Aikido came from a combination of the Japanese Martial Arts Daito Ryu Aiki Ju Jutsu and Kenjutsu (Sword Art). Generalising, it is less overtly aggressive in its technical base than Aiki Ju Jutsu and seeks to recognise the Fundamental Humanity of your attacker by twisting them into Origami Shapes. By origin it is Japanese, founded by Ueshiba in the early to mid twentieth Century (Ask an Aikidoka for the exact date). Hapkido supposedly comes from Daito-Ryu AikiJuJutsu. This is something that most Aikijujutsu people vehemently deny. Either way, Hapkido and Aikido (And Aiki Ju Jutsu) supposedly share the principle of the Circle as an integral part of their techniques. Hapkido was formulised by Choi Yong Sul in 1947 and is a Korean art. On the other hand there's the other Korean story which is that Hapkido is two thousand years old blahblahblah founded by Buddhist pigeons etc. Which is course is Bullshido. All those Arts are supposedly embued with Aiki/ Hapki. Something that manifests itself as beyond mere physical intent. The characters in Chinese script, in the Japanese language for Aikido are written in Chinese script, in the Korean language as Hapkido. Aikido tends to concentrate upon throws, locks, holds, pins and some striking (I'm being simplistic here for brevity). Hapkido is more of complete art in that it tends to give equal emphasis to its striking and kicking, as well as to its locks, throws, grappling etc. For more information about Hapkido, goto the link below (Warning contains opinion...) http://www.martialartsadvice.com/art.php?cat=5&art=89
Just a copycat! In summary, Aikido is the pacifist cousin of the more brutal precursor art, Aikijutsu and the killing art of Kenjutsu. All three are fighting arts invented and developed by the Samurais that proved to be effective in the battlefields of feudal Japan. Aikijutsu is a weapons based art that gave a valid defense option should a Samurai lose his katana in the middle of a fight and henceforth, unable to use his Kenjutsu. (some of the empty hand techniques are also sword hand techniques). Aikido is the latest evolution of Aikijutsu imbued with a spiritual side and is now practiced by millions worldwide. Hapkido, on the other hand, is to my opinion, a mere copycat of the Aiki arts. The Koreans just added some bits of Tae Kwon Do kicking to it but otherwise, it is still Aiki pure and simple. They even tried to cloak some mythical legend around it to make it look older than Aiki and tried to parade it as the original - to the outrage of the Aikijutsu and Aikido communities.
hah..didn't know that about Hapkido. I knew it was first created in 1940ish but didnt know that some claim that it's older than Aiki...I've also heard that the developer of Hapkido learned his techniques from Takeda while working as a live-in Chef. Supposedly he would secretly train techniques he saw demonstrated by Takeda during his classes...i don't really know the validity of this story i just heard it before
Yes The Choi, Yong Sul story goes something like 'He was a taken into the employ of Takeda and served him for 20 odd years etc'. Whether it's true or not-who cares. Hapkido is a very good Martial art with some excellent stuff in it. Also, just one small point. Kicks in Hapkido are not Taekwondo kicks, they are delivered with a different mechanism 'No pick up'. They may look similar, but are delivered in a different manner. Personaly, I look at hapkido as a type of Korean Ju Jitsu, similar, but not the same, more emphasis on striking etc. BlahBlahBlah.
This topic was discussed a bit under "Questions and Answers >> Here's a silly question ... What's the difference between hapkido and aikido?"
