Taekwondo vs. Tang Soo Do
Quick answer
Tang soo do is the Korean reading of the characters with which karate was originally written, and from 1944–1945 it was the name of the art of the kwans Chung Do Kwan and Moo Duk Kwan, which in the mid-fifties became the basis of taekwondo. Tang soo do keeps the forms from Shotokan and deep stances, while WT taekwondo builds on kicks and full contact in protectors. Taekwondo has been Olympic since 2000, while tang soo do competes in point sparring held by individual organizations, under WTSDA rules without contact to the body.
At a glance
| Taekwondo | Tang Soo Do | |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | South Korea | South Korea |
| Origin | 1955 | 20th century (present form) |
| Founder | Choi Hong-hi | Hwang Kee |
| Contact | Full contact · Light contact (depending on style) | Semi-contact |
| Sparring | Full contact · Light contact (depending on style) | Light contact |
| Competition format | Point fighting | Point fighting |
| Olympic status | Current Olympic sport | Not Olympic |
| Ranks | Yes (belts) | Yes (belts) |
| Rank recognition | by federation | fragmented |
| Attire | Gi required | Gi required |
| Weapons | No weapons | Weapons optional |
| Forms | Forms at the core | Forms at the core |
| Relative cost | medium | low |
| Katas and forms in the encyclopedia | 41 | 8 |
| Techniques in the encyclopedia | 84 | 3 |
Scales 1–5
Rated for the typical training of an adult beginner in an ordinary club, calibrated across all arts.
What each art is built from
Editorial rating 0–3: how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
History and relationship
Both arts grew out of the Korean kwan schools, which taught karate from 1944–1945. Tang soo do is the Korean reading of the characters 唐手道, “the way of the Tang dynasty hand”, with which karate was written before Funakoshi Gichin changed the first character in the early nineteen thirties. Taekwondo is the later common name, and some schools kept tang soo do.
- 1944: Lee Won-guk, a student of Funakoshi, opens Chung Do Kwan in Seoul, the first kwan named Tang Soo Do.
- 9 November 1945: Hwang Kee founds Moo Duk Kwan, at first as Hwa Soo Do. He took the forms and a large part of the philosophy from Shotokan.
- 1955: Choi Hong Hi, then head of both Oh Do Kwan and Chung Do Kwan, promotes the name taekwondo.
- 1959: the Korea Taekwondo Association is formed from nine kwans. Hwang Kee refused unification, and sources give the year Moo Duk Kwan left as 1958 or the mid-sixties.
- Hwang Kee later renamed the art Soo Bahk Do, and sources give around 1957, 1960 or 1995.
Technique
- The emphasis is on kicks, including spinning ones.
- WT bout: 1 point for a punch to the trunk, 2 for a kick to the trunk, 3 for a kick to the head, 4 for a spinning kick to the trunk, 6 for a spinning kick to the head.
- The head may be hit with the foot only, and grabbing, holding and pushing are penalized by gam-jeom.
- Deep stances as in karate, active work of the hips and a wide range of kicks.
- WTSDA 2016: of the hand techniques, only the rear-hand straight punch, the side strike and the lunge punch with the front hand score.
- The target is the body between the waist and the neck, and contact to the head and neck is prohibited.
The pyong-an forms in tang soo do are direct and linear like the kata of Shotokan, but the individual techniques tend to be more circular, which is attributed to Korean and northern Chinese influences. WT taekwondo rates a spinning kick several times higher than a punch.
Training
| Taekwondo | Tang Soo Do | |
|---|---|---|
| Pillars of instruction | forms, sparring, breaking (gyeokpa), hosinsul, conditioning | forms (hyung), point sparring, Ho Sin Sul |
| Sparring | kyorugi (WT) at full contact with protectors, matsogi (ITF) light | techniques decisively and with a stable stance, serious injuries are counterproductive |
| Breaking | part of training | a WTSDA discipline, under age 18 without spinning and jumping techniques |
We have not been able to document the training frequency or the ratio of forms to sparring in a lesson. A review in the International Journal of Morphology (2024) describes some tang soo do forms as soft, similar to kung-fu and taijiquan.
Progression and ranks
| Taekwondo | Tang Soo Do | |
|---|---|---|
| Student grades | gup, numbered in descending order | gup 10–1, in Soo Bahk Do white, orange, green and red belt |
| Master grades | dan, usually up to 9th, exceptionally 10th | dan 1st to 9th |
| Dan belt | black | Moo Duk Kwan and Soo Bahk Do midnight blue, from 4th dan with a red stripe |
| Titles | Kukkiwon: kyosa-nim 1st to 3rd dan, sabum-nim 4th to 6th dan | Soo Bahk Do: kyosa from 2nd dan and age 18, sabom from 4th dan and age 21 |
WT taekwondo keeps dan grades in the central register of the Kukkiwon and gives children under 15 the poom grade. Tang soo do grades are issued independently by Moo Duk Kwan, WTSDA and other organizations.
Physical load and risks
- Junior WT World Championships (889 athletes): 38.55 injuries per 1,000 starts.
- Australian amateurs in competition: 59.93 per 1,000 starts.
- In training 7.0 injuries per 1,000 hours, over 81% of injuries occur in training.
- Most often the knee, instep and foot, and ankle.
- We have not found an injury study focused on tang soo do.
- The comparison of five styles by Zetaruk et al. (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 263 participants) does not include tang soo do.
Who it suits
| Taekwondo | Tang Soo Do | |
|---|---|---|
| Competition categories | WT: cadets 12–14, juniors 15–17, seniors from age 17 | WTSDA: gup and dan, for the youngest the Tiny Tiger and Little Dragon divisions with no stated age limits |
| Older age | poomsae up to the category over 65 | we have not found adult age categories |
| Women | at the Olympics since 2000, four weight categories | we have not found this information |
| Para sport | para taekwondo, Paralympics since Tokyo 2020 | we have not found it |
Children
| Taekwondo | Tang Soo Do | |
|---|---|---|
| Children’s programs | poom grade up to age 15 | the Spotsylvania County (Virginia) program lists a Tiny Tigers Soo Bahk Do class for ages 4–6 |
| Competition of the youngest | WT cadets from age 12 | WTSDA: in forms full points only, in sparring no elimination |
| Restrictions | cadets head protector with a face shield, shorter rounds | under age 18 in breaking without spinning and jumping techniques, weapon forms from age 16 |
| Studies | a review of 8 studies (402 children, ages 6–16): improved strength, flexibility and balance | we have not found a study or a statement from doctors |
Self-defence
- Hosinsul is part of the syllabus.
- WT sparring at full contact with protectors, hands to the trunk only.
- The rules exclude grabbing, holding, pushing and attacks below the waist.
- Ho Sin Sul in the WTSDA: 30 defenses against grabs.
- WTSDA sparring without contact to the body, grabs, throws and sweeps are prohibited.
- Other organizations permit light contact, including to the head, in the dan divisions.
WT taekwondo tests kicks against resistance at full contact, while tang soo do under the WTSDA tests mainly control and distance. The competition rules develop neither the clinch nor ground fighting in either art.
Practical use
| Taekwondo | Tang Soo Do | |
|---|---|---|
| Fitness | women around age 63: after 8 weeks improvement in the sit-and-reach test and in stance stability | Douris et al.: 9 soo bahk do practitioners (ages 40–60) versus 9 sedentary people, body fat 18.9% versus 30.8% |
| Self-defense | 30 women: after 6 weeks improvement in a self-defense test | we have not found a study |
| Professional use | we have not found a program | the Tang Soo Do World website states that Hwang Kee taught the air force and police until 1961 |
The review by Berríos-Fary et al. (2024) found just two studies of recreational tang soo do practitioners and rated the evidence as insufficient. No general suitability of either art can be drawn from studies of small groups.
Competition
| Taekwondo (WT) | Tang Soo Do (WTSDA 2016) | |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic status | medal sport since Sydney 2000 | none, in the USA the AAU holds point tournaments of a non-Olympic type |
| Bout | 3 rounds of 2 minutes, golden point 1 minute | 2 minutes, the first to 3 points wins, a technique for 1 point |
| Contact | full in protectors, ITF light | no contact to the body, a light touch of the uniform can score |
| Forms | poomsae for individuals, pairs, trios and freestyle with music | hyung judged 5–10, only a form of one’s own or the next grade |
Gear and costs
| Taekwondo | Tang Soo Do | |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing | dobok, in the WT usually with a V-neck | dobok, we have not found the cut or trim in the sources |
| Competition protectors | WT: trunk, head, groin, forearms, shins, gloves, mouthguard, sensor socks | WTSDA: helmet with a face shield, hand, foot and mouth protectors, groin protector for men |
| Weapons | not used | optional, the WTSDA has weapon forms |
| Relative costs | medium | low |
Availability and organisations
| Taekwondo | Tang Soo Do | |
|---|---|---|
| World organization | World Taekwondo with the Kukkiwon, alongside them three ITF organizations | there is no common federation, among others World Moo Duk Kwan and the World Tang Soo Do Association |
| Who awards dan grades | Kukkiwon (WT), ITF organizations independently | each organization separately |
| Recognition of grades | within the Kukkiwon system yes, between WT and ITF undocumented | we have not found it between organizations, the AAU in the USA recognizes tang soo do grades |
Switching and combining
- Kicks, forms and the gup and dan system carry over.
- Getting used to deep stances and hip work.
- Reducing contact: the WTSDA allows neither contact to the body nor a hit to the head.
- Learning the forms Kee Cho, Pyung Ahn and Bassai.
- Kicks, forms and etiquette carry over.
- Getting used to full contact in protectors and electronic scoring.
- A kick to the head scores in the WT, while the fist may go to the trunk only.
On the left is the move from taekwondo to tang soo do, on the right the opposite direction. The Pyong-Ahn forms from Shotokan were introduced by Lee Won-guk in Chung Do Kwan, which later moved over to taekwondo.
Philosophy
- Five principles according to Choi Hong Hi: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, indomitable spirit.
- A reference to the five commandments of the hwarang.
- Since 2018 the national martial art of Korea according to the South Korean government.
- Moo Duk Kwan means “school of martial virtue”.
- Hwang Kee did not want Soo Bahk Do to become a sport or a military tool, and he focused on personal growth.
- The name refers to the Tang dynasty, as did the original writing of karate.
Taekwondo tied its philosophy to the Olympic sport, while Hwang Kee’s line rejected sport as a goal.
Forms and terminology
Tang soo do keeps the forms from Shotokan. For the midnight blue belt nine forms are required: three Kee Cho (taikyoku in Shotokan), five Pyung Ahn and Bassai. Some schools also teach Hwang Kee’s forms Yuk Ro (1947) and Chil Sung (1952).
The Kukkiwon uses eight Taegeuk forms for colored belts, which replaced the Palgwe forms in 1971, and nine forms for dan grades, the ITF 24 Chang Hon forms.
Training culture
- A demonstration sport at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, a medal sport since Sydney 2000.
- The Kukkiwon in Seoul as the central institution, the World Taekwondo Federation founded in 1973.
- Hwang Kee created the Moo Duk Kwan fist logo in 1955.
- Chuck Norris began tang soo do at Osan Air Base in South Korea after joining the US Air Force in 1958.
- In 1966 Norris created American Tang Soo Do and in 1990 the style Chun Kuk Do.
Common misconceptions
- The story that Hwang Kee was inspired by a man defending himself with taekkyon is questioned by the Korea Taekkyon Association.
- The claim that around 1960 almost 75% of Korean martial artists practiced tang soo do is disputed.
- Taekwondo is not a continuation of ancient taekkyon, and the Korean taekkyon association denies a connection.
- Despite the similar name, Soo Bahk Do is unrelated to the old subak, which is more a general term than a defined art.
Which to choose
Frequently asked questions
Is tang soo do an older name for taekwondo?
In part. The name was used by the kwans Chung Do Kwan and Moo Duk Kwan from 1944–1945, and in the mid-fifties tang soo do became the basis of taekwondo. Chung Do Kwan accepted the new name, while Moo Duk Kwan under Hwang Kee gave up on unification.
Is tang soo do Korean karate?
The name is the Korean reading of the characters with which karate was originally written, and the forms and a large part of the techniques come from Shotokan. Korean sources also cite elements of subak, taekkyon and kung-fu.
Which of them is Olympic?
WT taekwondo has been a medal sport since 2000. Tang soo do is not Olympic, and tournaments are held by individual organizations.