Forms in Hapkido

[Shihan]

I've been studying hapkido for 6 years now. Due to the birth of my child and some injuries, I haven't earned my black belt yet. Hopefully I will test for it next year(I'm 1st gup-red belt w/black stripe). But I have heard different opinions on hapkido as far as forms are concerned. Some people say that traditional hapkido doesn't teach forms. But I have seen hapkido books with forms. My Sabumnim has also showed me a very old hapkido book with forms. But are forms really necessary in a system that's suppose to be self-defense orientated ?

[iron_ox]

Hello all,

There are no forms in Traditional Hapkido, at all. Forms have been added for a variety of reasons, from a need to increase amounts of available material, to a way of getting students to spend valuable training time in a dojang fighting an imaginary opponent - often while the instructor reads a newspaper.

I have been to SEVERAL dojangs that teach forms and have never seen a "master created" form that was in any way useful in am greater understanding of Hapkido.

In terms of seeing forms in "old books" - lots of instructors in Korea saw the rapid growth of TaeKwonDo and wanted to mirror its success - thus added forms in this attempt.

[Thomas]

Here's some relevant info I've posted earlier:

In the IHF Hapkido (GM Myung Jae-nam's (RIP) organization) I studied in Korea, we had forms:
Cho gup hyeung (low level form)
Choong gup hyeung (Middle level)
Go gup hyeung (high level)
Tae Ryeon Hyeung (sparring form)
(then the dan hyeungs...)

In the ICHF, we don't have forms

I would say that having forms in Hapkido would be more the exception rather than the rule. I learned forms in Korea and enjoyed them. I am not really sure how many other schools used them though. I know that Moo Moo Kwan had them as did Korea Guard's Martial Arts and GM Myung Jae-nam's IHF.


For my personal opinion on the benefits of forms, I would say:

(1) They help me learn/practice kicks, strikes, techniques, and footwork within a set format.

(2) I use them to warm up before a class and to wind down at the end of a class

(3) They help me develop a ryhthem of movement and breathing during techniques

(4) for practicing on my own at home, in a hotel room, or somewhere without access to my dojang

(5) They introduce students to new parts of the curriculum as they progress in belt rank.

Overall, I personally like forms (in TKD and Hapkido)... they really don't take up much time and they can help you in the above manners and they help preserve some of the essence of your style of martial arts. There are people who don't like forms, and that's okay, too.
http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4477&highlight=Hapkido+forms

In my opinion, when used correctly, forms can be a good training tool. There are other ways to get the same results and forms are just one way. If your system has forms, good... use them well. If it doesn't, you're probably learning the same concepts and reinforcing them in different ways.