Hapkido
합기도A Korean art combining joint locks and throws with a rich kicking repertoire; aimed at self-defence rather than competition.
Quick Facts
South KoreaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Hapkido
About Hapkido
Hapkido is a Korean self-defence system that joins locks and throws with strikes and kicks. Its founder Choi Yong-sool studied Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu in Japan and, after returning to Korea in 1948, began teaching his own version; his students added Korean kicking technique and completed the system. The name shares its characters with Japanese aikido, but the result is a different art. Three principles sum up how hapkido works. Hwa (water) means not meeting force head-on but flowing around it. Won (circle) says an attack is not stopped but led into an arc where it loses direction. Yu (flow) demands unbroken movement — the technique should unfold before the opponent can rebuild his balance. The range is wide: locks on wrist, elbow and shoulder, throws and sweeps, chokes, punches and open-hand strikes, high and low kicks. Advanced syllabi add the staff, the short stick (dan bong), the sword and the rope. That breadth is also the weakness — covering all of it properly takes years, and many clubs necessarily cut something. There is no single international body; numerous federations run their own syllabi and belts. Hapkido has no strong competitive scene, so the same holds as for other self-defence systems: what decides is whether the club also trains against a resisting partner, or only in agreed form.
Styles & Branches
Modern Korean comprehensive martial art combining Hapkido, Taekwondo and Yudo.
Korean internal branch of hapkido by Myung Jae-nam: circle, flow, and heart, with twelve foundational techniques.
A branch of hapkido founded in 1983 by Ji Han-jae. Against the mainstream it adds meditation, ki work and its own system of defensive kicks.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.