Hapkido Features
Hapkido is the Korean Self-Defense Art par excellence, founded by Grandmaster Ji Han Jae in the year 1959. It is a hybrid system (hard-soft) that uses all kinds of techniques to get out of a dangerous situation.
Hapkido means:
- HAP: Union
- KI: Energy
- DO: Way
Literally we would translate it as the way to the union of all energy, or in other words the union of physical and mental energies. In Hapkido the 3 real combat distances are trained:
- The long distance where kicks and jumps are used, clearly offensive techniques.
- The medium distance where the hands are used in strikes, nerve pressure, joint dislocations, projections and strangulations, both defensive and offensive.
- The short distance or body to body, both standing and on the ground, where a wide range of defensive techniques and strategies are used.
Hapkido is based on three fundamental principles, these are:
- WON: Principle of the circle, circle tendency to divert the opponent's energy and use it to reduce or defeat him.
- YU: Principle of water, non-resistance, penetrate the opponent's defense and neutralize him using soft or hard techniques according to his technique.
- WHA: Principle of harmony, harmony between hard and soft techniques, harmony and balance between physical and mental energy (mind and body).
His defense and attack techniques are classified in 4 main blocks, these are:
- CHIGUI SUL: Strikes with the hands, strangulations and pressure on nerve points.
- KOKKI SUL: Dislocations and levers to the joints.
- DONCHIGUI SUL: Projections and sweeps.
- JOK SUL: Kicking techniques, jumping kicks and knee strikes.
The original Hapkido is a union and evolution of different Japanese and Korean martial systems: Yu Kwon Sul (Aiki-Ju-Jutsu), Taekyryon, Moogui-sul and Sondo. Hapkido was not created as a sport, its technical potential was developed during more than 20 years with the security guard of the president of Korea by the hand of Doju-nim Ji Han Jae.
Hapkido has a very specific martial approach:
- Civilian self-defense.
- Offensive and defensive police/military technique.
- Traditional Korean offensive and defensive weapons.
Nowadays in Korea, Hapkido is mandatory to study at police academies (Kyonchal Hapkido) and is part of the training of the special corps of the Korean army (Kunsa Hapkido). Unlike other Martial Arts, it is not a sport, it is a pure Martial Art, it is not taught to score points, it is taught to survive. For this reason, in Hapkido there is no free combat as a great variety of techniques are used, many of them with a high risk of injury in case of being used to the maximum.
It is an essential practical Martial Art, there are no Katas or Pumse forms, from the beginning of the class the student is performing practical self-defense techniques. At Black Belt level, traditional Korean weapons are used.
Weapons (Moo Gui Sul) can be divided into two main groups that represent the classical martial arts of Korean history, these are:
- Bulkyo Moo Sul: Arts of the Korean Monks, in which the Dang Bong (small stick), Chang Bong (long stick) and Dan Jang (staff) are wielded.
- Kung Jung Moo Sul: Royal Court Arts in which Po Bak (rope), Kum (sword) and Dan Kum (knife) are wielded.
There are four basic ways of handling the technical arsenal of Hapkido:
- Empty hands against empty hands.
- Empty hands against weapons.
- Weapons against empty hands.
- Weapons against weapons.
Symbolism of Hapkido
The graphic representation of Hapkido is symbolized by an eagle trapping an arrow in its claws, this symbol was drawn by the Doju-nim Ji Han Jae in the 1960s. The Doju-nim Ji Han Jae interviewed by Master Mark Tedeshi in his work on Hapkido, said about it:
The Eagle is the king of birds, the eagle in Hapkido symbolizes the king of martial arts. An eagle is free to fly wherever he wants, high, low, over land, sea. Flying represents freedom, freedom to go anywhere and do anything in the martial art. The arrow represents the weapon or unexpected attack, the eagle catches the unexpected attack using speed and power to control it.
Sin Moo Kwan Hapkido
World Hapkido Sin Moo Kwan is an international organization for the development of Sin Moo Hapkido (Sin Moo Kwan), personally authorized by the Doju-nim Ji Han Jae in 2022 under the technical supervision of Master Rafael Balbastre.
- SIN (신): Spirit
- MOO (무): Martial Art
- KWAN (관): School
Hapkido Sin Moo Kwan means ‘The school of the spirit of Hapkido’, the essence of Hapkido, the original technique and lineage of the Founder Ji Han Jae (Doju-nim).
Traditional Hapkido is drifting both in Korea and in the West to the mere facet of exhibition sport, creating meaningless acrobatics and eliminating technical sections that are not very showy in an exhibition, but fundamental for self-defense, with the purpose of obtaining medals and thus opening up to a younger and more competitive student audience, with a more distorted Hapkido, which moves away from its true origin and potential as it is:
- A direct, practical and effective civil self-defense.
- A hard, direct and professional offensive/defensive Police and Military Hapkido.
- The practice of traditional Hapkido weapons, a cultural legacy of Korean History.
For these reasons the World Hapkido Sin Moo Kwan is born for the preservation and dissemination of the technical legacy of Hapkido of Doju-nim Ji Han Jae.
Our crest symbolizes the traditional Hapkido of the eagle catching an arrow, the arrow is the aggressor, the eagle is the Hapkido practitioner who neutralizes the aggression by catching it. In Doju-nim's time in Korea (Sung Moo Kwan) the first Hapkido shields had the eagle with folded wings (the eagle was in Korea), when Doju-nim emigrated to the United States (Sin Moo Hapkido) the symbol changed, and the eagle spread its wings above the world.
This is the meaning of our Sin Moo Kwan crest.