Buckeye Tang Soo Do

"Hard" and "Soft" are terms which someone once developed to try and categorize martial arts. On the surface, these labels may work very well for a few martial arts, but most arts float somewhere between the two.

Tang Soo Do is best described as a hybrid art influenced by Chinese styles such as long fist and Tai Chi, as well as harder Karate styles from Japan and Okinawa.

Someone with a limited view of TSD may see the hard striking and blocking aspects of the art and immediately label it a hard art. Contrast this to the person who has been practicing for 30 years, and they will tell you about the softer aspects: deflecting, sticking, circling that they practice. Often the "hard" is taught first and the "soft" aspects are stressed along the way.

I try to describe TSD in the following way: it is an art which has both hard and soft tools. One person may use the soft tools (circular blocks and stepping) to set up hard techniques (reverse punch, front kick) while others may use hard techniques (outside inside block to a strike) to set up soft techniques (throw or locking technique)