Hwang Kee
1989
Man of the Year

This statement neatly summarizes the philosophy of tang soo do and reflects the personal outlook of its founder and current head, the venerable master Hwang Keel At age 77, Hwang has literally devoted a lifetime to the development and perfection of his art.

He started his martial arts by training from books, in the mountains around Jangdan, Korea, and by age 21 had already gained a reputation for expertise in the Korean arts of soo bahk do and tee kyun. When these arts were forbidden in Korea during the Japanese occupation, Hwang left for Manchuria to study Chinese martial arts, which heavily influenced him.

Returning to Korea in 1945, Hwang began to teach a combination of tang (Chinese) arts and soo bahk do, which he eventually named tang soo do (way of the Chinese hand). There is more emphasis on hand techniques than in tee kwon do, and the art incorporates thrusting motions, sweeps, and pressure-point techniques.

However, Hwang never lost sight of the ultimate purpose of training: to enhance oneself spiritually, mentally, and physically. He therefore presented tang soo do as a discipline rather than as a fighting system, teaching that it was wrong to use it in streetfighting, and forbidding his students from testing their techniques by seeking out real fights, believing that it is in consistent practice, training in spite of heat, cold, and pain, that one actually shows courage.

Although there are tang soo do tournaments and competitions, Hwang doubts that tang soo do can be made into a sport like judo. He believes that tang soo do would thereby lose its capacity for creating personal happiness and helping the development of society. Games and sports stress winning and being first, and the first to lose is tradition.

Tradition. Hwang is so firmly committed to tradition that when the Korean military tried to unite and regulate all martial arts under a single tae kwon do umbrella, Hwang fought in the Korean court system to remain independent, and won his case in spite of continuous harassment and intimidation by the military.

But Hwang, who now lives in Springfield, New Jersey, does not preach a blind adherence to tradition. He changed the color of the traditional black belt in his organization; his "black belts" wear belts of midnight blue. And his rationale is again indicative of the man's outlook: "The black belt (is taken to mean that) you are the ultimate and you've reached the highest level of the art. Therefore, you can't go any higher. You can still learn and grow when you are a blue belt."

Yet even in this bedrock of tradition there is an open acceptance of individual differences and personal creativity within tang soo do. In his book Tang Soo Do, Hwang writes: "It is reasonable to discover and develop special techniques according to your physical condition and personal hobbies while you practice. However, this is not for the beginner. This should develop after you have reached a certain level."

Today, tang soo do has a huge organization with practitioners on several continents, standardized forms, specialized training techniques, ranking systems, and a reasonably consistent level of instruction. There are more than 20,000 certified blue belts actively embodying the tang soo do philosophy. And it all started years ago with one man, Hwang Kee, the Black Belt Hall of Fames 1989 Man of the Year.

From "Man of the Year: Hwang Kee," Black Belt Yearbook, 22 (1990), pp. 78-79.