The Moo Duk Kwan
The name Moo Duk Kwan means "School of Martial Virtue" or "a place to learn the right thing to do to stop conflict". Hwang Kee witnessed martial arts as a young boy and was in love with it ever since. He watched a man defend himself using only his hands and feet from a large group of men. Young Hwang Kee was so inspired by the man's accomplishment that he sought training from him in the old Korean system of defense called Tae Kyon, which comprises mostly kicking techniques. Hwang was refused but instead emulated the movements he saw from the man as he would practice at home and by age 21 he'd become very proficient at the system. However, the Korea Taekkyon Associations doubts that this actually occurred as Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan, was nothing like Taekkyon.
Around the age of 22, Hwang began working on the Chosun Railway and could freely travel between Manchuria and Korea. At this time, Korea was in the midst of the Japanese occupation during World War II. In search of formal training he found Master Yang Kuk Jin, a prominent Chinese martial arts teacher who took Hwang Kee and a friend, Park Hyo Pil on as students after several requests. This story is disputed by the first generation of martial artist in Korea, as there is no evidence of Hwang Kee's practice of Chinese martial arts. In later books by Hwang Kee, he admits studying techniques from Karate books he found in the railway library.
Hwang Kee claims he combined what he knew of the Chinese and Korean martial arts he'd studied into an art he called Hwa Soo Do. Translated literally the name means "the Way of the Flowering Hand" and opened his first Hwa Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Dojang (Studio/Training Hall) on November 9, 1945. Unfortunately, he failed three times while trying to get his system off the ground. Only months after the Japanese occupation, the Korean public remembered very little about their own martial heritage and understood only Tang Soo (Karate), Yudo (Judo), and Gumdo (Kendo) which came from the Japanese. Hwa Soo Do was far too Korean and Chinese to be accepted, and Hwang Kee had developed the art to be a connection to Korea's martial traditions.
A conversation between Gichin Funakoshi's most senior Korean student Won Kuk Lee, the leader of the Chung Do Kwan (another of the schools which emerged after the Japanese occupation) and Grandmaster Hwang Kee inspired him to involve some of the Japanese curriculum into his system to introduce the fundamental principles of body mechanics as he developed them into his art. Thus, he learned some of the Japanese forms and began teaching them with his own flare, using abdominal and hip contraction and expansion. Eventually, Grandmaster Hwang created his own forms in 1947 called the Gi Cho Hyung which are the basic foundation of forms practice in Soo Bahk Do™. Won Kuk Lee states that during his time training at the Chung Do Kwan, that Hwang Kee made it to about a 5th Geup, or similar to a green belt level in Chung Do Kwan.
In doing so, Grandmaster also modified the name of Hwa Soo Do as he advertised to the public to "Hwa Soo (Tang Soo) Do" which was a move to alert the public that he was teaching a martial art. This practice is similar to other martial arts schools in English speaking countries having to include "Karate" in their business signage despite the fact that they have no direct correlation with the Japanese "Karate-Do" where the generic name was derived. However, it should be noted that Won Kuk Lee, founder of Tang Soo Do Chung Do Kwan was the first person to use the name Tang Soo Do in Korea. Kong Soo Do (empty hand way) was used by other Kwans like Chang Moo Kwan, Jidokwan and Han Moo Kwan.
Eventually, the art became known as the form of Tang Soo Do which came from the Moo Duk Kwan, or Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan.
By 1953 and onward until 1960, the Moo Duk Kwan had risen to become one of the strongest martial art organization in Korea, with close to 75% of all martial artists in Korea practicing Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan. Dan members (Midnight Blue Belts, as opposed to black belts) of the Moo Duk Kwan were so highly respected that their certificates could be used as credentials when seeking employment.
In 1957, a librarian at Korea National University in Seoul contacted Hwang Kee about a book that he'd found. Thought to be destroyed with all other records by the Japanese, the librarian presented Hwang Kee with the Moo Yei Dobo Tong Ji, a comprehensive and illustrated manual of the martial disciplines of Ancient Korea. Listed as the final discipline was combat with the bare hands and feet, known as Subak. As it was the Grandmaster's wish to reconnect Korea to its martial traditions, his art took on the "Soo Bahk Do™" name and this change was officially registered with the Korean Ministry of Education on June 30,1960
(information source - Wikipedia® )