kwon bop kong soo do

Byung-in Yoon at Nihon University in Japan

Byung-in Yoon at Nihon University in Japan

Before suggesting that his style be renamed Chang Moo Kwan Do, Sensei Byung-in Yoon taught what he termed Kwon Bop Kong Soo Do at the Seoul, YMCA in the 1940's.  This Korean phrase literally translates: The Way of Fist Law AND Empty Hand. This designation not only pays tribute to the spirit of eclecticism that Byung wove into his art from its outset, but in its literary form, I also see Byung's conviction that a superior martial style reflects a proper blending of hard art (fist law) with soft art (empty hand). In choosing between a hard and soft style, it should never be either/or, but both/and . . . that is, chang moo kwan (lit. Korean for "building a complete martial arts house").