Choi Yong-Sul (1904 - 1986), der Urahn des Hapkido

Großmeister Choi Yong-Sul

Eine der Persönlichkeiten, welche die Entwicklung der koreanischen Kampfkünste am meisten beeinflusst hat, ist Choi Yong-Sul. Obwohl er die von ihm ausgeübte Kunst selbst nie als Hapkido bezeichnet hat, beginnt mit ihm die Hapkidogeschichte.

Er wurde am 21.06.1904 während der japanischen Okkupation in der Provinz Chung Buk geboren. Mit frühen Jahren verlor er beide Elternteile. Im Alter von acht Jahren wurde er, wie viele andere koreanische Waisen, von einem japanischen Unternehmer mit nach Japan genommen, um in dessen Haushalt als Diener zu arbeiten. Er wechselte mehrmals seine Zieheltern, trieb sich viel auf der Strasse herum, lebte in einem Tempel in Kyoto und landete schließlich als Diener im Haushalt von Takeda Sokaku. Choi sagte in einem seiner letzten Interviews, er wäre als Adoptivsohn angenommen worden. Takeda war ein großer Kampfkunstmeister und übte sein System Daito-Ryu-Aiki-Jutsu aus. Nach Chois Angaben gehörte er auch einem Demonstrationsteam Takedas an, welches 1932 in Hawaii dessen Kampfkunst vorführte. Auch Morihei Uyeshiba, der spätere Begründer des Aikido, war Takedas Schüler. Diesen traf Choi im Jahre 1915.

 

Grandmaster Han, Jung Doo: Founder Global Hapkido Federation “I was born in South-Korea in the village of Kan Jin in the Cholla Namdo prefect on the 5th of august 1954. I began my hapkido training in 1965. My first instructor was Lee, Sung Kang (9th degree black belt). GM Lee lives now in Spain. I received my first degree in hapkido from him in 1967. My grandmaster was Myong, Jae Nam. GM Myong was the founder of International Hapkido Federation (IHF). He is also my cousin, on my mother’s brother side. (Elder brothers son)

After the military I moved to Incheon in Seoul, where I opened my first hapkido school in 1978. You need to have a 4th degree black belt to open your own dojang. In the beginning I had 50 – 60 students training in my dojang. As a comparison, in 1978 there was around 100 hapkido dojangs in Seoul. Now there are over 1500 dojangs. So you can say that hapkido has grown a little bit since those days.

Before I left the IHF I already had thoughts about a new federation, one where politics was not that prominent and also had a more modern approach to training. You see, without progress and innovation any art will cease to evolve and eventually die out.

My biggest wish is that all the hapkido federations will come together into one federation. I am using the internet to bring out my ideas about this idea of mine. I was the first in Korea to use the internet to introduce the hapkido.

If you ask me who the founder of modern hapkido is I must say that according to me that this is Ji, Han Jae. Choi, Yong Sul is the father of hapkido, but GM Ji made it what it is today. He started the fire, so to speak. I have met GM Ji several times and he is a great hapkido person.

What will be the future for hapkido? Ah, if I only knew. My wish for the future is to change the system so that it becomes universal. Now federations (present time) are kind of egoistic in their way of thinking. In this I mean how techniques and how the organization it selves are organized. I wish, and hope that all the federations can start to talk with each other. When they start to do this, they will find out that they really can learn from each other. From this we can build relations further, and bring the cooperation to a higher level. First talk, the action…”

Grandmaster Han