Aikido vs. Hapkido?

[Skip Cooper]

Interesting, Matt. Thanks.

Do you have any idea as to the history of Hapkido that makes it more "brutal"? Coming from Aikido, I know of his encounter with Omoto Kyo and Onisaburo Deguchi. This religious influence guided his development of Aikido from the old art. What caused Choi to create a new art, rather than just teaching Daito Ryu. Was it just because as a Korean he couldn't get a teaching certificate in a Japanese art? Or was it some more profound theoretical difference?

To you knowledge, how does Hapkido differer from Daito Ryu, in technique and application? Daito Ryu is also supposed to be more brutal than Aikido.

Can anyone with a knowledge of both modern arts give a specific example of how the two are similar but different? Differences in a specific technique, maybe? Thanks.


Stan

From what I understand from one of Ueshiba's biographies...prior to WW2 his art was called aikibudo (which was very similar to daitoryu akjj) and after the war he changed the name to aikido. Ueshiba was troubled by what he witnessed in the world and believed through the teaching and philosophy of his art that he could bring about peace in the world. That is when the art took more of a religious flavor. It's been awhile since I read this book, I need to dig it up and refresh my memory...

How I explain the difference between the two arts is that one is a self-defense system with practical techniques and the other is the same but with a religion built in. Since I already have a strong belief system, I opt for the former rather than the latter, LOL!

I personally like Hapkido better than the Aiki arts (I began my training with Tomiki Aikido and before that a generic (i.e. americanized) form of Aiki JuJutsu) because the Japanse arts can be too stuffy. This has been my experience. I trained for a year in MJER Iaido and felt like an outsider because I didn't sip Japanse tea and bow to each other outside of class. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy learning about other cultures and respecting traditions, but I draw the line when out of the context of training is concerned.

 

[Hapkiyoosool]

They have the same root art, Daito Ryu Aiki Jujitsu. They are both translations of the same Kanji in Japanese and Korean, to the best of my understanding.

Many people say that Hapkido is "combat effective Aikido", "hard Aikido", "Aikido with punching and kicking" or some other innacurate generality. In reality, Aikido ranges from Ki Society flowing movements with little focus on martial ability to Yoshinkan and Tenshin forms with much atemi, small circles and very martial movements. Hapkido varies from a practical and beautiful art similar to Daito Ryu, practiced by people wearing Hakama, to a catalogue of very painful and effective but static and often decontextualized self-defense techniques, to Tae Kwon Do with some basic lock and throws grafted on.

So there are good and bad varieties of both arts. My Aikido Sensei was a fourth degree in Hapkido before he had to stop training. When he started Aikido, almost all of the techniques were already familiar to him.

I would have to agree with this. If you would like to see a Hapkido that is very close to Daito-Ryu you can see our website as well.
www.hapkiyoosool.com

You're correct! Hapkiyoosool IS how the Koreans pronounce the same characters that the Japanese pronounce Aikijujutsu. Chinese say "Hui CHi Lo Soo".


Sincerely,
Master Jeff Allen
President, US HQ