Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, Soo Bahk Do...?

As I mentioned in my last post.

I grew up knowing that:
I was learning "Korean Karate" - which meant I was learning Tae Kwon Do and that the "style" of Tae Kwon Do I was learning was Moo Duk Kwan.

I also knew that Kwon (as in Tae Kwon Do) was very different from Kwan (as in Moo Duk Kwan) - because when I was still a color belt, we had our uniforms silk screened and "Shin's Tae Kwon Do" had been written "Shin's Tae Kwan Do" - and when someone implied that it wasn't all that big of a deal and most people would not notice... well... it was explained in no uncertain terms - and let's just leave it at that.

When I first heard about Tang Soo Do, and it ALSO being Moo Duk Kwan, I did not understand.

Hwang Kee is the founder of Moo Duk Kwan, so I went in search of reference material.  I found and purchased the two awesome reference manuals pictured above.  They were very expensive and very hard to find, but well worth it in order to get the information from as close to "the source" as possible.  Only neither one mentions Tae Kwon Do AND not only does it use Tang Soo Do instead, there is additionally the use of Soo Bahk Do!

What you will find below is one of the best explanations (Remember... My Opinion Only - MOO)
I have ever found of how the three terms relate to Hwang Kee and Moo Duk Kwan.
There are people who will say that "this" or "that" is not correct - a name, statement, or date "here" or "there" - the devil is in the details and history varies by the memories of those telling it for sure.
However, I like the explanation that Tang Soo Do was the name most kwans used prior to the name Tae Kwon Do (actually promoted cheifly by the ITF's General Choi) and that Moo Duk Kwan came back to that name Tang Soo Do after the "kwan unification" and then changed/added Soo Bahk Do after that.
So when an instructor / school was tied closely to the Moo Duk Kwan would greatly determine the name it went by Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, and/or Soo Bahk Do...

Respectfully,
Kathy Wiz

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https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090823180459AAEABHm

Tang Soo Do (Hangul: 당수도, pronounced [taŋsudo]) is a Korean martial art promoted by Hwang Kee that has roots in various styles of martial arts, including Shotokan karate, taekkyeon, and in some schools Shaolin kung fu.

Prior to the unification of the initial schools (or kwans) of Tang Soo Do in Korea under the Korea Taekwondo Association, the arts were known as Tang Soo Do, Kong Soo Do, or Kwon Bup. The first recorded use of the term "Tang Soo Do" was by Chung Do Kwan founder, Won Kuk Lee. The Chung Do Kwan, along with the rest of the kwans, stopped using the various names when they unified under the name Taekwondo (and temporarily Tae Soo Do). 

The Moo Duk Kwan, being loyal to Hwang Kee, pulled out of the kwan unification and remained independent of this unification movement, continuing to use the name 'Tang Soo Do'. Some Moo Duk Kwan members followed Hwang's senior student, Chong Soo Hong, to become members of a unified Taekwondo. Their group still exists today and is known as Taekwondo Moo Duk Kwan (Moo Duk Hae) with an office in Seoul, Korea. 

The late Hwang Kee officially changed the name of the art of the Moo Duk Kwan style to Soo Bahk Do as early as 1957, shortly after his discovery of Korea's indigenous open hand fighting style of Subak. This change was officially registered, and the Moo Duk Kwan refiled with the Korean Ministry of Education on June 30, 1960. The organization was officially reincorporated as the "Korean Soo Bahk Do Association, Moo Duk Kwan."