Hapkido (In Hangul, 합기도; In Hanja, 合氣道) is a Korean martial art. The name means literally "joining-energy-way" and can be rendered as "the way of co-ordinating energy".
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2 Techniques 3 Training 4 External Links |
History
Hapkido history is rather confused, but many sources attribute it to two
Koreans, Choi Yong Sul and Ji Han Jae. As a boy, Choi was sent to Japan and
worked as a houseboy for the Aikijutsu master, Takeda Sokaku. Choi proved
adept at Aikijutsu, and was often sent by Takeda to meet challenges from other
martial artists (another famous student of Takeda, Morihei Ueshiba, went on to
found Aikido).
On his return to Korea, Choi began to teach martial arts. One of his students, Ji Han Jae, incorporated traditional Korean kicking and punching techniques (from tae kyon and hwarang do) and gave the resulting synthesis the name hapkido in 1959.
In addition to the work of Choi and Ji, credit should be given to numerous Korean houses who had been developing indigenous martial arts, which contributed to hapkido as we know it.
Techniques
On the "hard-soft" scale of martial arts, Hapkido stands somewhere in the
middle, employing "soft" techniques similar to Aikido and "hard" techniques
reminiscent of Taekwondo. Even the "hard" techniques, though, emphasise
circular rather than linear movements. Hapkido is an eclectic martial art, and
different hapkido schools emphasise different techniques. However, some core
techniques are found in each school (gwan ), and all techniques should
follow the three principles of Hapkido:
Yudo
Yudo (Judo in Japanese) techniques are throws applied at closer range than
the core techniques. The techniques differ somewhat because of the smaller
circles applied to combat, and because of the types of application that are
practiced in Hapkido.
Kicking
The wide variety of kicks in Hapkido differentiate it from Aikido and make
it distinctly Korean. In general they are similar to Taekwondo kicks, though
again circular motion is emphasised. Some varieties of Hapkido only use kicks
to the lower body, but traditional Hapkido also includes high kicks and jumping
kicks. The kicks in hapkido are more extensive than in most other Korean arts,
including very specialized kicks for all occasions.Hand strikes
Like most martial arts, hapkido employs a large number of punches and other hand
strikes. A distinctive example of Hapkido hand techniques is "live hand"
strike,that focuses energy to the baek hwa hyul in the hand, producing
energy strikes and internal strikes.