The World Tang Soo Do Association is an international Tang Soo Do association headquartered in

Burlington, North Carolina Burlington is a city in Alamance County, North Carolina, Alamance and Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the principal city of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

. As of 1996, the organization claimed to have over 160,000 members.

Etymology

"Tang Soo Do" (당수도) is the Korean pronunciation of the Hanja 唐手道 (pronounced Táng shǒu dào in Chinese), and translates literally to "The Way of the

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

Hand." The first character of the Hanja form is 唐, referring to the Tang dynasty of China (618-907). In the early 1930s, roughly 55 years after the Imperial Japanese occupation of Okinawa,

Gichin Funakoshi was a japanese martial artist who is regarded as the founder of Shotakan karate, perhaps the most widely known style of karate, and is known as a "father of modern karate". Following the teachings of Anko Itosu and Anko Asato,Funakoshi, Gichi ...

in collaboration with others changed the first character to 空, signifying "empty"; both characters can be pronounced "kara" in Japanese, though 唐 is more commonly rendered as "Tou". The Chinese pronunciation of 空手道 is kōng-shǒu-dào, and the Korean is pronounced oŋsʰudo공수도). Outside of the Far East, the term "Tang Soo Do" has been synonymous with the Korean martial arts style promoted by grandmaster

Hwang Kee Hwang Kee (; ''Hwang Gi''; November 9, 1914 – July 14, 2002) was one of the most important and influential figures in the Korean martial arts.U.S. Soo Bahk Do (Tang Soo Do) Moo Duk Kwan Federation > History. URL accessed on February 11, 2010. ...

; who learned martial arts in Manchuria.

History

In 1968, Master Jae Chul Shin traveled to the United States as a representative of the Korean Tang Soo Do Association, where he then established the United States Tang Soo Do Association.Coleman, Jim (September 1984)
Tang Soo! The Evolution of Tae Kwon Do‘s Bitter Rival. Black Belt Magazine
Pages 20–24 & 120–121 In 1982, dissatisfied with the direction that the organization was headed, Shin resigned from the board of directors and with Ki Yun Yi and William D. Clingan, founded the World Tang Soo Do Association. This coincided with his instructor, ''Kwang Chang Nim'' (grandmaster)

's release of new ''hyungs'' (forms) which also occurred the same year."Brief History of the Moo Duk Kwan. ''World Moo Duk Kwan Official Web Site''"
Archived
from th

on 2008-05-31. Retrieved 2008-06-30.

Organization

References

External links

* 1968 establishments in the United States Karate organizations Organizations based in North Carolina Korean martial arts Chuck Norris Martial arts governing bodies Sports organizations established in 1968 {{Martial-arts-stub