So anyone tried Hankido?

Discussion in 'Hapkido' started by furinkazan, Jun 21, 2015.

  1. furinkazan

    furinkazan Valued Member

    I've been looking at heading to south korea at some point. I found theres a place that teaches Hapkido, Hankido and Hankumdo. This place

    http://www.sangmookwan.com/training/

    I've got to say Im intrigued by everything on offer. Hankido being compared to Aikido and Aikijujutsu has me. I did fancy Aikido at one point but the only guy in my remote area was not someone I could take seriously as an instructor.

    Being from a bujinkan basis in my training, Hapkido looks quite familiar as well, and of course, theres Hankumdo's sword art. Im honestly thinking of going.
     
  2. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    You should ideally train in something, make sure you enjoy it, and then travel and train in it intensively.

    Otherwise you'll get there and realise you're wasting your time and money.
     
  3. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Sangmookwan is a good option - infrequent poster KlaasB is one of the guys who helped set it up and provides support.They have a couple of high quality DVDs for sale that are very good. Klaas has posted a ton of videos on youtube as well. You can get a pretty good view of just about everything they do.

    That said, I learned a 'bit' of Hankido when I was in Korea (1997-2001). I studied Hapkido under a IHF school. The IHF under GM Myeong Jae-nam lineage taught Hapkido (he had been a student of GM Ji Han-jae). In the early days, cross pollination with Japan was a big no-no, by GM Myeong was intrigued that Hapkido and Aikido shared the same Hanja (Chinese character), so he dug into it.

    Even though many people didn't want to have the old Aikijujutsu/Hapkido/Aikido connection brought up, he did and even ended up sponsoring some Aikido/Hapkido cross training/good relationship building. In the course of his studies, he became intrigued with Aikido... I would imagine seeing a different set of applications and ideas built from the same roots must have been cool. Eventually he built a martial art based on some of the commonalities (Hankido). He did some really creative stuff too... such as creating a Hapkido/Hankido dance routine and teaching sword cuts based on Hangeul writing system. Neat stuff

    Forgive my butchering of history above, but the end result (Hankido) is very cool. If anyone is interested in a more precise history lesson, I'd suggest you contact Klaas

    When I studied Hankido early on, we started mostly with a set of solo or two-person drills to do the basic techniques. There were 12 basic techniques and students learned to apply and to receive each one (and had an accompanying solo and 2 person drill with each one).

    Eventually, as I understand the idea was, a student would take those techniques and apply them to self defense scenarios through free style sparring. The concept, in my limited understanding, is that in a self defense situation that you use footwork and parrying/grabbing/whatever to steer the opponent into whichever of those 12 techniques work best... it's like having 12 "go-to" techniques that you train to apply everything to.

    When I studied it, our school was just in the process of making it offered as a separate art (and I don't recall very many people with 'Hankido' ranks back then... it's grown quite a bit since then). Nowadays, in my opinion, the IHF has backed off quite a bit from the 'Hapkido' and offers a lot more Hankido. Students still learn the 12 techniques and the solo forms but also do breakfalls, sparring (more like 'Randori'), and so on.

    I've been able to share some Hankido with an Aikidoka that trains with us. He sees the similarities to Aikido but has noted that there seems to much less 'caring for the uke' and lot more 'abrupt' techniques. It really seems to be a nice blend of Hapkido and Aikido.

    That said, Hankido has not been promoted as any sort of super special self defense or MMA training... it's usually promoted as a sophisticated martial art with a mix of hard and soft techniques, great footwork and falling, and such. I think students learn a lot about 'themselves' (as cliche as that sounds) through understanding how their breathing and movement affects opponents as well as their own bodies.

    The Sangmookwan is headed by GM Ko Baek-yong. By all accounts, he is a humble and extremely skilled instructor who spends a lot of time on the mats. And, he is known to have some great instructors that he has trained. In my opinion, it'd be well worth the time to train there.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2015
  4. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    I reckon you should have one thread where you can ask us all about individual styles until you pick one. I wouldn't mind personally. I'd be more than willing to help xD
     
  5. furinkazan

    furinkazan Valued Member

    Would that be under the general board?
     
  6. Prizewriter

    Prizewriter Moved on

    +1 on this.

    Are you actually training in anything at the moment furinkazan?
     
  7. furinkazan

    furinkazan Valued Member

    Goju Ryu mainly.

    Most of my questions over the last few months is a mix of interest in knowledge and the fact that Im planning some globe trotting in the near future (think my own 'Fight Quest' if youve seen the show. I also had a period of browsing different styles after my long standing dojo shut, but I still like to learn about things and keep track of whats what.
     
  8. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Any other questions on Hankido?
     
  9. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Maybe train in something that's found worldwide, that way your trips will lead to long term training and not just a cool holiday.
     
  10. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Good Stuff! Just needs a title thread and you're good to go:

    "Furinkazan and his interest in the arts"
     
  11. klaasb

    klaasb ....

    Hi Furinkazan,

    I have spend many hours on the mat at Sangmukwan and it is a great place to learn traditional martial arts. I spent two years fulltime in Korea back in 2004/5 and still return frequently.
    Master Ko moved back to Incheon last year and the new facility is much spacier than the one in Seoul.
     
  12. furinkazan

    furinkazan Valued Member

    So I understand it's quite similar to Aikido. Does it have any short or long forms, or does it work on a technique and application basis?
     
  13. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Now that Klaas is here, he will be much better able than me to answer questions. My knowledge is quite limited.

    From my experience, there were no actual "forms" (or patterns) in Hankido (although there were in the Hapkido I studied). The techniques themselves are taught in such a way that they look like little 'mini-forms' and you can work them on your own or with a partner... but each one really only contains one technique instead of a string of techniques.

    This video shows the techniques - keep in mind that he is going through a series of individual ones (they don't have to be done together... you can do each individually)
    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0AHK-v6Xr0"]Hankido: Jeonhwan Cheongibeop and Jigibeop - YouTube[/ame]

    This one shows the 12 techniques as well (although you can't really tell that his uke should be using the other half of the technique to 'receive')
    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAscnAaMRk8"]HANKÄ°DO 12 Temel Teknik - YouTube[/ame]

    Overview of techniques with a partner
    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fs3AjTeBr8"][ìƒë¬´ê´€] Overview of Hankido techniques - YouTube[/ame]

    GM Myeong Jae-nam demonstrating the use of the techniques and footwork in a variety of attacks (slow and faster)
    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uY2ILXqyZc"]Hankido founder Myung Jae-nam kuksanim in 1996 (old VHS tape) - YouTube[/ame]
     
  14. klaasb

    klaasb ....

    Myung Jae-nam, the founder of hankido, met with a Japanese aikido sensei in the 1960's. I don't think he ever had much aikido training. What I understood from master Ko Baek-yong is that Hirata sensei would maybe pop by once a month to train a bit for a few years or so. For as far as I know Myung Jae-nam never received any grade in aikido but for a few years he was the representative of the aikikai in Korea. In one of his early books a picture of Morihei Uesiba is shown.
    So yes, there is a link with aikido, but not to the point where you if you train one you could easily switch to the other. Hankido techniques focus more on disabling the opponent instead of letting him return until he has had enough. (sorry if I am over generalizing here).
    Hankido also still has all the kicks and strikes that traditional hapkido has. Master Ko's favorite kick is the side kick so you will see a lot of that :D

    Master Ko Baek-yong always had a great interest in Chinese soft martial arts like Bagua and Taichi. His son is a certified Chen-style Taichi instructor. Master Ko has brought the sophistication these systems bring to his hankido instruction.
    Chances are big you will get to learn some basic 'kung fu'-forms as an added bonus.

    All in all he teaches a very well thought out traditional program that focuses on principles and understanding of tactics and not as much on learning a huge number of techniques. Quite often the link to practical application is practiced as well.

    What I am trying to say is: if this is the kind of instruction you are after, you will enjoy it a lot.
     

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