this effortless, rhythmical. ballet-like exercise both at dawn and at dusk.  The Chinese say that whoever practices T'ai-chi, correctly and regularly, twice a day over a period of time will gain the pliability of a child, the health of a lumberjack, and the peace of mind of a sage.  The amazing results achieved suggest that this is not just idle boasting, that perhaps, in some way unknown to Western science, T'ai-chi can indeed do all this and more.  Stressing slow respiration and balanced, relaxed postures, it certainly promotes deep breathing, digestion, the functioning of the internal organs, and blood circulation.  And perhaps there is also basis for the claim that T'ai-chi can relieve, if not actually cure, neurasthenia, high blood pressure, anemia, tuberculosis, and many other maladies.

Besides the Solo Exercise with its therapeutic value, T'ai-chi also has two (2) other aspects.  The Pushing-Hands Practice, in which two (2) opponents compete in trying to uproot each other, constitutes a sport.  Beyond this, T'ai-chi is a method of self-defense.  Judo, Aikido, and few other Asian methods stress the yielding principle of T'ai-chi, but none achieve to the same degree its relaxation, suppleness, and subtlety.

The Taoists advocate wu wei (non-action or effortlessness) and the Buddhists venerate "emptying."  The motto for T'ai-chi practice must be "investment in loss."  It is what Confucius meant by k'e chi - to subdue the self.  How is this manifested in mundane affairs?  It means to yield to others, thus quashing obstinacy, egotism, and selfishness.  But it is not an easy thing.  To persist in the Solo exercise amid life's busy requirements is self-humbling .  In the Pushing-hands Practice, the student must accept failure many times over in the early stages.  To yield and adhere to an opponent cannot be achieved by an egotist - his ego will not tolerate the bruising necessary before mastery comes.  But here, as in life, this proximity to reality must overcome ego if one is to walk a whole man.

The name, the full and formal tile is T'ai-chi Ch'uan (pronounced "tie-jee chwan,") the latter word simply "fist or "boxing."   The term t'ai-chi is derived from a concept of Chinese philosophy meaning "supreme ultimate."  Philosophically, T'ai-chi is said to be the primary principle of all things and is represented by a circle divided into light and dark aspects, representing the yang and yin concepts, which reflect opposite attributes such as male and female, activity and inactivity, firmness and softness, light and darkness, and positive and negative.  Through the complementary interaction of yin, and yang sprang the five (5) elements - fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. T'ai-chi was named for an ultimate philosophical principle because its early proponents felt it expressed an ultimate physical principle.

There are four (4) main theories on the origin of T'ai-chi.  the most popular states that Chang San-feng, a Toaist priest of the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), learned it in a dream.

        *Legend sits heavily on this personage.  He was reputed to have lived several hundred years and his exploits were so supernormal that one must conclude that they derive more from legend than from historical fact.  His more responsible biographers and his tombstone state simply that Chang was a Taoist living on Mt. Wutang in Hupeh province and that he created a so-called internal school of boxing.  The postures of his method, however, bear little resemblance to the T'ai-chi we know today.

A second theory holds that it originated in the T'ang dynasty (618-907) and developed through four (4) separate schools: the Hsu, Yu, Ch'eng, and Yin.  A third claim states that the Ch'en family of Ch'en Chia Kou in Honan Province created T'ai-chi during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1654).  The fourth thesis and the most reasonable simply avers that the founder is unknown, but that the development of T'ai-chi dates from one Wang Tsung-yueh of Shansi province, who introduced it in Honan during the reign of Ch'ien-lung (1736-1795) of the Ch'ing dynasty.  This last theory holds that once, while passing through Ch'en Chia Kou in Wen-hsien (Honan province), Wang Tsung-yuch saw the villagers practicing a form of hand boxing called pao ch'ui.  Later at his inn he made an offhand remark on the method, which the villagers, almost all surnamed Ch'en, had practiced for generations.  His remark brought several challenges and he met them all successfully.  The villagers were impressed and asked Wang to stay for a short while to teach them his method.  Moved by their sincerity, he agreed and helped them modify their hard boxing method into the softer T'ai-chi.

Much later, Tai-chi at Ch'en Chia Kou was divided into the "new and "old styles, with Ch'en Ch'ang-hsing representing the "old" and Ch'en Yu-pen the "new".  Ch'en Chiang-hsiang, another famed teacher of the "old" style, was engaged by a druggist in Yung Lien Hsien (in what is now Hopei province) to teach his sons.  A servant of the family, Yang Lu-Ch'an, secretly watched the practices and soon became so expert he was accepted as a student.  Yang later went Peking, capital of the Ch'ing dynasty, where he taught the emperor's guards.   He met challenges from all sides of the boxing spectrum and was never defeated.

Yang Lu-Ch'an passed his art on to his two (2) sons, Chien-hou and Pan-hou.  Chien-hou in turn transmitted the family skill to his two (2) sons Shao-hou and Cheng-fu.  The latter, Yang Cheng-fu brought Tai-chi of the Yang variety to South China.  The author of the text, Cheng Man-ch'ing, learned personally from Yang for nearly a decade and today is spreading the Yang style of Tai-chi throughout the world.

To lean more about the principles of Tai-chi, please read the book entitles, "Tai-chi - The 'Supreme Ultimate' Exercise for Health, Sport, and Self-Defense" by Cheng Man-ch'ing and Robert W. Smith.