Choi Yong-sool - Spreading The Art

Spreading The Art

In 1951, Choi and Seo opened up the Daehan Hapki Yu Kwon Sool Dojang (Hangul: 대한 합기 유권술 도장), 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 (Hangul: 김무홍) and Moon Jong-Won (Hangul: 문종원). 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 (Hangul: 지한재), one of the great popularizers of the art, came to learn from Choi.

There is some disagreement about this but it also suggested that the founders of two arts, Lee Joo-Bang (Hangul: 이주방) of modern Hwa Rang Do and Seo In-Hyuk (Hangul: 서인혁; Suh In-Hyuk) of Kuk Sool Won, are thought to have trained with Choi Yong-Sool. However some others assert that their training came from Kim Moo-Hong's hapkido school in Seoul with which they were known to have been associated.

Choi's student Kim Jeong-Yoon (Hangul: 김정윤; also rendered Kim Jung-Yun) was one of his senior most students and in 1963 when Choi became the first Chairman on the Korea Kido Association (Daehan Ki Do Hwe; Hangul: 대한 기도회) and appointed Kim 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.Another prominent top student who became crucial to the survival of Doju Choi's full system is Chinil Chang, the personally chosen second direct lineage Doju(Grandmaster) and the only man awarded the 10th Dan and the title of Doju directly from Doju Choi.

Students of importance who were trained by Choi during the later periods of his teaching were Kim Jeong-yoon, Kim Yoon-Sang (Hangul: 김윤상) who later went on to form his Hapki yusul organization. and Lim Hyun-Soo (Hangul: 임현수) who claims to teach only the core skills taught to him by Choi Yong-Sool without the additional techniques which were appended to the art by Choi's students such as Ji Han-Jae and Kim Moo-Hong. Park Jeong-Hwan (Hangul: 박정환), who trained under Choi for three years, is one of the first of Choi's students to be authorized to open a Hapkido school in America, several of which still function today.

Doju Choi did make his only trip to the United States in 1982, several years prior to his death to visit his highest ranked instructor Chinil Chang in New York City and to preside over the creation of the US Hapkido Association. Master Mike Wollmershauser who was the only American to have trained under Choi Yong-sool himself had documented part of this historic visit on videotape which is in the hands of the second direct lineage Grandmaster Doju Chinil Chang. Doju Choi's wishes in the end was to spread Hap Ki Do all over the world as well as to unite the art as one family, one branch, one heart, even though Doju Choi had realized at that point that the system had splintered into too many political and warring fractions for that to ever happen. It was more his wish to keep his original system intact and for the lineage to be passed in a complete manner to his second direct lineage successor which he accomplished beautifully. Master Wollmershauser attempted to spread this word of unity throughout the world until his death in December 2002. Doju Chang maintains the integrity and purpose of his mission while continuing to teach his students as he has since arriving in the United States decades ago.