Karate

[clickedy]

I was asked to day what sytle of martial art I practiced. I explained it was a korean karate sytle called Soo Bakh Do Moo Duk Kwan.... they said it couldn't be karate because all karate is japanese.

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks

[complete]

Karate is a Japanese term meaning "empty hand" and does refer specific to Japanese style of martial arts. However, when someone says it's Korean style of karate, they are using the "Karate" in a very general term to describe martial arts, since most people are familiar with Karate.

Soo Bahk Do is not a Karate style. It's more affiliated with Tang Soo Do, another Korean martial arts, as they share the same founder - Hwang Kee.

Check out CompleteMartialArts.com for more details and their history.

[Chapel]

Well... they are right Soo Bakh Do Moo Duk Kwan and Karate are two different things. The least of their difference is that one is Korean and one is Japanese.

However, they are both martial arts. Make sure that this isn't an often made mistake in calling all martial arts Karate. Because it vaguely sounds like they (who ever they are) are thinking that all martial arts come from Japan, when in fact martial arts come from all over the world.

[clickedy]

Thank you I will have a look at the site.

I see one of your styles is tang soo do. Have you never referred to your art as karate or would you always call it Tang Soo Do?

I train under hedges karate centres ... i have also noticed that TSD schools in the area tend to use the word karate in the school name. Perhaps here in the Uk it means something to the martial arts virgin, so to speak. Rather than having a school of SBDMDK??? Dunno thou ....

[RiveraRa]

I study Soo Bahk Do as well and our school advertises and calls it "Korean Karate" as well. But this is only used as a generalization and for those who have only watched the Karate Kid. Its a generic term. not many people have heard of Soo Bahk Do. So we "dummy it down" when we talk about it. On the other hand, Karate is from Japan. Even the SBD federation website calls SBD a martial art and not karate.

So, i would say as long as your calling it a Korean Karate and not just Karate your fine.

[clickedy]

Originally Posted by RiveraRa

I study Soo Bahk Do as well and our school advertises and calls it "Korean Karate" as well. But this is only used as a generalization and for those who have only watched the Karate Kid. Its a generic term. not many people have heard of Soo Bahk Do. So we "dummy it down" when we talk about it. On the other hand, Karate is from Japan. Even the SBD federation website calls SBD a martial art and not karate.

So, i would say as long as your calling it a Korean Karate and not just Karate your fine.

Thanks ... that is what I was trying to say in my last post ... but you put it far better

[N.B]

There are other similarities too. Forms look silmilar, stances are very similar...but I'm going to stop here because I'm getting out of my depth pretty quickly.

We've actually had two similar topics on my TSD forum. One was the similarity between TSD and Karate hyungs/forms, the other was how we define our martial art when people ask us about it, a lot of people used the words 'Korean Karate.' I think I'd use that term as well because I find it easier to draw up similarities between Karate and TSD than I do from TSD and TKD. Probably because the punch/kick ratio is about the same. Also, Hwang Kee picked up techniques from Karate books he found while working on the railways. Karate was even called 'Tang Soo' by Koreans during the Japanese occupation.

I usually say, it's like karate, but we use more flowing movements and put more emphasis on using our hips to generate power. We've also got some influence from kung fu.

Tee hee, Hwang Kee, that name still makes be giggle a bit.

[clickedy]

Originally Posted by RiveraRa

I study Soo Bahk Do as well

Pleasure to meet a fellow practitioner

Originally Posted by N.B

Tee hee, Hwang Kee, that name still makes be giggle a bit.

*giggles* me too, no disrespect though

[JackG]

karate is the name of a style the reason yours has been called karate is because of its similarities its easy to say its like karate but korean i.e punching and kicking but its not karate. THis is because pretty much any average joe knows what karate "is like"

[Magister]

Hwang Kee's experience in the martial arts shows that he was mainly self-taught. Based upon the history presented in his History of Moo Duk Kwan, he studied the forms which are part of his Moo Duk Kwan whilst being a railway worker in Manchuria (northern china). He learned the Kata from a book called Karate-do Kyohan by Gichin Funakoshi (the founder of Shotokan, and considered the modern "father" of karate).

The description of Tang Soo Do as Korean Karate is not too far from the truth. The term "Kara" is the phonetic sound of a chinese character refering to the Tang dynasty of China. So Karate originally meant "Tang (Chinese) Hand". On page 4 of karate-do kyohan, Funakoshi describes the that he has changed the name of Karate-do to "Empty-hand", using an different chinese character with an exact phonetic reading.

Funakoshi henceforth refered to the art as "Empty Hand", when the original meaning of Karate Do was "Tang Hand". At the time Hwang Kee studied, the name was translated to read "Tang Soo Do" in korean, and afterwards called "Kong Soo Do" (Empty Hand Way).

Later in Tang Soo Do's development, Hwang Kee was given permission to read the Muye dobo tong ji from a museum in Korea. He read the Kwon Bup (fist method) section of the treatise in which it states that ancient fighting techniques were refered to as Soo bak. He re-created the form in the MYDBTJ which created the special forms learned at advanced levels of TSD. He also created his own routines based upon the ancient soo bak, which he named ChilSung (named after himself). It was later that he chose to refer to his art as Soo Bahk Do. This is why the name is refered to as both.

So the description of Tang Soo Do as Korean Karate is completely warranted.

[N.B]

Brilliant post, +rep.

[kuroitaka]

Originally Posted by clickedy

I was asked to day what sytle of martial art I practiced. I explained it was a korean karate sytle called Soo Bakh Do Moo Duk Kwan.... they said it couldn't be karate because all karate is japanese.

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks

look mister clickedy i think the names dosen't matter but the content of this art is what you are seekin so if it was effective in real fighing so u may reach something u seek may be u someday u become a real fighter . wish u luck with ur art

[clickedy]

Originally Posted by kuroitaka

look mister clickedy i think the names dosen't matter but the content of this art is what you are seekin so if it was effective in real fighing so u may reach something u seek may be u someday u become a real fighter . wish u luck with ur art

Miss Clickedy x

[Majis0422]

Originally Posted by clickedy

Miss Clickedy x

Lmfao... This is probably a waste of a post but I just have to say... This made me laugh. I dont know if its because its late or what... but man... that basicly made my day.

[47MartialMan]

Well the term Karate may be Japanese, methods and tactics of it are shown in just about every martial art.