Hi there, Guitarac,
I was orginally disappointed that there wasn't an aikido school closer to me, and I only took hapkido because it was being offered down the street. On top of that, most of us who started at the same time did a lot of grumbling about spending so much time practicing what to do when someone grab's your wrist. Our joke was imagining telling an attacker, "No.. don't punch me! Grab my wrist! Not that wrist... the other one!"
But now that I'm almost a year into it and a blue belt, I have a much better understanding of how blocking punches and even throwing people are based on those original moves we spent so much time on. And many of our moves end with something violent (not that that's a good thing), like a wrist break or throat strike.
So... it's taken me a while, but I've really come to like hapkido. It's extremely efficient and much less forgiving than aikido. I think it would be very effective in a street fight. In fact, as I understand it, hapkido doesn't have competitions because it's simply too dangerous.
In sum, hapkido seems to be a good, practical, cross between the "do" (or "way") philosophies and a kick-*** fighting tool. But I guess the most important thing is your instructor and how much effort you put into it. A good aikidoka will kill a crappy hapkidoan in a heartbeat and vice versa (although both should be smart enough not to fight.)
Patrick
"Hap ki," as we say to each other at the beginning and end of each class.
