Choi Yong-sool
최용술
Korean master regarded as the founder of hapkido, who after 1945 began teaching in Daegu an art apparently derived from Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu.
Quick Facts
South KoreaBiography
Choi Yong-sool is regarded as the founder of hapkido. According to English Wikipedia he was born on 9 November 1904 in Yeongdong County, while the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture gives 1899. He died on 15 June 1986.
By his own account, a Japanese merchant took him to Japan in 1912 and left him there. He then lived for about two years in a Buddhist temple, in Kyoto according to Wikipedia, and used the name Yoshida Asao in Japan. He claimed to have studied Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu for thirty years under Takeda Sokaku in Akita. The student register of Takeda, the eimeiroku, however, knows only an entry from 1 November 1941 and a ten-day course from 6 to 15 August 1942 in Otaru. Some researchers believe that his main teacher was Yoshida Kotaro.
After the liberation of Korea in 1945 he returned and settled in Daegu. His first student was Seo Bok-seob, in 1948 according to Wikipedia and already in 1946 according to the newspaper Segye Ilbo, and he brought throws and grips from judo into the teaching. In 1951 the two opened the Daehan Hapki Yu Kwon Sool Dojang. Choi first called his art yawara or hapki yusul, and the name hapkido prevailed in the late nineteen-fifties. In 1963 he chose the name kido and founded the association Daehan Kidohoe.
His students included Ji Han-jae and Kim Moo-hong. According to Wikipedia, on 5 April 1985 he awarded the 10th dan to his successor Chinil Chang. After the death of Choi, Ji Han-jae claimed credit for the creation of hapkido and its kicking techniques, which Seo Bok-seob and other teachers dispute.
Early life
Choi Yong-sool came from Yeongdong County in North Chungcheong Province. English Wikipedia gives 9 November 1904 as his date of birth and explains the difference from 1899, which the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture and the website of the Kido Kwan school give, by late registration and Korean age counting. According to his account, his mother died when he was about two years old, and after the death of his father he was raised by an aunt.
In 1912, by his own words, a Japanese candy merchant named Morimoto took him away and abandoned him in the port of Moji. He then lived for about two years in a Buddhist temple whose abbot was Watanabe Kintaro. Wikipedia gives Kyoto, the Kido Kwan website gives Yahata. In Japan he used the name Yoshida Asao. These details come mainly from his interview of 1982, and we have not found independent evidence.
Training and teachers
Choi claimed to have studied for thirty years under Takeda Sokaku in his house and dojo in Akita. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture names Takeda as his teacher, with the reservation that this is what is known. According to an interview with Yoon Dae-hyun, chairman of the Korean Aikido Federation, the student register of Takeda, the eimeiroku, records Choi, aged 37, on 1 November 1941 in Otaru and then a ten-day course from 6 to 15 August 1942 in the house of Watanabe Kintaro there. The page with his name was also published by Kondo Katsuyuki, head of the main line of Daito-ryu.
Scott Shaw, the author of a history of hapkido, states that immigration records list Choi as an employee of Takeda until Takeda died in April 1943. Kisshomaru Ueshiba said in 1988 that he did not know what the Korean had studied but believed it was Daito-ryu. Some researchers consider Yoshida Kotaro to be his main teacher. We infer that a short contact with Daito-ryu is documented, and we have not been able to document the length and form of the training.
Contribution and innovations
After returning to Korea he settled in Daegu, where according to Wikipedia he sold rice cakes and raised pigs. Seo Bok-seob became his first student after a dispute over grain at a brewery, in 1948 according to Wikipedia and in 1946 according to the newspaper Segye Ilbo. In 1951 they opened the Daehan Hapki Yu Kwon Sool Dojang, which Segye Ilbo calls the first hapkido dojo in Korea. Seo brought grips on sleeves and shoulders and throws from judo into the system.
At first Choi used the general names yawara or hapki yusul, apparently derived from Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, in the late nineteen-fifties his students began to use the name hapkido under the influence of Japanese aikido and from 1961 opened dojo under it. In 1963 Choi chose his own name, kido, and founded the association Daehan Kidohoe, but it did not catch on.
Legends and documented facts
In 1982 Choi claimed that Takeda had adopted him. Scott Shaw considers this a myth, perhaps from a mistranslation, and regards Choi as an employee of Takeda. The claim of thirty years of training is not supported by the surviving Daito-ryu records, which know only the short period of 1941 and 1942. According to Yoon Dae-hyun it is also not true that Choi taught Morihei Ueshiba or brought him to Takeda.
According to Shaw, Choi did not teach the kicks for which hapkido is known today, and they were added by Ji Han-jae and others. The authorship of the name hapkido is disputed: Ji Han-jae claims that he invented it, while Seo Bok-seob stated that he and Choi shortened the name in 1959. According to Shaw, Choi never claimed an ancient Korean origin of hapkido, and it was attributed to him only by later students.
Legacy
According to Segye Ilbo, his students founded their own schools in 1958: Ji Han-jae the Seonmugwan in Andong, Kim Moo-hong the Sinmugwan in Daegu and Mun Jong-won a school in Busan, and from 1959 to 1960 hapkido moved to Seoul. Today the hapkido organizations in Korea were founded in 1971, 1975 and 2004, and Daehan Kidohoe still holds a national championship.
According to Wikipedia, Chinil Chang took over the title of doju on 15 January 1985, and Choi awarded him the 10th dan on 5 April 1985. Choi died on 15 June 1986. After his death Ji Han-jae declared that he had founded hapkido because Choi taught only yawara techniques, which Seo Bok-seob and Han Bong-soo dispute. Hapkido is therefore taught today in many organizations with different lineages.
Teachers, students and family
Associated Martial Arts
Organisations
- Daehan Hapki Yu Kwon Sool DojangCo-founder · 1951