2015 KMAM-HOF LEGEND INDUCTEE
Hwang Kee (1914-2002)
Grand Master Hwang Kee was one of the most important and influential figures in the Korean martial arts. He was
the founder of the school of Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan style. He was one of the five original Founders to open
solely Korean Martial Arts Kwans, after the Japanese Occupation.
Hwang Kee was born on November 9, 1914, in Jang Dan, Kyong Ki province of Korea, while it was under Japanese
occupation. His father was a scholar and teacher, thus Hwang was one of the few young men in the province to
complete high school in 1935. He first studied martial arts, Tae Kyun while in school. Following graduation, he went
to work for the Manchurian Railroad, where he claimed to have learned the martial art of Kuk Sool under Chinese
Master Yang Kuk Jin, although some of his peers doubt this assertion. Master Won Kyuk Lee of the Chung Do Kwan,
claimed that Hwang was a student at his kwan, gaining the equivalent of a green belt. Hwang disputed Lee's claim,
and acknowledged only Yang Kuk Jin as his teacher. Hwang returned to Korea from China in 1937, he wanted to
continue his martial education, but the Japanese occupation limited his options. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s,
while working for the Cho Sun Rail Way Bureau, he began to study Okinawan Karate by reading books available at
the local library.
In 1945, grandmaster Hwang Kee formed his first school.[3] Initially he titled his first school Hwa Soo Do
("Flowering Hand Way") Moo Duk Kwan,[2] and his first two attempts at running a school were unsuccessful. In the
early 1950s, he changed the name of his school to Tang Soo Moo Duk Kwan because Tang Soo (a direct Korean
translation of Chinese and Japanese "Empty Hand") was more familiar to Koreans from their exposure to Japanese
martial arts. Much of the philosophy and many of the original forms (poomse) and techniques were direct
derivations of Shotokan Karate, first created by Gichin Funakoshi.
In 1957, Hwang claimed to have made several major discoveries in his reading the four hundred-page woodblock
print Muye Dobo Tongji. The Muye Dobo Tongji was a book commissioned in 1790 by King Jeongjo of Korea, which
illustrated indigenous Korean martial arts. Hwang Kee incorporated these teachings into his Tang Soo Do discipline
and renamed the art he created Soo Bahk Do.[2] By 1953 and onward until 1960, the Moo Duk Kwan had risen to
become biggest Moo Do organization in Korea, with close to 75% of all martial artists in Korea practicing Tang Soo
Do Moo Duk Kwan. In 1960, the Korean Soo Bahk Do Association was incorporated and registered with the Korean
government as the traditional Korean martial art.
During the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Moo Duk Kwan in 1995, Hwang Kee officially
renamed the art from Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan to Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan.