What Is Soo Bahk Do?
Soo Bahk Do® (수박도) is a Korean martial art founded by Hwang Kee, who established the Moo Duk Kwan in Seoul on November 9, 1945. Originally taught under the name Tang Soo Do, the art was formally renamed Soo Bahk Do on June 30, 1960, following Hwang Kee’s study of the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji, Korea’s oldest known martial arts text. It is led today by his son, H.C. Hwang, Kwan Jang Nim.
| QUICK FACTS | |
| Korean / Hanja | 수박도 / 手搏道 |
| Founder | Hwang Kee (November 9, 1914 – July 14, 2002) |
| Founded | Moo Duk Kwan established November 9, 1945 — Seoul, South Korea |
| Renamed | Tang Soo Do → Soo Bahk Do, June 30, 1960 |
| Earlier names | Hwa Soo Do (1945); Tang Soo Do |
| Distinctive forms | Chil Sung, Yuk Ro, Ship Dan Khum, Hwa Sun |
| Current head | H.C. Hwang, Kwan Jang Nim — World Moo Duk Kwan |
| U.S. organization | US Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation |
| Highest belt | Midnight blue (in place of black) |
| Peak Influence | ~75% of Korean martial artists practiced Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan by 1960 |
The Origins of Soo Bahk Do
Soo Bahk Do traces back to the training and research of Hwang Kee, who founded the Moo Duk Kwan on November 9, 1945 — his own thirty-first birthday. His martial arts foundation was built from four sources: an early, informal exposure to Tae Kyun as a boy; formal training in Manchuria under the Chinese martial artist Yang Kuk Jin, which included Tan Tui, Tai Chi, and traditional conditioning methods; a study of Okinawan Karate texts after returning to Korea; and — most significantly — his 1957 introduction, by a librarian at Korean National University in Seoul, to the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji, the oldest known Korean martial arts text.
That text’s Kwon Bup (“fist method”) section described an older Korean fighting tradition called Soo Bahk — hand-striking techniques rooted in Korea’s own martial heritage, distinct from the Okinawan-influenced Tang Soo Do that Hwang Kee had been teaching up to that point. Recognizing its significance, he began integrating the Soo Bahk system into the Moo Duk Kwan curriculum, ultimately creating the Chil Sung, Yuk Ro, Ship Dan Khum, and Hwa Sun forms — built directly from the writings of the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji rather than on Okinawan Karate. The names come from the text itself: the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji describes a body of training methods called Yun Soo — thirty-five methods and eighteen types of footwork — classified into six paths, Yuk Ro, and ten level exercises, Ship Dan Khum.
Hwang Kee’s work on this material continued into his final decades. In March 1992 he published a 424-page Korean-language volume documenting the Yuk Ro, Ship Dan Khum, and Hwa Sun movements drawn from the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji.
Soo Bahk Do became the official name of the martial art system taught in the Moo Duk Kwan on June 30, 1960, in Korea, under the Korean Soo Bahk Do Association Moo Duk Kwan. In the 1990s, the U.S. Federation formally renamed itself from the United States Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation to the United States Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation, honoring Hwang Kee’s vision of honoring Korean history and tradition.
Read the full history of Hwang Kee’s training lineage and our school’s Ryu Pa → Our Ryu Pa
From Tang Soo Do to Soo Bahk Do
Tang Soo Do isn’t a separate art from Soo Bahk Do — it’s an earlier name for it. Hwang Kee originally called his art Hwa Soo Do, honoring Korea’s historical Hwa Rang warriors, and trained heavily under the Chinese martial artist Yang Kuk Jin. But in a Korea shaped by decades of Japanese occupation, the public understood “Tang Soo Do” — the generic term other kwans used for Japanese-influenced Karate — not “Hwa Soo Do.” Hwang Kee adopted the more recognizable name, teaching under the banner “Hwa Soo Do (Tang Soo Do) Moo Duk Kwan.”
After discovering the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji in 1957, Hwang Kee renamed the art Soo Bahk Do, effective June 30, 1960. Even so, the name “Tang Soo Do” persisted for decades, especially among the American servicemen who trained in Korea through the 1950s and ’60s and, working through a language barrier, carried “Tang Soo Do” home with them as the name of what they’d learned.
The full story of Hwang Kee’s naming journey — and why “Tang Soo Do” is still used today — will be covered in a future article.
What Makes Soo Bahk Do Distinct
What separates Soo Bahk Do from other Korean martial arts isn’t just its name — it’s the training system Hwang Kee built from his lifelong study of martial arts. The Chil Sung, Yuk Ro, Ship Dan Khum, and Hwa Sun forms are unique to Soo Bahk Do, and together they showcase the full arc of Hwang Kee’s own training history: his study of the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji and the direct influence of Yang Kuk Jin’s Chinese instruction. In particular, the Chinese-influenced Tan Tui and Tai Chi give Soo Bahk Do® a body-mechanics foundation that most Korean striking arts, rooted primarily in Okinawan Karate, don’t share.
That foundation shows up as three layers of training the Moo Duk Kwan calls Weh Gong, Neh Gong, and Shim Gong. Weh Gong is external power — physical technique and bodily movement, activated through the Hu Ri (waist). Neh Gong is internal power — the integration of breath and movement. Shim Gong is mental and spiritual training, expressed through character development and sincere intent. Where many striking arts train external technique alone, Soo Bahk Do treats all three as inseparable.
That internal-external integration is most visible in Soo Bahk Do’s distinctive use of offensive and defensive hip movement — a method of harnessing energy from the earth and releasing power through the body’s center, rather than through arm or leg strength alone, that shapes every technique from a basic punch to an advanced form.
The Moo Duk Kwan Today
The Moo Duk Kwan is led today by Hwang Kee’s son, H.C. Hwang, Kwan Jang Nim, who heads the World Moo Duk Kwan. He succeeded his father following Hwang Kee’s passing on July 14, 2002. Under his leadership, each recognized country organization is led by a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) — appointed to represent Kwan Jang Nim, the Moo Duk Kwan, and the art of Soo Bahk Do at the national level.
In the United States, that country organization is the US Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation. Wasatch Martial Arts Academy and its digital platform, Digital Dojang, are certified under the US Federation and authorized to teach the authentic Moo Duk Kwan system known as Soo Bahk Do today.
Read about the curriculum of Soo Bahk Do today → Soo Bahk Do Curriculum.
Rank System & Belt Progression
Soo Bahk Do follows a structured rank system, progressing from beginner color belts (Gup) through the Dan ranks. Where many martial arts award a black belt, Soo Bahk Do uses midnight blue instead. Each rank’s belt grows progressively darker, and in most martial arts, the final color is black — the darkest shade, traditionally representing perfection in Korean culture. But since perfection in the art can never truly be achieved, Soo Bahk Do stops just short of it: midnight blue, not black.
Read the full breakdown of Soo Bahk Do’s belt system and what it takes to reach each rank → The Soo Bahk Do Belt System & Time to Midnight Blue.
The Value & Philosophy Behind the Art
Soo Bahk Do is built on a body of philosophy as deep as its physical curriculum — including the 8 Key Concepts, the 10 Articles of Faith, the 5 Moo Do Values, Ship Sam Seh, the principle of Um Yang (yin-yang balance), and the Moo Do Creed. Together, these frameworks shape not just how a practitioner moves, but how they think, train, and carry themselves off the mat — the difference between learning technique and improving the whole self.
The complete philosophy is documented in Hwang Kee’s own writing, Moo Do Chul Hak — available through Digital Dojang for practitioners who want to study it directly from the source.
Explore the full philosophy of Soo Bahk Do → Philosophy of Moo Duk Kwan
Frequently Asked Questions
Most sources translate Soo Bahk Do® as “hand striking way” — but that translation is inaccurate, and it reduces the art to a method of attack. Research by D.K. Jang, Sa Bom, into the seal-script origins of the characters shows that “Soo” does mean hand, but the hand itself represents the whole human body, and “Bahk” carries the sense of cultivating or improving. Understood correctly, Soo Bahk Do® is the way of cultivating the whole self through martial training — not merely a technique for striking.
Read the full research → The Purpose of Soo Bahk Do
Soo Bahk Do® was founded by Hwang Kee, who established the Moo Duk Kwan on November 9, 1945. He later renamed his art Soo Bahk Do on June 30, 1960, after discovering historical references to the term in the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji.
Not exactly. Soo Bahk Do® is a hybrid martial art that includes elements of Okinawan Karate, including some shared forms. But its advanced training methods draw more heavily from Chinese-based styles — Tan Tui and Tai Chi Chuan — and from the native Korean system documented in the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji, Korea’s oldest known martial arts text. That combination gives Soo Bahk Do its own distinct lineage, separate from Karate.
Tang Soo Do isn’t a separate art — it’s the earlier name Hwang Kee used for the same lineage. Practitioners identifying as Tang Soo Do generally trace to an earlier era of Moo Duk Kwan history, before the Chil Sung, Yuk Ro, Ship Dan Khum, and Hwa Sun forms were widely practiced. As a result, their curriculum closely resembles the classical, Okinawan-influenced forms shared by both arts.
Soo Bahk Do® and Taekwondo share a common root. When the Korean government pushed the nine major kwans to unify under the name Taekwondo, Hwang Kee resisted — he had withdrawn the Moo Duk Kwan from the process by 1958 and renamed his art Soo Bahk Do® in 1960. In March 1965, three of his senior students led a large number of practitioners out of his schools to join the unification anyway, forming a separate organization called Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo. Because Moo Duk Kwan was the dominant kwan in Korea at the time, its techniques and training methods heavily shaped what became modern Taekwondo. Soo Bahk Do® is the lineage that continued under Hwang Kee himself.
Train in Soo Bahk Do
In Salt Lake City? Wasatch Martial Arts Academy is the only school in Utah certified and authorized to teach Soo Bahk Do. Classes for kids, teens, and adults — book a free introductory class.
Anywhere else? Digital Dojang offers online instruction in forms, terminology, and philosophy, taught to the same certified Moo Duk Kwan standard — explore the courses at dojang.org.
About the Author
Brian Corrales, Sa Bom is a 6th Dan (Yuk Dan #36364) and certified Sa Bom in Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan — the art’s highest teaching certification — with direct lineage to founder Hwang Kee. He serves on the USA Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Technical Advisory Committee as a member of the Ki Sul Bu. He has trained in the art for over 35 years, completed Ko Dan Ja certification through 2026, and has taught in Salt Lake City since 2007.
Training outside Salt Lake City? He teaches this same curriculum — with rank testing by video submission — through Digital Dojang.
© Wasatch Martial Arts Academy. You’re welcome to quote or excerpt this article with attribution and a link to the original.