THE HISTORY OF HAPKIDO Researching post-war Korean martial development is difficult because of the nationalism and ego that cause the falsification of official histories. The only accurate way is to look through and compare original documentation from different sources, using the same analytical criteria as other historical researchers use. Ultimately, however, we historians were not actually present when these things happened so we can only offer our data for the individual reader to form their own conclusions. One of the prime movers in Hapkido is undoubtedly Ji Han Jae. Ji was born in 1936 in Angong, Korea. He began his martial arts training in 1949 at the age of 13 when he enrolled in Choi Yong Sool's Seoul club. He trained for seven years full-time with Choi until 1956 when he moved back to his home city of Andong. Ji opened his first club there as a third dan, naming his school the 'An Moo Kwan'. There he taught Yoo Kwon Sool for nine months before returning to Seoul in September of1957. He found lodgings in a boarding house. The son of the owner of the boarding house, Duk-Kyu Hwang, became his first disciple at his new dojang, which he called the 'Sung Moo Kwan'. Ji then opened a small dojang at a tie factory where he taught a handful of students, most of whom were from Han Yang University. His club grew in numbers and soon he was able to rent space in a boxing gym owned by Ko Bong Ah. There he first came in contact with boxers and their way of fighting. This exposure, and contact with other martial arts, encouraged him to develop his practice. In 1958, Ji moved his school to Joong Boo Shi Jang where he continued teaching until April of 1960. During this period, Ji began to add basic kicking and punching techniques taken from other Korean schools. In 1959 he decided that his system was sufficiently different from Choi's culturally patterned Japanese aiki-jiu jitsu to call it 'Hapkido'. Its original name was 'Hapki Yoo Kwon Sool' but he saw the popularity of Tae Soo Do, Tang Soo Do, etc., and decided to align his school name. Thus it became 'Hapkido' ('The Way of Harmony'). Incidentally, 'Sool' is the Korean reading of 'Jutsu', meaning 'skill' in the sense of 'technique'. 'Do' is the same in both Japanese and Korean languages, meaning 'way' in the sense of 'a path to follow'. It can hardly have escaped Ji's notice that his hapkido was the Korean reading of 'aikido' (but more of that later). Despite the major differences between Ji's hapkido and Grandmaster Choi's art, Ji offered him use of the name and Choi thereafter trained under 'hapkido' until his death in 1986. Choi continued always with his original teachings, which meant that most of the striking, kicking techniques and weapons techniques were omitted. The finalised hapkido curriculum wasn't solidified until the early Sixties and its appearance was catalysed following a visit by a fellow student of Grandmaster Choi's named Kim Moo Woong. Kim stayed for approximately eight months, during which time he practised with Ji. In May 1961, General Park Chung Hee overthrew the Korean government and was subsequently elected President. By 1962, Ji had built his Sung Moo Kwan up and with assistance from Major Lee Dong Nam, Ji began teaching hapkido techniques to members of the Military Supreme Council. This culminated in a government job teaching hapkido to the Presidential Security forces. He remained in this position until Park's death in 1979. During the Sixties, it became expedient to distance hapkido from its Japanese namesake, aikido. So the name 'Kido' was decided upon. In 1963 and with this politically incorrect link severed, the Korean Government granted a charter of recognition through the Ministry of Education to the Korea Kido Association. First Chairman of the Korea Kido Association was Choi Yong Sool and first Secretary, Kim Jung Yoon. A character clash soon developed between Ji and Kim. Students from Ji's Sung Moo Kwan objected to the name 'Kido' and pressured Ji into forming his own group under the name 'hapkido'. Ji felt able to leave the Korea Kido Association because by now he was seen as a prime mover, being appointed Chief Hapkido Instructor for the President's Security Forces. So Ji Han Jae left the Korea Kido Association in 1965 and established the Korea Hapkido Federation. Eventually three hapkido organisations came into being. Ji Han Jae, as we have seen, founded the Korea Hapkido Federation in 1965. Then Myung Jae Nam founded the Korea Hapki Association in 1969. Lastly, Ji's old classmate Kim Moo Woong founded the Korea Hapkido Association in 1971. Two years later, in 1973, the leaders of these three organisations met and agreed to unify their associations into the 'Dae Han Min Kuk Hapkido Hyub Hwe' (Republic of Korea Hapkido Association). In 1984, Ji moved to the United States and there founded Sin Moo Hapkido. That same year, Kim Moo Woong resigned from the Republic of Korea Hapkido Association and founded the International Hapki Federation. Oh Se Lim then became President of the Republic of Korea Hapkido Association renaming it the Korea Hapkido Federation in late 1984. Today there remain three major hapkido organisations in Korea. These are the Korea Kido Association under its President, Seo In Sun, the Korea Hapkido Federation under Oh Se Lim and the International Hapki Federation of Kim Moo Woong. The Korea Hapkido Federation is the most prominent of these in Korea and students of Ji's Sung Moo Kwan make up the majority of its instructors. Original Hapkido Kwans (Standard) McCune-Reischauer Founder Location Year An Moo Kwan Anmukwan Ji, Han-Jae Taegu City 1956 Sung Moo Kwan Seongmukwan Ji, Han-Jae Seoul 1957 Shin Moo Kwan Shinmukwan Kim, Mu-Hyun Seoul 1961 Hwa Rang Kwan Hwarangkwan Lee, Joo-Bang Seoul 1962 Moo Sool Kwan Musulkwan Won, Kwang-Wha Seoul 1960s Yun Moo Kwan Yeonmukwan Myuong, Kwang-Sik Seoul c.1967