Hapkido競技・連盟管理

Hapkido (UK: HAP-kee-DOH, US: hahp-KEE-doh, Korean: 합기도; RR: hapgido; pronounced [hap̚.ki.do]), also spelled hap ki do or hapki-do, is a Korean martial art. It is a hybrid form of self-defense that employs joint locks, chokeholds, throwing techniques, kicks, punches, and other striking attacks. It also teaches the use of traditional weapons, including knife, sword, rope, nunchaku (ssang juhl bong), cane (ji pang ee), short stick (dan bong), and middle-length staff (joong bong), gun (analogous to the Japanese jō), and bō (Japanese), which vary in emphasis depending on the particular tradition examined.

Hapkido employs both long-range and close-range fighting techniques, utilizing jumping kicks and percussive hand strikes at longer ranges, and pressure point strikes, joint locks, and throws at closer fighting distances. Hapkido emphasizes circular motion, redirection of force, and control of the opponent. Practitioners seek to gain advantage over their opponents through footwork and body positioning to incorporate the use of leverage, avoiding the use of brute strength against brute strength.

The art was adapted from Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu as it was taught by Choi Yong-sool (최용술) when he returned to Korea after World War II after having lived in Japan for 30 years. This system was later combined by Choi's disciples with kicking and striking techniques of indigenous and contemporary arts such as Taekkyon and Tang Soo Do, as well as various throwing techniques and ground fighting self-defense techniques from Japanese Judo.

Hapkido or 협기도 in the native Korean writing system hangul is rendered as 協氣道 in hanja. This is similar to how the Japanese Aikido was written using Kyūjitai in the pre-1946 period. Currently, though, the second character is preferably written in Japanese using shinjitai, which replaces the original 氣 with the modern, simplified 気, thus reducing the number of strokes by four.

In hanja, the character 協 hap means coordinated, merged, or combined; 氣 ki literally means air, gas or breath but is used to mean spirit or so-called 'internal energy'; and 道 do means "way" or "art", yielding a literal translation of "joining-energy-way". It is most often translated as "the way of coordinating energy", "the way of coordinated power", or "the way of harmony".

Although Japanese Aikido and Korean hapkido share common technical origins, in time they have become separate and distinct from one another. They differ significantly in philosophy, range of responses, and manner of executing techniques. The fact that they share the same Japanese technical ancestry represented by their respective founders' practice of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, and that they share some Chinese characters, despite 協 being pronounced "ai" in Japanese and "hap" in Korean, has proved problematic in promoting hapkido internationally as a discipline with its own set of unique characteristics differing from those common to Japanese martial arts.

The birth of modern hapkido can be traced to the efforts of a group of Korean nationals in the post-Japanese colonial period of Korea, namely Choi Yong-sool (최용술) (1904–1986) and his most prominent students: Chinil Chang, his personally chosen successor; Seo Bok-Seob, the first student of the art; Ji Han-jae (1936–2026), one of the earliest promoters of the art; Jung Hwan Park, a long time student of Choi; Kim Moo-hong, a major innovator; Myung Jae-nam, a connector between the art of hapkido and aikido; and Myung Kwang-sik the historian and ambassador, all of whom were direct students of Choi or of his immediate students.

Choi Yong-sool (최용술)'s training in martial arts is a subject of contention. It is known that Choi was sent to Japan as a young boy and returned to Korea with techniques characteristic of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, a forerunner of aikido.

The subsequent history is quite controversial in Daitō-ryū circles but is claimed by many contemporary hapkido-ists and is attributed to Choi in an interview that took place during a trip Choi made to the United States in 1980 to visit his direct lineage successor Chin-il Chang in New York City. In the interview with Chin-il Chang, Choi claimed to have been adopted by Takeda Sōkaku when he was 11 years old and to have been given the Japanese name Yoshida Asao. He claims to have been taken to Takeda's home and dojo in Akita on Shin Shu mountain where he lived and trained with the master for 30 years. The interview also asserts that he travelled with him as a teaching assistant, that he was employed to catch war deserters and that he was the only student to have a complete understanding of the system taught by Takeda.

This is contradicted by other claims asserting that Choi was simply a worker in the home of Takeda. The meticulous enrollment and fee records of Tokimune Takeda, Takeda's eldest son and Daitō-ryū's successor, do not seem to include Choi's name among them. Therefore, except for claims made by Choi himself, there is little evidence that Choi was the adopted son of Takeda. Kondo Katsuyuki (current head of the mainline Daito Ryu) has however released a page from Takeda Sokaku's eimeiroku that contains Choi Yong-sul's name.

Stanley Pranin, then of Aiki News and now editor of the Aikidojournal.com, asked Kisshomaru Ueshiba about Choi Yong-sool and hapkido:

On another subject, it is true that a Korean named "Choi" who founded hapkido studied aikido or Daito-ryu?

I don't know what art it was but I understand that there was a young Korean of about 17 or 18 who participated in a seminar of Sokaku Takeda Sensei held in Asahikawa City in Hokkaidō. It seems that he studied the art together with my father and would refer to him as his "senior".

If that's the case the art must have been Daito-ryu.

I've heard that this man who studied Daito-ryu had some contact with my father after that. Then he returned to Korea and began teaching Daito-ryu on a modest scale. The art gradually became popular and many Koreans trained with h