Name of your Style (specificly): tang soo do moo duk kwon
What you've been told Tang Soo Do means: the way of the china hand, knife hand and open hand
How long you've been a student: 14 years
Any federation or organization you belong to: none
Belt Rank: 4th dan
Short history of your specific style: hwang kee
Comments/questions: why is it that the same style has so many different variations of forms?
Harold,
This is a common question to be asked...
When ever you have a Federation, Organization, Association, etc. of any kind where politics are involved, or members find that they have a different view or opinion you will have those who choose to splinter off and start their own "Way" or system.
In the Tang Soo Do community there are many "Kwan Jang Nim's". Most of them are teaching the same thing, or close to the same thing, while others have implemented changes that make them a little different, and in some cases, very different or completely different. The problem is that with these changes they have chosen to continue to call their system "Tang Soo Do". Some of these members of our community were upset when they were told that they could not call themselves "Moo Duk Kwan", as they thought that Moo Duk Kwan was part of the name of their system, as in "Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan", or Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do".
While most of us understand that "Tang Soo Do" was the name of the system taught by KJN Hwang Kee and that "Moo Duk Kwan" was the name of KJN Hwang Kee's organization, others thought that this was the complete name of the art that they had been taught and had trained in for many years.
"Tang Soo Do" today has many faces and varies from dojang to dojang. What I enjoy most about MartialTalk.com and other like discussion boards is that we can all come together to share what we know and what we teach to one another. I believe that this was truly KJN Hwang Kee's hope for us all in the first place. I don't believe that he intended for us all to continue training in 1945 Tang Soo Do forever. He wrote about Ryu Pa (the natural order of the flow in nature) extensively. He understood that a system that remains frozen in time is to be considered a dead art, and nothing more.
Let's all continue to come together for good sharing and learning. If KJN Hwang Kee is looking down on us from on high, let him smile, knowing that we are living his dream, regardless of the politics that others live by...
