Yikes, I see this thread has taken a fall for the worst. Im going to check out this school. And see how it is.
Time Doesn't Make Misrepresentations and Deception Into Truth Mike, you and your instructor Jeff Allen spent quite a bit of time asking the various forums where posts regarding what you teach, your lineage, claims, etc., were posted to delete the posts. Unfortunately for you but fortunately for the martial arts community, not all of the boards accommodated you. I don't want to waste time by going into all the previous posts but will state the following facts: 1. Schools that are affiliated with your organization here in the USA used to have photographs of the Ueshibas, NOT Choi Yong Sul or Ji Han Jae or even Myung Jae Nam before the postings began. After the postings, the photographs were removed. 2. While claiming to teach Hapkido (and please spare us the "but in Chinese characters, Hapkido and Aikido is the same" lecture - most practioners already know this and ALL Koreans and Japanese know this already), your organization continues to post videos of your students and instructors doing Aikido techniques and YES, there is a difference between Hapkido techniques and Aikido techniques. P.S. - if your organization is going to post video, you need to post better examples: the videos I've seen on youtube show high ranks doing poor examples of shomenuchi kotegaeshi, shomenuchi iriminage, etc., - their stance and execution show very poor technique. 3. Using your reasoning for who signed the certificates, there are a TON of people who can make the same claims as your organization. Common sense and integrity, however, prevails over them. I could go on and on if you like. My opinion: There are few takers here in the USA who would take Aikido lessons from an individual that has no ties to Hombu Dojo in Japan. So create a marketing plan based on a falsified lineage. When the house of cards start crumbling, lie and delete.
A Bit of Advice xaoxaoo, before or after you visit the IHF dojang, visit an Aikido dojo and do a comparison
Giovanni, iron_ox doesn't need me or anyone else sticking up for him but perhaps a bit of explanation is in order: iron_ox is passionate about Hapkido I believe Jeff Allen and Mike Merchant have spent a ton of time "revising" their claims and coming up with all sorts of "facts" - which often times need to be revised hypothetical question for you Giovanni: Let's say you are a martial arts newbie, you do a bit of research and you want to learn Hapkido. Let's say you find out there is a nearby dojang that teaches "Hapkido". You join, pay fees, etc., after all this, let's say that you find out you didn't really learn "Hapkido" but you learned "Aikido". You ask your "Hapkido" instructor about this and his explanation is "in Chinese characters, it's the same thing - it's just that Koreans and Japanese pronounce it differently". He also goes on to state something to the effect that if you take some kicks out, Hapkido becomes Aikido and if you add some kicks in, Aikido becomes Hapkido. How would you feel? Would you wish that there were more iron_ox's in this world? Would you wish that you had known about this before you spent your time and money learning "Hapkido"?
I would probably nominate this thread for raising the largest number of Hapkido "hot buttons" in the shortest amount of time. IMHO the core issue is that of "identity" which has plagued the Hapkido community almost from Day One. I agree that what Jeff (Allen)'s group does is much closer to Japanese Aikido than to, say, material directly from CHOI Yong Sul. And.... I can also agree that Jeff can make the claims that he does-----based on his particular logic---- in that he shares company with a wide range of folks who have bent things this way and that way for quite a few decades...... including my own teacher. Personally, my own take at this late stage in my life is to stick as close to whatever "tree trunk" I have chosen for myself. How this translates to the thread here is that I identify what it is that I want to accomplish, locate that group and stick to them like glue. In the case of "Iron Ox" there is an opportunity to very much directly relate to Choi's tradition, absent modifications that JI Han Jae and KIM Moo Woong introduced. Very "Hapkiyusool"; very "aikijujutsu". In the case of JI Han Jae (SIN MU Hapkido) there are enough groups on the East Coast (the man himself lives in NJ!) that you can get a pretty pure take on his material as well. In the case of Jeff's material I would be split two ways. If there were an Aikido, or especially an Aiki-Budo group (see: Mochizuki) I would probably connect with them, or do a comparison as was recommended earlier. IF, however, it was a question of Jeff's group and some school that teaches an "eclectic-Heinz 57" practice, Jeff would win hands-down just based on his structure, organization and experience. Of course this is all opinion and, as always, YMMV. Best Wishes, Bruce
danjun, if the "evidence" presented is some revised internet forum claims, bad taste in pictures posted on an even worse site, some questionable video content and production, then the "evidence" is much flimsier than any supposed claims of lineage that these ihf people make. that's my take. i haven't actually gone to the school and compared the techniques there versus aikido. have you? fyi...i don't know these people from adam. could care less about them. i'm interested in these questions of "authenticity" though.
Giovanni, the "evidence" was not simply revised internet forum claims. The issues and internet forum arguments by IHF members (primarily Jeff Allen and Mike Merchant) arose based on claims that the organization and school in question made on their official website - claims that they subsequently acknowledged were erroneous but at first would not revise on their website. They were called out on various internet forums and then changes (in increments) were made to their website. As for what else, people in Korea spoke with GM Chang about what he teaches, the claims made by Jeff Allen, etc., and GM Chang, to his credit, corrected/denied many of those claims. After this interview and the contents were discussed, Jeff Allen apparently called GM Chang and afterwards GM Chang said he would no longer speak about the claims. I've never gone to Jeff Allen's school. I've been tempted though. I practiced/taught Aikido in an organization recognized by Hombu Dojo (in other words, I'm familiar with Aikido). I've also had other Aikido instructors look at the IHF videos to get their take - it was unanimous: "that's Aikido". I'm also very familiar with the Ji Han Jae line of Hapkido and the Choi Yong Sul line - neither of which have techniques like the techniques I mentioned in my post above. That satisfy you?
Forgot to add... Anyone interested in Aikido in South Florida have great opportunities - there are numerous Aikikai affiliated schools as well as a school affiliated with Iwama Ryu and also Yoshinkan. A simple search on the internet will give you all the information. I personally decided to stop practicing Aikido years ago but to each his own.
Danjun, Ahh.. I see you popped out of your hole for this one. Well grab your seat, and I'll speak a few words. Huh? There is only a few pictures that GM Jang had of Ueshiba at the HQ. These were portrait pictures, during the time when Jang was under Myung's direction, and Myung was exchanging techniques with Hirata sensei. You can still see the portrait pictures on my pictures section of my website. Nothing has been removed So I don't know what you are refering to. OK, so because we do kotegaeshi, and iriminage that makes us Aikido? umm.. I always thought those techniques existed in Hapkido as well. In fact don't they exist in the Aikijujutsu curriculum as well? Seems to me every Hapkido school I've seen teaches these techniques, so that must mean they are really teaching Aikido too! I'm sorry for the poor video of our techniques, as you discribe. But I for sure could post about 1000 videos of crappy technique, from numerous schools. Fact of the matter is this. I have never said we do not have influence from Aikido. We all know that Myung, and GM Jang have trained with Japanese instructors. Which btw, this is a question for Iron Ox, does not GM Lim teach a form of Iaido? I'm sure he must have learned that from Japanese instructors correct? anyway, back to what I was saying. I have made several post saying that we are a hybrid type of style. That is bound to happen with GM Jang having 3 different Hapkido instructors, not by choice. It's just what happened. However all of GM Jang's rankings are in Hapkido, or the same art under a different name. Our school is registered with the korean government under Hapkido. As far as I know GM Jang never received any kind of ranking in Aikido. Or At least not on any significant level. Not to bring any Hankido folks up on here, but what I find interesting is that only because Myung changed the name of his art to Hankido you so called Ortodox ppl except that. Had he not changed the name, I guess you would be attacking them saying "that's not Hapkido". Anyway, I'm pretty much done with this topic. Master Allen is hosting a seminar on June 26th. Anyone is welcome to attend. If you want to know how and what we teach then come by. If not, don't say the invite is not there.
We, the hankido people, still get the 'that's not hapkido' comments Personally I see hankido as a hapkido-style which was obviously inspired by Aikido. But we also shouldn't forget that Myung Jae Nam already practiced a form of martial art before starting hapkido that was very circular in nature. Our spinning strikes are still a big reminder of those techniques. There are also taekkyeon-like stepping techniques we use. I think Myung Jae Nam saw aikido as a way to combine hapkido with what he had learned before. I am not saying that no mistakes were made in the past. Both by us and by our teachers. Myung Jae Nam was a great martial artist, but certainly not a saint or some kind of all knowing human being. We should always look under which circumstances things were developed. Circumstances in the 60s in Korea were a lot different from how they are to day. It is also obvious that he didn't have all the facts. (my thinking is that for some time he actually believed (or was made to believe) that aikido was hapkido's mother art, but I am not sure and right now their is no way of knowing this for 100% sure). This lead to some assumptions that later turned out not to be true. If people look at hankido and say 'that is aikido' they either don't know aikido and/or they don't know hankido. Or they only understand (one of) the art(s) at a superficial level. The differences are bigger than the similarities. Now that we can see the bigger picture, there is no need to keep telling the half-truths our teachers told us. We can just say 'this is what they thought they knew back then, but in the mean time we have learned .... etc. etc.'
Mike, I'm Not Going to Continue to Play Your Game Just like the past, you are being disingenuous (to put it mildly), read posts the way you want to so you can post a reply and simply ignore the issues that you find too problematic to address. For the sake of the uninformed, let's go through it again (of course, we wouldn't have to do it again if you had not gotten all the previous posts on numerous forums deleted from the various threads and had certain users banned - always a red flag when organizations and individuals are afraid of questions raised about or to them). 1. I never stated that pictures of Ueshiba were at GM Jang's school - look at my original post. There used to be a school in another state that was affiliated with your organization and supposedly the instructor was taught by Jeff Allen. I believe it was somewhere in the Southwest USA. That school used to have pictures (note the plural) of the Ueshibas (note the plural) in their photo gallery. When this was pointed out, shortly thereafter, the pictures were removed. Now, based on your website, that school is no longer affiliated with you. 2. Regarding kotaegaeshi and iriminage (although I didn't post it in my original post, I should add kokyunage as well). The way it is presented by your organizations (from the attack, to the technique itself, from the footwork of both the attacker and defender to the techniques themselves), they are Aikido. The only Hapkido schools that teach those techniques are the ones, like GM Myung Jae Nam's line, that adopted those techniques from Aikido. An informed martial artist can/should be able to differentiate between the two. Again, a simple comparison of mainstream Hapkido way of doing kalnukki and the Aikido way of doing ikkyo - pretty much the first real technique taught in both martial arts for a good number of schools - would show that yes, there is a difference between Hapkido and Aikido. Moreover, the Hapkido version of Aikido's sankyo is done differently. But I suspect you already know that. Pictures of ki exercises on HQ website - sitting in seiza, grabbing both wrists (kokyudosa) - is standard stuff at Aikido schools but Hapkido schools, NOT. I laughed my butt off when I saw a GM Chang seminar brochure and a big picture of GM Chang doing ikkyo was used. Neither Hapkiyusul nor Hapkido does ikkyo like the way GM Chang was doing (it was classic Aikido) unless it is a school that has adopted (to varying degrees) Aikido techniques. I hope I hope I still have that jpeg of that brochure somewhere. As previously noted by me, individual(s) belonging to your organization made a concerted effort to delete a lot of posts (even posts by Jeff Allen) that may have shed more light on the matter. However, for those inclined to do so, a good number of posts on aikidojournal are still up (I imagine much to your discomfort). A simple search of "hapkiyoosool" on their forum would show the posts. I don't have the time or inclination to put up all the gems, but I will note the following: Your USA HQ (Jeff Allen's) school is STILL self-identified as a "Daito Ryu Aikijujitsu (Hapkiyoosool)" school in aikidojournal.com's dojo listing. The following quote from Jeff Allen: "I must apologize. I initiated the change back to Hapkiyoosool. I am the one who calls it Hapkiyoosool. I am trying to take it back to the roots. GM Chang is letting me do this. We are tired of seeing Hapkido change slowly into TaeKwonDo here in the USA. Master Kim Uh Hyuk is a student of GM Chang but, we do not do our techniques so "Aikido" style as we used to. I am tryin to get us back to the roots of where it all began. This is why I am tryin to get in touch with all the Hapkiyusul teachers." Jeff Allen never answered the question regarding how he could teach something that apparently neither he nor his instructor were ever taught? I'll ask again, without outside assistance (hopefully more than watching instructional DVD's or videotapes), how, do you "not do [your] techniques so "Aikido" style as [you]used to"? Do you have to get re-certified? Most people would... Also, I believe in the same thread on aikidojournal.com, he admitted that while GM Chang may have gotten a rank or two from Choi Yong Sul, he may never have gotten instruction from Choi Yong Sul (whereas previously, he claimed that GM Chang got his 9th Dan from Choi Yong Sul). It is common knowledge in the Hapkido world that for years, certificates with Choi Yong Sul's signature/seal were given to those who NEVER even met the man, let alone get a SINGLE lesson from him. I do wish I could find the posts by Jeff Allen where, in public, he posted that if you just added some kicks to Aikido, you would have Hapkido since Ueshiba and Choi Yong Sul were both taught by Takeda and vice versa. Unfortunately, I believe those posts were on a forum that deleted the posts made by individuals other than you or Jeff Allen and removed the threads that Jeff Allen may have regretted making. Again, I don't have any issues with Aikido, Hankido, etc., The issues arose because of erroneous (by your own organization's admission) claims regarding lineage and what was actually being taught. It's not fair to the people who think they are "buying" one thing, but actually being sold something else. I believe either you or Jeff Allen posted that based on claims your organization initially made, quite a few people (including outside the country I believe) attended GM Chang's first seminar in the USA. In the same post, however, it was acknowledged that attendance for the second seminar was significantly lower. I suspect quite a few experienced martial artists weren't going to be fooled a second time - just my opinion.
Danjun, What? You are seriously delusional! first off I have had nothing removed from any forum. If anything was removed it was done by an admin or whatever. I've also had no one banned from any forum. I have never even requested that of anybody, mainly cause I really don't care about other ppl's opinions, especially those that dont have the B***S to step foot on the mat, they would rather send attacks from a computer! Really? I would do a little more research on this one if I were you. As I recall I remember seeing video and pictures of your instructor sitting in "seiza" doing ki excersizes, and similar ki techniques. I have seen allot of hapkido schools teach this, I will agree this is more dominate in the Myung line. The only instructor we have in the south west is Master James in Utah. As I recall, the pictures of Ueshiba that he had were the same ones from the HQ in Korea. I believe he got rid of the website do to the fact that he only teaches on base. Therefore it was not serving him any purpose from an advertising perspective. Last but not least. You for some reason under the assumption that I have not been around the block a few times in my life. I have been to multiple Hapkido, and Aikido schools. And I can tell you with out a doubt there is a big difference in application between our techniques, and Aikido. Now the stepping and deflections, and the redirections are more similar. But the end result, or the way the joint or whatever is effected is definetely not the same as Aikido. We focus extensivly on pressure point application, and pressure point striking. You can't even find that in Aikido anymore. I could go on and on. If you want to keep on saying we do Aikido, fine more power to you. But do not come at me and say that what we represent is poor technique, when you won't even step foot in our school! I very seriously doubt the U.S. Airforce would keep GM Jang on base if he was teaching bad technique. I doubt he would have taught Korean Army, U.S. special forces, Korean presidential body guards, if he was teaching poor technique. Back in the 60's and 70's, you had to be damn good to even make it as an instructor in Korea. That's half the reason so many instructors came to the states, because they could not hack it over there. Anyway, enough said on this. You can keep writing BS all you want, but I'm not responding to it anymore.
I posted and have posted in the past about your propensity to do selective responses (i.e., ignore problematic facts and issues) and what do you do with your latest post? LOL First, off, I don't know who you think my instructor is. But, I've had more than one instructor. Second, as for kokyudosa, NONE of my instructors except for the Aikido instructors have EVER taught it, practiced it or asked us to practice it. I guess it was just pure coincidence that anything that questioned your school or organization's assertions were deleted (including problematic posts (I gave once example already) by Jeff Allen himself) but claims from your organization that the deleted threads were all lies and posted by trouble makers stayed up. Interesting how you won't address the two examples/quote I posted. If I remember correctly Mike, you opened up your IHF Hapkido/Hapkiyoosool dojang when you were a first dan in IHF Hapkido/Hapkiyoosool. On youtube ([ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRimUAIaRWQ&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - Hapkido techniques of Grandmaster Chang in Korea.[/ame]) in the video posted by Hapkiyoosool (along with reference to your official website and copyright 2005 International Hapkido Federation notice), the video is titled "Hapkido Techniques of Grandmaster Chang in Korea" and the description notes that the video shows "Hapkido as taught by Grandmaster Chang in Korea". First question, is it "Hapkido" or "Hapkiyoosool" or "Daito Ryu Aikijujitsu"? Next, let's look at the techniques being performed: ikkyo, nikkyo, gokyo, shihonage, iriminage, kaitenage, kokyunage. My use of Japanese terms is appropriate and deliberate because those techniques, ALL of them, while sloppy and poorly done, are executed the Aikido way, NOT the Hapkido or Hapkiyoosool (Hapkiyusul) or Aikijujitsu way. Anyone who has done basic Aikido would see that it is exactly the same (again, just not very well done and those students show lack of understanding of certain fundamental essentials to the techniques). Question: did your organization knowingly and deliberately put up video of "Hapkido techniques as taught by Grandmaster Chang" showing poor technique and execution? Is it some kind of "zen" thing? If so, more power to you. The other video put up on youtube by your organization ([ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7B5FLq1bmg&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - Hapkido Techniques[/ame]) is titled "Hapkido Techniques" and is described as "Grandmaster Chang taking (sp) about not doing fancy Hapkido. Street effective works much better." In my opinion, the title is misleading because in the video, GM Chang is not demonstrating Hapkido techniques at all (and so, he isn't doing "fancy Hapkido" because he isn't doing Hapkido at all - I'm still laughing!). In my opinion, in the video, his footwork, the way he enters and directs, etc., is AIKIDO. Other Aikidoka could confirm. What's unfortunate is that in the USA and Japan, in my opinion, there are TONS of people who show better Aikido technique than GM Chang let alone what is displayed by the two students in the first video referenced. As a matter of fact, in the USA, Aikido schools are very well established and although there are bad schools with underqualified instructors, finding a good instructor/school is relatively easy. Heck, if you asked me nicely, I could teach those two students (if they haven't improved their techniques) how to do all those Aikido techniques properly and I haven't practiced Aikido in years! This thread started because someone asked about a Hapkido school in South Florida. Solution is easy enough: do a search in the yellow pages and internet, visit some schools but also visit some Aikido schools (there are good ones from different affiliations) and then reach your own conclusions. As for not stepping on the mat, I don't know if you are challenging me or questioning whether or not I work out regularly. I've stayed away from the boards because if I wasn't preoccupied with work or my family, I was trying to get training in. I don't live on the internet. As for challenging me, trust me, in light of certain correspondence (and I'm not talking about the one that his wife sent in Korean (Hangul)) that was sent by your instructor to a certain individual, there was a desire to visit your US HQ school and get on the mat to do some comparison of technique. At the end of the day, it wasn't worth spending money on a plane ticket to go to Florida to educate (if he wanted to actually be educated), i.e., show the difference between Hapkido, Aikido and Aikijujitsu/Hapkiyusul, an individual who posted such gems as taking kicks out of Hapkido makes it Aikido and adding kicks to Aikido makes it Hapkido.
I'd love to hear from the peanut-gallery/experts on this one. I'm not passing myself off as an expert in either Hapkido, Judo or Aikido (which I've never done, but was thinking of attending a seminar), so I'm abstaining from voting. I'm only 1st Dan Hapkido, so definitely, not an expert. Try to remove the bias of the obviously poor video quality: none or bad edits, bad angles, maybe the kids in the first video don't do the techniques as well as we'd like. But based on the back and forth on this thread, how do the techniques stack up when you look at entering, foot/hand placement, application of technique? Please vote: Hapkido, Hapkiyoosool, DRAJJ, Aikido. I believe that right now we're at 1 Hapkido/Hapkiyoosool (Mike-IHF) and 1 Aikido (Danjun).
OK......I'm probably gonna get my butt handed to me for this comment but I kick it in as my own 2 cents. Personally.....in my humble opinion......I think that the Korean arts operate under WAY too much scrutiny through the lens of the Japanese MA. Korean arts can be pretty but mostly they are not. They are rough, practical and effective. What I find is that most objections to the KMA have to do with it not being saleable enough do to lack of popular appeal owing to discomfort in training or insufficient "eye-candy". To me its not a question any longer of "lineage". Frankly, I think many teachers, both American and Korean, sold-out Korean culture a long time ago so as to make for a successful business. Discussions like this seems to proceed from the hair-splitting regarding marketing rather than the practicality of execution. Here are some other experiences I have had. 1.) When I do a full-shoulder throw I am doing a combat application with feet spread reasonably wide. I get all sorts of grief from Judo people who think my feet ought to be together and I should raise up on my toes. Maybe I should... IF... I was doing Judo. I'm not. 2.) When I do Korean sword my practice has a distinct, heavy, chopping feel to it. I get grief from Japanese and Korean Kendo/Kumdo people that it should be fast and airy. Maybe it should be.... IF I was doing Kendo or Kenjustsu. I'm not. 3.) When I do HAPKIDO, my focus is on disabling my opponent so I press my partner's limits in this regard. I was sharply criticized by the Aikido group I worked with that I was too intent on "punishing" my attacker and that I needed to reconsider my purpose for being the MA. Go figure. The point I am working up to is that to discuss whether some practice approximates another practice or is represented in some way is all well and good to pass the time of day. Where I draw a line is in having a practitioner of one art pass judgement on another art as though the first has somehow identified an ultimate truth of sorts. Here opinionated rambling ends. BTW: RE: film clip; The KOTEGASHI show is clearly the standard Post-WW II version utilizing large circles and a composite of two techniques---- shoulder press and wrist throw--- to accomplish the technique. The technique is practiced in this fashion to avoid localizing stress to the elbow (in the first case) and the wrist (in the second case). The material prior to WW II (see: "Hell Dojo") was extraordinarily tight and focused and is about as close to Modern Hapkido (SEE: CHOI Yong Sul) as you will probably get. IME the Hapkiyusool that I was exposed to at KIM Yun Sang DJN's school was so tightly executed that such escapes as "air-rolls" were out of the question and one was required to simply grimace and take it. FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
Bruce: comments and questions for you... the comment(s)...i got the same thing when i started doing judo. "keep your feet together" where i was keeping it wider because of the way i learned it in hapkido. i also find that hapkido breakfalling is superior...but don't tell that to judo people!! the question...do you find that the circles get smaller with experience? i found that for myself, i started with large circles when trying to do, let's say, a 3-finger, or whatever, technique. as my proficiency has grown, i have found that circles get smaller and smaller. to where now, i can plainly see a difference from how i would apply a technique in a real situation versus how i demonstrate it to a lower belt. i've also noticed that when i correct a lower belt, many times i'm telling them to make the circle smaller. i have an aikido question too...aikido is circular, correct? i mean maybe it's not explicit, like when people talk about hapkido. but i have to think that atemi and other techniques in aikido are implicitly circular, no? so when people say hapkido and aikido are not the same, they're not talking about circular techniques, correct?
Danjun, Well, sorry my answers do not satisfy. Wether you want to believe me or not. I do not lie. I go by my own experience, and my beliefs. I personally had nothing to do with post being removed! As far as Master Allen I don't know. He is is own person. I don't hold his hand, and he does not hold mine. He is my instructor. I do not support everything that he says, however I will support what he teaches, how he teaches it, and the effectiveness of what I have learned from him and GM Jang. I spent some years as a cop, as well as some time in corrections. I have used our techniques more than once and have gotten out of some bad situations. Most of our instructors are miltary/some special forces. Allot of them have used the techniques in battle and might have saved their lives. One of which is now teaching in Mosul Iraq. So you can have your opinion all you want. Now I will address the other. Like I said. I do not deny the fact that we have Aikido influence. First off I do not have a school. I spent 5 years under the direction of Master Allen when I was a D.S.S. Officer for the Department of State, and I was stationed in Florida. Before I could test for my 2nd Dan, I had to return to my home state of VA. Master Allen and GM Jang gave me permission to teach, since I was away from my instructor. I teach at local gyms, parks, and have taught some classes at FT. Belvoir Army Base. The first video is from Master Allen's school, I of course am not in this video. Like we have stated many times. These are the very basic techniques of our system. The techniques use larger circles, and are basic throws etc. There is no use of pressure point application, or tighter circles. Later the stepping gets smaller, and smaller, and the techniques get tighter. Pressure point application is necessary to complete the tighter techniques. I have been to many Hapkido schools, and many Aikido schools, seminars etc. While there are major similarities of what we do like Aikido, I can tell you with out a doubt in my mind there are some major differences in application. You cannot see this from looking at basic techniques. Because the basic techniques use larger circles of course it is going to look allot more like Aikido. In regards to the second video in my opinion Master Allen probably should not have called it "street effective" because it's not what GM Jang was referring to anyway. What he is mainly referring to is not jumping with the technique. Meaning don't do gymnastics with the techniques. Which I'm sure we could all agree many schools do. So on a final note: I cannot speak to why Master Allen chooses to call his website Hapkiyoosool. I mainly believe it is because Hapkiyoosool wwas not an art. It was a collection of techniques that Choi taught. When a basic format was laid down, and the name became Hapkido. At that point it became an art. So maybe he believes what we do , because GM Jang had influence from 3 instructors a collection of techniques/styles. At least this is what I think. It is definetely something hybrid. I would not call it 100% Hapkido, nor would I say it's 100% Aikido. Howver as for me I always tell my students what we do is Hapkido. However I do tell them up front that we have allot more Japanese/Aikido influence than other Hapkido schools. I will however continue to use the name Hapkido because that's what it says on my certificates from the Korean Government. I'm sorry if that offends some of you.
Here is what I have found in my own practice. Whether an art is made up of lines, circles, triangles or whatever what I have found is that regular practice tends to polish off the rough edges resulting in things being done in a more economical fashion. I hold this to be true with all MA. For me, however, the true difference is in the intentions of the practitioner. There are Hapkido people who have plenty of time on the mat but could never bring themselves to do another person bodily harm. I have also known some Aikido and Tai Chi people who are little more than the embodiment of "Nasty". The difference is in the intent and not in the art. I take Hapkido because, like being in the military, once it becomes apparent how easily the Human body can be busted-up it becomes more worthwhile to reflect a bit before automatically reacting. I don't teach knitting classes and I have no illusions about what a well-trained person can do to another. But I think it is up to the individual and not the art to set standards of response. I train in sword to use it as a weapon because thats what a sword is. I train in Hapkido to end the fight in the quickest and most efficient way I can because thats what its about. If I somehow become "transcendent" through either practice it will be icing on the cake.....and I will probably be the last person to know. FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
My vote's for DRAJJ taught by Koreans, from a mindset split of 70/30 for Japanese (Aikido) and Korean (Hapkido). -Kraen
Giovanni, When I was discussing "poor quality", I wasn't referring to the video resolution, editing, sound, angle of shots, etc., - I was talking about the techniques. I do think it's a great idea that others weigh in - I've decided to post links to the videos on the Aikido forum of this site and ask Aikidoka to give their opinion.
