11

11.7) Hapkido

Intro:

This Korean art is sometimes confused with the Japanese art of Aikido,since the Korean and Japanese translation of the two names is the same.

Origin: Korea

History:

Hapkido history is the subject of some controversy.

Some sources say that the founder of Hapkido, Choi, Yong Sul was ahouseboy/servant of Japanese Daito Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu GrandMaster Takeda,Sokaku. In Japan Choi possibly used the Japanese name Yoshida, Tatsujutsusince all immigrants to Japan took Japanese names at that time. Choi'sJapanese name has also been given as Asao, Yoshida by some sources.

According to this view, Choi studied under Takeda in Japan from 1913, whenhe was age 9, until Takeda died in 1943. However, Daito Ryu records donot reflect this, so hard confirmation is not available at this time. Someclaim that Choi's Daito Ryu training was limited to attending seminars andwatching classes from the sideline. The Daito Ryu/Hapkido lineage is asfollows: Shinka Saburo Yoshimitsu, 12th Century, Daito Ryu Saigo Chikamasa, 1829-1905, Oshikiuchi Takeda Sokaku, 1858-1943, Aiki-Jujutsu Choi Yong Sool, 1904-1986, Hapkido Ueshiba, Morihei, the founder of Aikido, was also a student of Takeda (thisis not disputed). Hapkido and Aikido have significant similarities toDaito Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu, so it would seem that Hapkido's link to it is real,regardless of how and where Choi was trained. Choi returned to Korea after Takeda's death and began teaching Yu Sool orYawara (other names for Jujutsu), eventually calling his kwan (or school)the Hapki Kwan. Ji, Han-Jae, began studying under Choi in 1949 and eventuallystarted his own school, where he taught an art that he named Hapkido.

(GM Ji now calls his system Sin Moo (pronounced 'Shin Moo') Hapkido. Hecurrently lives and teaches in Elkins Park, PA, near Philadelphia) Several other of Choi's Hapkido students are still living. Chang, Chun Ilcurrently resides in New York state, and Im, Hyon Soo who lives and teachesin Korea. Both of these men were promoted to 9th dan by GM Choi. Description: Hapkido combines joint locks, pressure points, throws, kicks, and strikesfor practical self-defense. Emphasizes circular motion, non-resistivemovements, and control of the opponent.

Although Hapkido contains both outfighting and infighting techniques, thegoal in most situations is to get inside for a close-in strike, lock, orthrow. When striking, deriving power from hip rotation is strongly emphasized. Training: Varies with organization and instructor. In some schools beginnersconcentrate on basic strikes and kicks, along with a few joint locks andthrows. Some of the striking and kicking practice is form-like, that is,with no partner, however, most is done with a partner who is holding heavypads that the student strikes and kicks full power. Advanced students add a few more strikes and kicks as well as many morethrows, locks, and pressure points. There is also some weapons trainingfor advanced students - primarily rope/scarf, short stick, cane, boken,and staff. Some schools do forms, most do not. Some do sparring and some do not,although at the advanced levels, most schools do at least some sparring.Many Hapkido techniques are unsuitable for use in sparring as their usewould result in injury, even when protective gear is used. Thus sparringtypically uses only a limited subset of techniques. There is generally an emphasis on physical conditioning and exercise,including "ki" exercises.

URLs: www.hapkido.vtoy.fi/ehapkido.htmlwww.psychology.uiowa.edu/MartialArts/Hapkido/www.hapkido.comwww.hapkido.orgwww.du.edu/~machambe/Hapkido.htmlwww.cs.uregina.ca/~skagos/Hapkido/Hapkido.html