A History of Suh Do Kwan Kung Fu

Master Yoon Byung-in and Master Kanken Toyama brought their skills together and created Chung Moo Kwan. Master Yoon, though Korean was born in China and trained Chuan Fa under great masters who went back generations. After World War Two ended he moved back to South Korea where he opened up his first school “Kwon Bop”, which also means Chuan Fa in Korean. It was Chinese Kung Fu. Later he renamed his style Chang Moo Kwan.

His close friend Kanken Toyama, who also was a kung fu master had his own system, Shudokwan at Nihon University in Japan. They spent a lot of time training together and pondering ideas. Master Yoon used some of those concepts and influences from his dear friend Master Toyama when he created Chang Moo Kwan.

When Master Yoon left and went to North Korea, Master Lee, Nam Suk took over the Chang Moo Kwan system. Two of Master Yoon’s senior students, Master Hong and Master Park developed their own school called Kang Duk Kwan. Grandmaster Park and Kang Duk Kwan ended up having world wide recognition.

During the 1950’s Korea wanted to form their own unified Korean martial art, Tai Kwan Do (the way of the hands and feet) but many Masters didn’t go along with that decision. They had spent many years keeping the clarity of their heritages intact and didn’t want to see that history disappear. Master Suh was one of those people.

Grandmaster Suh Young-ik, brought Kang Duk Kwan to the US where he met my Grandmaster Don Baird. Grandmaster Baird (Masters Hall of Fame 2009), has a 45 years teaching history with American School Of Martial Arts in Burbank, CA. After Master Suh’s passing, he decided to rename our system to Suh Do Kwan, “The way of Grandmaster Suh”, in memory of his late teacher.