Meanings of Martial Art Terms-old

Meanings of Martial Art Terms

It is hard to get much looking at the “Korean/Hangul” of most things “foreign”. Hence, why I recommend digging deeper into the meanings of the martial arts you need to look at the “root” of each style. Here I hope to do that to some small degree.

01. Taekwon-Do doesn’t need to be talked about much here, as most people know and understand the term, what I would like to point out is that Gen. Choi had said that “Soo (Te/?) is a subset of Kwon (?). Wouldn’t it be better to use the letter of the father?” Of course, he is not referring to the characters as written in Korean/Hangul as you can see here, they are not similar,(? / ?) so he was clearly referring to the Hanja/Kanji, and hence a reason why we should use the Hanja/Kanji rather than the Korean characters.

02. Tang Soo Do is the second most popular striking art in Korea, this is the term most commonly used by all the former Kwan’s and the term Gen. Choi used before Taekwon-Do. The interesting thing about this is that in Japanese the charter for “Tang / ?” is pronounced “Kara” however, this is not the same “Kara / ?” as in Karate. This “Kara” means literally “CHINA” and “Soo” means hand, so this is The way of the China Hand. Another interesting thing is for martial art buffs, the same characters TangSoo/?? – Karate/?? is also pronounced “Tote” and another direct link to our Japanese/Okinawa in roots as the founder of modern karate Funakoshi, Gichin used ToTe in the beginning before using the term Karate.

03. Tae Soo Do another term used for striking arts in Korea isn’t very well known today, the only group still using this term is the HwarangDo group, although the term is not new, the style behind this TaeSooDo is not the same as used prior. The term Tae Soo Do was used in Korea to “unite” those using the terms Tang Soo Do, TaeKwon-Do and others used, and the situation in A above.

04. Hapkido is another Korean art that’s roots are directly related to the Japanese arts. The older generations of Korean knew of this link and didn’t promote its true history. Again, looking at the Hangul (???) its rather vague, but if you look at the Hanja/Kanji, (???) and it’s very clear the term is used in Japan, except in Japan the term is Aikido, the art founded by Ueshiba O’sensei. According to the histories, both the founder of Hapkido (Choi, Yong Sul) and the founder of Aikido (Ueshiba, Morihei) both studied Daito-Ryu (Aiki)Jujutsu under Takeda, Sokaku. Choi being Korean, I would assume that he didn’t study directly under Takeda but may have been some type of “worker” within the Takeda household. A more “recent” development is to spell it as Hapgido with a “g” instead of a “k” and in Hangul, the same character is used for K, G /?

05. Yudo is nothing but the “Korean” way of saying Judo. Judo is made of two sets of characters, Ju meaning “gentle” and of course the familiar Do. The term Yu/Ju is used and promoted as its roots are based on jiujutsu, and most would agree there is nothing “gentle” about it.

06. Yoosul/Yusul is again like Yudo in that it is the Korean way of saying Jujutsu.

07. Boo Sabumnim Pu meaning “1st step” sabum meaning “teacher” and “Nim” being the honorific.

08. Sabumnim, simply meaning “a teacher.” “NIM” is an honorific, like sir or ma’am.

09. Sahyun, basically means “soul of the system” and that the Master is the “heart and soul of the system.”

10. Sasung, basically means the “voice of system.” So giving a voice or wisdom to the style or system.

11. Kwon Bop is generally listed as an ancient Korean martial art, however, again, this is not true. Kwon Bop in Chinese is called “Chuan Fa” and in Japanese, it is called “Kenpo.”

12. Kong Soo Do, also an early term used for Taekwon-Do, is pronounced “Karate-Do” in Japanese, this “Kara-?” means empty hand, unlike the one listed above at 2 for Tang Soo Do.

13. Chang Hon, Chang means “pale blue” and what I would submit is the reason for the pale blue on the ITF crest rather than it represents the blue of the United Nations which has been the “official story” for some time. Hon means roughly houses or eaves of houses. Also, an alternative way to write “Chang” is the same Hanja that was used to write “Chung” (?) as in Chung Do Kwan below. Gen. Choi also would have wanted to capitalize on the popularity of the Chung Do Kwan with a very similar name as they were the largest kwan at the time of the founding of the Chang Hon. Another fact that is apparent is that by calling this “Chang Hon” (Blue House) this is “larger” or “bigger” than the “ChungDo Kwan” which is part of a house. Another side note is that the official residence and executive office of the South Korean Head of State are called The Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae 청와대). And is referred to that name because it means “house of the blue roof tiles.”

14. Chung Do Kwan, Chung means blue or blue-green, and Do means “big wave.” And of course, kwan means “mansion/hall/school.” So this is the school of the big blue wave. Over the years this has come to mean several things one meaning being a big wave swamping the Japanese etc. However, I feel this is wrong, as the founder of the Chung Do Kwan, Lee, WonKuk was pro-Japanese and I think it is a direct reference to the “Kamikaze” and the big wave that swamped the Moguls the tsunami that destroyed the Mogul invasion. This would have made sense because ChungDo Kwan was founded before the liberation of Korea from the Japanese. Also, I believe this is also related to Chuo University that Lee attended while in Japan studying Law as their school color was blue as well. Of course, after the liberation, Lee had to have an “official” story that was pro-Korean and anti-Japanese to become the largest Kwan. Also please see above for other references.

15. Kwan Jang Nim, the term “kwan” is the same as in Chung do Kwan, etc. It means hall, mansion, or school. Jang means “minister” or “preacher of the school” and “nim” is a polite suffix like Mr. or Ms. etc.

16. Choong Jae Nim, simply means President or Mr./Mrs/Ms. President.

17. Oh Do Kwan, basically means “Gym of My Way” and the “My Way” doesn’t denote the founder’s way (Gen. Choi, Hong-hi) but the singular, person in that school, so anyone who is part of it.  Indicating that “My Way” is the way you are taught, learned, etc.