Some time ago, I posted this on the old forum (RIP) in response to a request from a fellow member. Fortunately, I created the post in Word and saved it on my computer. So, I'm posting it here on the new forum so that people can have an idea of what Hapkido is and where it comes from.
Regards, Howard
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A brief history of Hapkido for our members
Choi Yong Sul was a Korean who was born in either 1899 or 1904, depending on which source you choose to believe. He was born into a poor rural family. When he was about 8, he was taken to Japan by an affluent Japanese family (Japan had already occupied Korea, in 1910, and it was not unusual for Japanese families to take poor Korean children back to Japan with them). It is thought that this was along the lines of what we'd think of as an adoption today, although during the occupation the Japanese didn't have to go through the legal procedures you'd have to go through today to adopt a child.
From here it gets blurry. There was an interview with Choi published in the mid-80s that attributes the following account to him, but the entire English version of the interview is dubious at best, and the Korean original (tape) is not available to the public. At any rate, Choi's story per this interview is that he was an ill-behaved child, and the couple who took him to Japan eventually dumped him off at a Buddhist temple. While there, he somehow came to be acquainted with Takeda Sokaku, the reviver and headmaster of Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu. This would have been around 1915.
Choi maintained that he spent the next 30 years studying Daito-ryu under Takeda, and that Takeda wanted to pass the position of headmaster to him. The controversy here is that there are no known records of Choi's having trained under Takeda. This is problematic because Takeda kept meticulous enrollment records (
eimeiroku) of his students. Supporters of Choi's story have rationalized that he does not appear in the records because he was Korean, and many Japanese at that time had very low regard for Koreans.
Takeda died of complications following a stroke in 1943. Choi maintained that Takeda told him to return to Korea and teach Daito-ryu to the Koreans, because once Takeda was dead, the Japanese would kill him. Choi returned to Korea around 1945.
From here forward, there is no substantial dispute about Choi and his art, as what he taught and who his most important students were is pretty well documented.
Choi became a pig farmer in the Daegu area of South Korea. He would go to a local brewery to buy the spent grain from the brewing process to feed his pigs, as did other farmers. One day he was waiting in line to buy grain, and a fight broke out over somebody cutting in the line. Choi became involved in the fight when he was attacked by a couple of the other farmers. The son of the brewery's owner, Suh Bok Sub, saw the fight from an upstairs window. Suh was a black belt in Judo at the time. Choi subdued 2 or 3 opponents with what Suh thought was remarkable ease, using locking and throwing techniques that Suh had never seen.
Suh approached Choi and asked him what martial art he had used to defend himself against the aggressors. Choi told him it was Daito-ryu, and that he had learned it in Japan. Suh asked Choi if he would demonstrate some defenses against a few typical Judo techniques. Choi agreed, and defeated Suh's attempts to throw him with ease. Suh eventually became Choi's first Korean student when Choi began to teach.
Choi originally called what he had learned in Japan "Yawara". Yawara is a term that is synonymous with Jujutsu. In fact, it's written with the same Chinese characters as Jujutsu. During the first ten or so years that Choi taught in Korea, his art had a few different names, including Hapkiyusul and Hapkiyukwonsul. “Hapkiyusul” is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters that are read as “Aikijujutsu” in Japanese. Exactly how the name “Hapkido” came into being is controversial. Ji Han Jae, one of Choi’s most important early students, maintains that he created the name and “presented” it to Choi. Others believe that Choi himself created the name.
Ji Han Jae began studying under Choi in 1949, at the age of 13. He trained under him regularly for three years, then more infrequently for a few years after that. Choi taught Ji material from the Yawara/Aikijujutsu that he had learned in Japan. After a few years, Ji returned to Seoul and began teaching on his own. He also sought out martial artists who knew traditional Korean arts, and added many techniques that he learned from them to his branch of Hapkido. The most important additions from Ji and his colleague, Kim Moo Wong (or Hong), were the kicking techniques that most people associate with Hapkido today. Ji also added a philosophical element, which includes meditation and breathing techniques, to Choi’s Yawara base.
Ji eventually began to teach Hapkido to the presidential bodyguards in Korea. While he was involved in this teaching, in 1979, the president, Pak Chun Hee, was assassinated in the Blue House (the Korean president’s house) by a member of the Korean intelligence service. Ji, along with many others, was eventually charged with a crime (tax evasion) on very dubious evidence, convicted and sentenced to one year in prison. It is generally agreed that he, like many others who were convicted of similar offenses following the Pak assassination, was simply made a scapegoat for the assassination.
Ji emigrated to the United States in 1984 and formed the Sin Moo Hapkido organization. He currently lives in New Jersey, near Philadelphia.
Ji is very important because almost all of today’s prominent Korean Hapkido masters trained under him. It is probably safe to say that 95% or more of the Hapkido dojangs around the world can trace their lineage back to Ji somehow. It is generally agreed that a few Korean masters who have claimed to have been Choi’s direct students were, in fact, students of Ji. One of the better-known masters who was a direct student of Ji is Han Bong Soo. Han is probably best known for his role in the “Billy Jack” movies, in which he performed the fighting scenes involving the spectacular kicks that caught many people’s attention.
After Ji parted from Choi, returned to Seoul and began teaching Hapkido on his own, Choi remained in Daegu and continued to teach the original Yawara-based art he had learned in Japan. One of his foremost students was Lim Hyun Soo. Lim began studying Hapkido under a direct student of Choi, Kim Yeung Jae, but soon became a direct student of Choi. Lim continued to train regularly under Choi for the next 19 years. During nine years of that time, he took regular private lessons from Choi.
In 1974 Lim opened the Jungkikwan. One of his primary goals was to perpetuate the Aikijujutsu-based art he had learned from Choi. During the 1980’s, Lim added a sword art (Chung Suk Kuhapdo) of his own creation to the Jungkikwan curriculum. Chung Suk Kuhapdo is heavily influenced by the Yamauchi-ha branch of Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu, one of the best-known Iaijutsu ryu in Japan. Lim has been a direct student of the Sekiguchi Komei, the current headmaster of the Yamauchi-ha branch of MJER.
In 1976 Choi Yong Sul closed his dojang and ceased active, regular teaching. During most of the time until his death in 1986, he visited the Jungkikwan daily and continued to teach informally and to private students.
In 1983 Choi awarded Lim the rank of 9th dan in Hapkido. He is one of four men (that we know of) to have achieved this rank from Choi.
Jungki Hapkido adheres strictly to the Aiki-based Jujutsu techniques that Choi taught. Choi always maintained that he taught exactly what he had learned in Japan, which he always said was Daito-ryu, from Takeda. Similarly, Lim teaches exactly what he learned from Choi.
Another noteworthy master who was awarded 9th dan from Choi is Kim Yun Sang. Kim is the head of the Hapkiyusul organization in Geumsan, South Korea. Like Lim, he teaches an art that is based on what he learned from Choi, and does not include any of the kicking techniques that Ji and Kim (Moo Hong) added to Hapkido. There is a clear “aiki” basis to Kim’s Hapkiyusul, just as there is to Jungki Hapkido.
Both the Jungkikwan and Hapkiyusul are small organizations. The Jungkikwan currently operates a single dojang in Daegu, South Korea. I don’t know how many dojangs the Hapkiyusul organization has, but I imagine it’s very few.
Link to the Jungkikwan website (which has extensive material in English):
http://jungkikwan.com/Link to the Hapkiyusul website:
http://www.hapkiyusul.com/Link to the “mainline” Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu organization:
There does not appear to be a single official website for Sin Moo Hapkido, but Googling “Sin Moo Hapkido” will bring up many links that you can explore.
Personal notes/disclosures:
1. I have been a student of Jungki Hapkido and Chung Suk Kuhapdo for years and continue to train regularly. Notwithstanding, what I’ve written above is as impartial and historically accurate as I can make it based on the verifiable information available to me currently.
2. In order to try to decide for myself whether it was possible that Choi could have learned Daito-ryu in Japan, I sought out training in Daito-ryu. I am very fortunate in that there is a legitimate Daito-ryu dojo within 20 miles of my home (there are extremely few legitimate Daito-ryu dojo in the US). The dojo is home to a study group that is affiliated with Kondo Katsuyuki, the current headmaster of the “mainline” branch of Daito-ryu that is linked directly to the Takeda family. I trained with the study group for about 18 months and attended two of Kondo’s US seminars. I have not trained with them in several months, due to personal reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the instruction or the students themselves. The instruction at the study group is of the highest caliber, and the students are a fine group of guys.
Based on my direct experiences in Choi’s original art and Daito-ryu, I believe it is quite probable that Choi learned Daito-ryu in Japan, either directly from Takeda, as he always maintained, or from one of Takeda’s licensed instructors. Among those instructors, the most likely to have taught Choi (IMO) is Kotaro Yoshida, who taught a family art (Yanagi ryu) in addition to Daito-ryu. Yanagi-ryu survives in the US today due to its transmission by Yoshida’s son, Kenji, to Don Angier. The Yanagi-ryu techniques that I have seen on video bear a striking resemblance to Jungki Hapkido.
