bong soo han

[hapkidofighter]

i study under him- just wonderin what other peoples thoughts were on him

[mike-IHF]

reply,

Hapkidofighter, I havenot studied under him, but my grandmaster Jang Young-Shil grew up with him, and they both trained under the founder Choi Young-Sul. They still talk on a regular bases. Bong Soo-Han is a great person, And had a great deal to do with the spread of Hapkido to the U.S. Alot of ppl only give that credit to Ji Han-Jae, but Bong Soo-Han had just as much to do with it as Ji did. He teaches a little bit more kicking than we do but it does not matter, alot of schools on the west coast tend to teach more kicking. You should be honored to train under him, for he was one of the earliest students of the founder, and is definetely more knowledgable than most ppl hear in the U.S when it comes to the art. Good luck with your training. "namaste"

[BSR]

I don't know him personally, but for my last belt testing I was required to read an essay on Hapkido, then respond the questions over it on a written exam.

The essay credited Bong Soo Han with popularizing Hapkido in the United States.

I still need to rent the Billy Jack movie one of those days as if I've heard he was responsible for the fight choreography in that film.

[hapkidofighter]

yea i got billyjack...the fight scence with gm han is awsome but the movie sucks

[mike-IHF]

reply,

Yeah, Billie Jack is not that great of a movie, but yes he did do the fight coreagraphy for it. You could also try and find a movie called Kentuky fried movie. There is a part called "fist full of yen" it is a spoof on bruce lee's enter the dragon. Bong soo-Han plays the part of Dr. Claw. It's really funny, but you can see him do some great spinning heal kicks. But anyway, yes he has played a big part in the movie business. Infact actors such as Sean Connery, and others have recieved blackbelt ranks under him. But anyway, good luck. "namaste"

[nj_howard]

reply,

they both trained under the founder Choi Young-Sul.

yet another subject of debate... if you read the interview with bong soo han in marc tedeschi's massive hapkido book, i'm pretty sure that bong himself says that he did not study under choi, but under ji han jae. having said that, i have read elsewhere (can't recall where) that he did study under choi.

not that it's terribly important - he is certainly one of the foremost hapkido masters in the US and his legitimacy is beyond question.

[mike-IHF]

reply,

nj Howard, let me take time to explain this, because alot of ppl from alot of other boards I visit have the same question. In Korea if you train under a grandmaster i.e Choi, you are appointed , or listed as a student of a chief instructor. Bong Soo-Han, Myong Jae-Nam, my grandmaster Jang Young-Shil were all students of Choi. But because at that time Ji Han-Jae was a chief instructor, these ppl were listed as students of Ji's, but it does not mean they did not learn the techniques from Choi, it is just a formality for ranking. Our federation is the same, I study under Master Jeff Allen, but my ranking still comes from the HQ in Korea, and is endorsed by Grandmaster Jang. If I trained at the HQ, I would be listed as a student under one of the chief instructors someone of 5th dan, or above, but I would still be learning the techniques from Grandmaster Jang, because he is the one that teaches the classes. I hope that I have clarified your question, have a good day. "namaste"

[nj_howard]

michael, thanks for the info, but what i meant was that in marc tedeschi's hapkido book, there is an interview with bong soo han himself... in the interview, he was directly asked if he had trained under master choi, and he said no, he had not... i'm 99% sure thats' what the book says; i'll check it again tonight just to be sure... i don't doubt that bong soo han could have trained directly under master choi, but i don't understand why he would have ever said he didn't.

i'll check the book tonight and let you know.... thanks

[mike-IHF]

reply,

nj Howard, thanks for the reply. The reason he probably said that, if infact he did was probably because of the reason I explained on my last post. If Bong Soo-Han was listed as a student of Ji, then he probably considers him his primary teacher. Also marc tedeschi's book, is not exactly the best resource in the world. Is book does have flaws, regarding Hapkido. So don't take anything in a book as truth. But anyway, time to go train. See you later. "namaste"

[nj_howard]

hey mike, thanks for your reply. i think we can put this to rest now...

well, i'm glad i said i was only 99% sure that bsh had made that comment in the tedeschi book. it turns out that i was wrong. don't know / can't remember who i have him confused with on this point... anyway, as we both agree, he's a real credit to hapkido. take care...

[hapkidofighter]

yea im prett ysure GM han was one of the origanal 6 senoir students under choi- but---im not sure but i think that GM han got up to a 4th dan under choi- i could be totally wrong- then the rest from ji han jae

[nj_howard]

[nj_howard]

that could well be right. he definitely did not learn all of those high kicks under choi, since choi's art did not have them. probably ji han jae, although bong soo han says he also spent some time studying taek kyun before starting to train under ji han jae.

[BSR]

reply, You could also try and find a movie called Kentuky fried movie. There is a part called "fist full of yen" it is a spoof on bruce lee's enter the dragon. Bong soo-Han plays the part of Dr. Claw. It's really funny, but you can see him do some great spinning heal kicks. But anyway, yes he has played a big part in the movie business. Infact actors such as Sean Connery, and others have recieved blackbelt ranks under him. But anyway, good luck. "namaste"

I watched the Kentucky Fried Movie a long time ago. I had no idea he was in it. Of course this was long before I knew anything about Hapkido.

[mike-IHF]

reply,

njHoward, yeah I'm not too sure about Bong Soo-Han's Taekyon background, but it does sound probable. Alot of students of Choi, had previous backgrounds in other martial arts, mainly Judo (yudo), and Taekyon. Even Choi's first student Suh Bok-Sup, had experience in Judo. I think this is a big reason for the differnces in kwans, and styles of ppl that studied under Choi. After seeing alot of schools, I noticed that some have alot more techniques of Judo throws mixed in, instead of the throws you would normally see in Aikijujutsu, which is what Choi taught. And then like we are talking about, I have seen schools that do alot of dynamic kicking like you would see in Taekyon. But usually the main base of philosophy, and technique are the same troughout all the different styles. I personally love the school I'm at. Grandmaster Jang as taught the same way he learned from Choi for 45 years, with no changes. Our techniques look exactly like a Daito ryu Aikijujutsu school. One person asked me one time "how come some Hapkido schools look more like Aikido, and some don't?". Well...... my answer was that I personally fel that if it does not look alot like Akijujutsu, then there must have been some changes made to that style. I feel that it should look like Aikijujutsu, because thats what Choi taught, he did not teach judo, he taught what he learned in Japan, what he called Ya wa ra. But this is just my opinion, some will disagree, but it's what I believe. But anyway, I have rambled on enough. Take care. "namaste"

[nj_howard]

mike, your comments basically reflect my understanding about the similarity between choi's art and drajj. unfortunately, it's hard to demonstrate that today, because both arts have evolved since the middle of the last century. also, it is very hard to find authentic drajj in the states these days. i understand from talking to people and browsing japanese m.a. boards that there are a lot of "impostor" drajj schools out there. even in japan the original art is supposedly somewhat obscure today (again, from what you can read on the web.... fwiw). i would love to be able to find a legitimate drajj school, just to be able to compare its techniques with traditional hapkido.

if you're interested at all, there is a very good book on drajj that illustrates the first 30 techniques in considerable detail. it's by the current head of the system, katsuyuki kondo, and is published by aiki news (or aiki journal, not sure which). the techniques look very similar to the traditional hapkido i'm familiar with, only with larger circular movements than we use.

as for disagreements, you bet, this issue will never be resolved because it's basically impossible to put together objective proof of either side of the argument. c'est la vie...

[Jointlock]

Originally Posted by nj_howard
if you're interested at all, there is a very good book on drajj that illustrates the first 30 techniques in considerable detail. it's by the current head of the system, katsuyuki kondo, and is published by aiki news (or aiki journal, not sure which). the techniques look very similar to the traditional hapkido i'm familiar with, only with larger circular movements than we use.

I'd be interested in taking a look at that book. I'm sure others might be too. If you could give some information like the title, and maybe a good place to buy it on line, it would be appreciated.

[nj_howard]

hey guys, here are the details of the book...

the full title is "daito ryu aikijujutsu - hiden mokuroku ikkajo". the author is katsuyuki kondo, who is the current head of daito ryu in japan. there's also a pretty good introduction by stanley pranin, who i think might be the editor of aiki journal.

this link should take you right to the book. it's $27.95 + s&h.

http://www.aikidojournal.com/catalog/catalog.php?category=2

:)

[nj_howard]

looks like the url i put in that last post might have got garbled... so, just try www.aikijournal.com, then click the "books" link, and you'll go right to the book section. regards, howard

[Kosh]

hi

Bong Soo Han was in England resently at a championship hosted by our master (Master Kim Beom, GMaster Kim Duk In's son).

He seamed like a very nice guy, he was one of the judges and also gave a seminar on ki.

[MJR]

I am a student of Hwang In-Shik, who studied at the same dojang run by Master Ji Han Jae in a downtown district of Seoul. Ji was the main teacher there but Master Choi did visit Seoul ( he was based out of Taegu ) and all senior students of Ji had access to him and considered him their Master. Ji was very young when he opened up the first hapkido dojang in Seoul and this may have caused him problems due to Korean culture and respect given to those who are older than you. His students from this period often refer to Ji as their senior and Choi as their master. Many of these students may have trained directly with Choi in addition to training under Ji for greater or lesser periods of time depending on the circumstance. Other students from this particular dojang were Kim Chong-Sung, Myung Kwang-Sik and Hwang Duk-kyu ( whom my own teacher has the greatest respect for. ).

[MJR]

Ooops. I forgot to mention that Bong-soo Han was also a member of this dojang and shared the same experience as the above mentioned teachers. My apologies for what seemed to be an off topic reply.

Matt