Soobahk

History of SooBahk

1. The Origin of SooBahk.

    Since the beginning of human society, man has used his hands and his feet as the original weapons of survival, protecting himself from other men and animals. After that time, with the development of instruments, techniques that had once used merely the hands and the feet began to use those instruments as weapons, and it was precisely this that became the source of the martial arts.

    With the frequent occurrence of wars of conquest between villages that followed from the earliest societies, the development of martial arts became more and more elaborate. That is, in warfare between villages, killing at a distance or en masse weapons were used; but at close range or in situations in which one was disarmed, the body's original weapons of the hands and feet were substituted. Furthermore, it became more necessary to train one's body and mind to subjugate many enemies through superior movements of the hands and feet. Movements of the hands and feet that had previously lacked a regular form became (as experience with systematized techniques of attack and defense began to gradually accumulate) the basis of martial arts theory. 

    SooBahk is a universal activity of self-defense that has been practiced since the beginning of human society. To this day, such activity has not diminished in importance.

2. The term 'SooBahk'

    According to tradition, in China's YanHuang era (at the end of the New Stone Age) there was a village in the east of China named ChiYou that had a bison as a totem, and where the martial arts were held in generally high esteem and the soldiers were said to be fearless. At that time, the fighting style was TuShouBoDou (which reads in Korean DauSooBahkToo) which included the Chi You soldiers' usage of the hands and feet to hit, kick, grapple, throw, and wrestle. In war and in peace they trained against opponents, and this may be said to have greatly influenced the development of the adversarial martial arts of later generations.

    SooBahk is directly descended from the term DauSooBahkToo, and through the eras of Xia, Shang, and Zhou it has been called SooBahk as well as ShouGe. In later eras, SooBahk has acquired many other designations, including TuBo, NaBo, Bian, Jiao, ShouBi, KongShou, BaiDa, JiaoQuan, BoJi, DaQuan and DaShou. 

3. Development of Soo Bahk -In China- 1) According to Bronze Age historical records (ShiJi), many rulers including the Xia King Jie, the Shang King WuI and the Zhou King Zhou were masters of SooBahk.

2) In the ChunQuiZhanGuo periods, the hand-to-hand combat functions of the martial arts were not only within the realm of the military, but also among civilians, and techniques were developed for physical training as well as for attack and defense.

3) In the Chin and Han eras, performances of SooBahk punching techniques provided important entertainment for the holders of office. Also at that time, it was the SooBahk masters who were selected for leadership in the military through the WuKe (Military Service Examinations). In fact, their training text was the ShouBoLiuPian (the Six Books of SooBahk) which appears in the IWenJi of the HanShu (History of the Former Han Dynasty).

4) During the Sui and Tang dynasties, SooBahk was standard subject matter in the WuKe. SooBahk demonstrations were not only popular with the common people, but also had great importance attached to them by the ruling officials.

5) During the Song dynasty, there were social organizations that trained in fighting methods including SooBahk, and the ShiBaBanWuI (ShipPahlBahnMooYe) became its defining text.

6) In the Ming and the Qing dynasties, QiJiGuang's JiXiaoXinShu records the 16 methods of QuanFa including SooBahk.

-In Korea- 1) In view of the depictions of murals and Buddhist art from the time of the Three Kingdoms, it is clear that SooBahk had been established at that time as a martial art.

2) Many examples of SooBahk methodology among the people can be seen in documents related to the Koryosa (History of the Koryo Dynasty).

3) Chosun Dynasty-era records concerning SooBahk appear in the ChoSeon WangJau Sillauk (Annals of the Chosun Kingdom), and the contents of the MooYeDauBauTaungJee (Rough Records of Martial Arts with Diagrams), which appeared after the 17th century, contains a record of SooBahk.

References ShiJing, IYa, ChunQiuZuoZhuan, SunZi, ZhuangZi, ShiZi, HanShu, SanGuoZhi, WeiShu, ZiZhiTongJian, and SongShi, JiXiaoXinShu, Koryosa, ChoSeonWangJauSillauk, MooYeDauBauTaungJee, etc.

Written in Korean by Professor Kim, YoungHwan (kyhwan@nsu.ac.kr) Department of Chinese Studies, NamSeoul University

Translated by Mr. Wells, Bryan (bkwells@lycos.com)