Choi Yong-sool

Choi Yong-sool (November 9, 1904 – June 15, 1986), alternative spelling Choi Yong-sul, was the founder of the martial art Hapkido.

He was born in today's Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea, and was taken to Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea when he was eight years old.

Choi later stated that he became a student of Takeda Sōkaku, and studied a form of jujutsu known as Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu (大東流合気柔術) while in Japan.

It is generally accepted that Choi was born in the year 1904, although some sources place his birth in 1899.

Confusion about his age stem from a combination of being orphaned, delays in registering newborns with the government (common in impoverished Korea) and the way in which age is reckoned in Korea.

His mother died when he was 2 years old, and his father died sometime after that, leaving Choi in the care of his aunt.

According to Choi he was abducted from his home village of Yong Dong in Chungcheongbuk-do in 1912 by a Japanese sweet merchant named Morimoto who had lost his own sons and wished to adopt Choi.

Choi resisted and proved so troublesome to the candymaker that he was abandoned in the streets of Moji, Japan.

Choi made his way to Osaka as a beggar and, after having been picked up by police, was placed in a Buddhist temple which cared for orphans in Kyoto.

The abbot of the temple was a monk named Wantanabe Kintaro.

Choi spent 2 years at the temple and had a difficult life there, not only in school but with the other children due to his poor Japanese language skills and his Korean ethnicity, which made him stand out in Japan.

When Watanabe asked Choi what direction that he wished for his life to take he expressed interest in the martial arts.

This matched the boy's temperament: Choi had a tendency to get into fights and he had an intense interest in the war scenes depicted in the temple's murals.

The temple monk (Wantanabe Kintaro) was reputedly a friend of Takeda Sōkaku, the founder of the Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu system, which is a Japanese martial arts system emphasizing empty handed methods based upon the sword styles and jujutsu tactics in which Takeda was an expert.

Later Takeda Sōkaku would also famously teach Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido.

During the Japanese occupation of Korea, all Koreans working in Japan were required to take on a Japanese name.

Choi is said to have been assigned the Japanese name Asao Yoshida (吉田朝男) when he was 11 years old, according to a posthumously released interview, or Yoshida Tatujutsu, according to Seo Bok-seob.

Choi says he was taken to Takeda's home and dojo in Akita on Shin Shu mountain where he lived and trained with the master for 30 years.

The interview also asserts that: Choi traveled with Takeda as a teaching assistant, Choi led Takeda's demonstration team that presented in Hawaii (circa 1932), Choi was employed to catch war deserters, and that Choi was the only student to have a complete understanding of the system taught by Takeda.

While Kondo Katsuyuki (current head of the mainline Daito Ryu) has released a page from Takeda Sokaku's eimeiroku that confirms that Choi Yong-sul did in fact study with him briefly, some scholars believe it is likely that Choi received most of his training in Daito Ryu from Yoshida Kotaro.

Other sources place Choi as a mere servant in the Takeda household, while still others assert that Choi had no connection to Takeda beyond attending some of Takeda's seminars.

Kisshomaru Ueshiba, son of Morihei Ueshiba, stated that his father had told him that Choi had attended seminars held by Takeda with his father in Hokkaidō and that his father had been Choi's senior.

Choi apparently contacted Kisshomaru upon hearing the news of Morihei's death.

Regardless of the circumstances of Choi's martial arts training, he returned to Korea after World War II and settled in Daegu, first selling sweets and later raising hogs.

Choi returned to Korea after the end of World War II and in 1948 began teaching his art at a brewery owned by the father of his first student Seo Bok-seob (Suh Bok-sub).

He first called his art "Yu Sul " or "Yawara (柔術)" later changing it to "Yu Kwon Sool (柔拳術)" and "Hap Ki Yu Kwon Sool (合氣柔拳術)" and eventually Hapkido.

Choi Yong-sool was honored with the titles doju (道主), which can be translated as "Keeper of the way", and changsija (創始者), which simply means "founder".

The arts of Hapkido, modern Hwa Rang Do, Kuk Sool Won, as well as lesser known arts such as Han Pul all show influence of the teachings of Master Choi.

In 1948, after becoming involved in an altercation with several men in a dispute over grain at the Seo Brewing Company, the son of the chairman of the brewery, Seo Bok-seob, was so impressed by his self-defense skills that Seo invited Choi to teach the brewery's employees at a makeshift dojang that Seo had created on the premises for that purpose.

In this way, Seo Bok-seob became Choi Yong-sool's first student.

Later Choi became a bodyguard to Seo's father, who was an important congressman in Daegu.

In 1951, Choi and Seo opened up the Daehan Hapki Yu Kwon Sool Dojang, the first formal school to teach the art.

In 1958 Choi Yong-sool opened up his own school using the shortened name Hapkido for the first time.

Both schools were located in Daegu.

Some of the more important students from this period of time were Kim Moo-hong and Moon Jong-won.

Apparently Choi also taught people on his farm during the early years of the art and it was in this way that Ji Han-jae, one of the great exploiters of the art, came to learn from Choi.

The founders of two arts, Lee Joo-bang of modern Hwa Rang Do and Seo In-hyuk (Suh In-hyuk) of Kuk Sool Won, are thought by some to have trained with Choi Yong-sool, although this is controversial.

Others assert that their training came from Kim Moo-hong's hapkido school in Seoul, with which they were known to have been associated.

In 1963, Choi became the first Chairman of the Korea Kido Association (Daehan Ki Do Hwe; ) and appointed one of his most senior students, Kim Jeong-yoon (also rendered Kim Jung-yun) as secretary general.

Later, Kim separated from the hapkido organizations to form his own Han Pul Hapkido organization, although his art remains firmly based in the teachings of Choi Yong-sool.