Hapkido information

[J.K.]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me about some of the aspects of hapkido. Is it a ground fighting art, what other arts does it resemble, when was it founded, how does it compare to other martial arts? I am going to be sparring with a hapkido guy and wanted to get a little info on the art - where I am from there aren't many schools that teach it. Any info would be appreciated.

[sikal]

Originally posted by J.K.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me about some of the aspects of hapkido. Is it a ground fighting art, what other arts does it resemble, when was it founded, how does it compare to other martial arts? I am going to be sparring with a hapkido guy and wanted to get a little info on the art - where I am from there aren't many schools that teach it. Any info would be appreciated.

I've never seen "traditional" Hapkido but I've heard a little about its history (but take it with a grain of salt ... if someone else chimes in with more details or corrections, great ... I completely trust my source but I may have misunderstood or misremember what was told to me :-)

As I understand it, the founder of Hapkido was a manservant to a Daito-Ryu Aikijujutsu master. The DR guy either taught the servant things directly, used him as an uke, or maybe the Hapkido founder just watched his practices. One way or another, the Hapkido founder was exposed to quite a bit of DR. He then took that and blended with the Korean martial arts that he knew.

So, as I understand it, Hapkido is kind of like Tae Kwon Do or Tang Soo Do but with a lot more emphasis on joint locks.

That may be a poor description but I know it's known for joint locks and also does punching and kicking. I'm not sure about groundwork. I've gotten the impression that it's more focused on stand up work.

As I say, take all of the above with a grain of salt and if anyone wants to chime in with more details or corrections, please do ... I'm always interested in learning more and refining my knowledge.

Mike

[Hapkidodude]

Hapkido is definately a Korean art, meaning that it includes the same style kicks and punches made famous by Tae Kwon Do. The difference is that Hapkido is usually taught as a self defense/combat art. There are no forms. Just techniques. And alot of sparring. Circular movement is key. The linear moves of karate and TKD are replaced with side stepping and redirection of motion. You can really see the similarities to Aikido. As far as ground fighting goes, that depends on the dojang where you train. The dojang that I trained at we would train ground techniques to follow up a throw or takedown. Also the jointlocks that work standing also work on the ground. There are no Hapkido tournaments. A tournament would be more like a street fight than a tournament because a lot of the techniques are meant to dislocate a joint or worse.

[J.K.]

that sounds something like small circle JJ. Thanks for the info.

[doubleouch]

Just a hint on sparring Hapkido. Most are very bad in boxing range. If you have decent boxing skills get in close and use them. Most are also not very good on the ground, although I think even traditional Hapkido has been affected by the groundfighting craze so be careful. Their standup strength is their kicks. Stay away from kicking range.

[Flash]

What Mike mentioned about the origins of Hapkido is correct - Hapkido and Aikido both originated from Daito Ryu Aikijutsu (in fact, both martial arts are spelled exactly the same way in Chinese characters - the only difference is the way the Koreans and Japanese pronounce the name). However, there is some controversy as to the "pedigree" of the lineage of Hapkido's founder.

There seems to be a lot of variance in Hapkido. Basically, when the founder returned to Korea, he taught what he knew to other people, most of whom already had experience in other martial arts, mainly Judo, Karate or the arts which later became known collectively as Tae Kwon Do. What HE taught was almost surely almost pure Aikijutsu but the people he taught blended what they learned with what they already knew - invariably, this led to some variance in the material being taught. Some styles of Hapkido look a lot like Judo with Aikido type joint locks and strikes and kicks blended in. Others look like Tae Kwon Do with Aikido type joint locks. I guess all this would depend on the lineage of the instructor.

In Gracies In Action II, I believe one of the Gracie Brothers fights a Hapkido practitioner - that person's interpretation of his art looked pretty much like something you'd find in a typical ITF Tae Kwon Do school. I've seen some Hapkido techniques demonstrated in magazines, etc. and a lot of them seemed to depend on one's assailant attacking you with one punch and then leaving his arm sticking out there for you to convenient apply the joint lock from Hell.

[J.K.]

sparring went well - I learned some cool variations on different locks as well as some flow drills.

[cfr]

I took Hapkido but only for a few months. In my humble opinion, it is great for high kicking and joint locks but not so great at hand strikes. Defense againt hand strikes also leaves alot to be desired. Again, this is only my opinion and I only took it for a short time and am still new to M/A in general.

[Hapkidodude]

If you train Hapkido at a dojang that teaches Tae Kwon Do, you will find that it is very much like TKD. If you train at a school that is only Hapkido, then you will see the difference. Hapkido has quite a good variety of hand techniques. The ones that are mostly used are jab , cross , hook, uppercut. The most effective. As far as other techniques such as the joint lock and throwing , your hand work must be in good shape because you train to catch punches from a block or deflect and control your opponent into the lock. Of course you need to train these things much longer than a few months. Also alot of TKD schools teach students the Olympic or point sparring style , meaning that they train for competition not self defense. Hapkido is taught as a self defense art and not for competition.

[omgitsroy326]

OMg... People have it wrong.

First Hapkido and Tae Kwon do is totally different.

Let's separate these two. People get these mixed up because tae kwon do studio teaches hapkido. That doesn't mean the Hapkida is tae kwon do.


Tae kwon do : practice 80% kicking

Hapkido: It is like Aikido. See the similarity. They are pretty much the same it's just the Aidkido is very simple.

Aikido: Block and throw

Hapkido: Block, hit once, hit twice, throw.


I think the relationship between these two was because the Japanese invaded Korea.

Don't quote me on this. It's not similar to JKD

[omgitsroy326]

hapkido dude was the closest out of everyone.