Where did the Tang Soo Do Pyung Ahn Forms Come From?

I'm going to keep posting reference material and documentation for the Moo Duk Kwan Hyung / Forms / Patterns as I learned to do them.

These are the first set of forms I ever studied, and I automatically include the Basics 1, 2, and 3 - Ki Cho Il, EE, and Sam Boo - as part of the "set."

Before continuing though, I feel the need to address the elephant in the room... 

Where did the Tang Soo Do Pyung Ahn Forms Come From?

Respectfully,
Kathy Wiz

 

From:   http://www.usadojo.com/articles/tang-soo-do-dennison-comments.htm

It is extremely possible that while Hwang Kee might have gained some of the Funakoshi perspective on the Pyong Ahn forms and others from an early book by Funakoshi, there also appears to be much Shito Ryu influence in the Tang Soo Do variation of these forms. Such as: Funakoshi ends the first Heian (Pyong Ahn) form with four mid-level sudo (shuto) blocks, not four low-level sudo blocks. His is the only version I have ever seen like this. All of the other versions use the low-level blocks. Since Tang Soo Do also uses the low-level blocks, it would appear that there is Okinawan influence. Since Tang Soo Do uses full side kicks in Pyong Ahn 2 and 4, an apparent Shotokan influence is seen, as Shotokan is the only version I have seen to use side kicks. The Okinawan versions all use front kicks.

It is very possible Hwang Kee picked up the Pyong Ahn forms and possibly some others from Yamaguchi in Manchuria, and then adjusted these forms from other influences, such as Funakoshi's early book, and maybe even some Chinese martial arts he observed or received a little training in while in Manchuria.

To claim a martial art like karate as solely Korean, or Japanese or even Okinawan is really a bit of a stretch, since the techniques and even many of the root kata, such as Bassai/Bal Sek and Gojushiho, originated in China. True, variations of the forms developed in Okinawa, then further in Japan or Korea, but too much national pride can actually impede historical research. True, modern Tang Soo Do was assembled in Korea, and modern Shotokan in Japan, but it is all, when you get down to the brass tacks, Chinese. Just like Ed Parker's American Kempo is truly Chinese.

Having said all of this, a kung fu instructor on the west coast once said (and I paraphrase) that the history of the forms is not as important as learning the forms, practicing them, and growing within them. He was speaking of Northern Shaolin, but the same could be said of any of the various Karate/Tang Soo Do styles out there.

Brad Dennison

 

 

 

Excerpt from:   http://www.usadojo.com/articles/tang-soo-do-forms.htm

QUEST FOR THE TRUTH 
The Origin of Tang Soo Do's Forms
by John Hancock

(This section is towards the end of the article...)

Hwang Kee had once stated that he was a personal friend of Yamaguchi Gogen. Yamaguchi, a proponent of Japanese goju-ryu karate, was a student of Mabuni Kenwa, founder of shito-ryu karate. Mabuni was a student of Itosu Yasutsune, creator of the pinan kata. Also of note is that Hwang Kee mentioned Mabuni in his 1978 book Tang Soo Do (Soo Bahk Do). Additionally, Yamaguchi was an intelligence officer with the Japanese army during World War II and was stationed in Manchuria. Hwang was also in Manchuria during this time. Hwang himself admitted in a 1991 interview that he did not begin serious martial arts training until he started working for the Japanese railroad in Manchuria. Therefore, it is possible that Hwang learned the pyong ahn hyung-and perhaps the majority of tang soo do forms-from Yamaguchi while in Manchuria between 1935 and 1937. This theory is supported by the similarities of the pinan series as practiced in shito-ryu karate, whose founder was a direct student of the forms' creator.

If this theory is accurate, Hwang Kee could indeed have brought the pyong ahn hyung back from China. Remember that this is the original premise that I had been looking to verify-and that the Moo Duk Kwan had for 50 years insisted was the truth. The strength and failing of this theory is that it could be proved or disproved only by Hwang Kee himself. The answers to this and many other questions lay in Hwang Kee's latest book The History of Moo Duk Kwan (1995).

On pages 15 and 16 of that text, it clearly states that Hwang Kee's knowledge and understanding of the majority of the forms taught within tang soo do, including the pyong ahn hyung, came from reading and studying Japanese books on Okinawan karate. Hwang discovered those books in the library of the train station where he worked in Seoul in 1939. We can only speculate as to which books those were, but I would venture that Funakoshi's Ryukyu Kempo Karate (1922) was among them.

(The article continues for a few more paragraphs....)

About The AuthorJohn Hancock is a LaGrange, Kentucky based free-lance writer and tang soo do practitioner.