Tang Soo Do

Tang Soo Do (In Hangul, 당수도; In Hanja, 唐手道) is one of 4 popular Korean martial arts that were incorporated into Tae Kwon Do.

The three Sino-Chinese words translate as follows:

Tang: the Tang Dynasty of China; Tang generally refers to China in old Japanese
Soo: fist
Do: way of life

Essentially meaning: martial way of life from China.

As the name suggests (its Japanese pronunciation is Karate), Tang Soo Do based on Japanese Karate.

Grand Master Jae Chul SHIN[?] was a student of this art. And brought it over to the United States before Tae Kwon Do really caught on.

The practice of martial arts outside the east is not very common, hence, most teachers must heavily commercialize their schools in order to survive in the western world.

J.C Shin began his first school of Tang Soo Do in Burlington, New Jersey. Now, Tang Soo Do has become a world organization, paralleling the popularity of Tae Kwon Do. It is based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

World Tang Soo Do Association Headquarters
709 Oregon Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19148 US
TEL: +1-215-468-2121
FAX: +1-215-336-2121
http://www.worldtangsoodo.com/index2.asp
WTSDA@aol.com (mailto:WTSDA@aol.com)

Practice

Tang Soo Do can be considered quite similar to Tae Kwon Do, but it is practiced according to more traditional guidelines.