24 Facts About Choi Yong-sool

Choi Yong-sool, alternative spelling Choi Yong-sul, was the founder of the martial art Hapkido.

Choi Yong-sool was born in today's North Chungcheong Province, South Korea and was taken to Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea when he was eight years old.

Choi Yong-sool returned to Korea after the end of World War II and in 1948 began teaching his art at a brewery owned by the father of his first student Seo Bok-seob.

Choi Yong-sool was honored with the titles doju, which can be translated as "Keeper of the way", and changsija, which simply means "founder".

Choi Yong-sool's mother died when he was 2 years old, and his father died sometime after that, leaving Choi in the care of his aunt.

Choi Yong-sool resisted and proved so troublesome to the candymaker that he was abandoned in the streets of Moji, Japan.

Choi Yong-sool made his way to Osaka as a beggar and, after having been picked up by police, was placed in a Buddhist temple which cared for orphans in Kyoto.

Choi Yong-sool spent 2 years at the temple and had a difficult life there, not only in school but with the other children due to his poor Japanese language skills and his Korean ethnicity, which made him stand out in Japan.

Choi Yong-sool is said to have been assigned the Japanese name Asao Yoshida when he was 11 years old, according to a posthumously released interview, or Yoshida Tatujutsu, according to Seo Bok-seob.

Choi Yong-sool says he was taken to Takeda's home and dojo in Akita on Shin Shu mountain where he lived and trained with the master for 30 years.

Kisshomaru Ueshiba, son of Morihei Ueshiba, stated that his father had told him that Choi Yong-sool had attended seminars held by Takeda with his father in Hokkaido and that his father had been Choi Yong-sool's senior.

Choi Yong-sool apparently contacted Kisshomaru upon hearing the news of Morihei's death.

In 1948, after becoming involved in an altercation with several men in a dispute over grain at the Seo Brewing Company, the son of the chairman of the brewery, Seo Bok-seob, was so impressed by his self-defense skills that Seo invited Choi Yong-sool to teach the brewery's employees at a makeshift dojang that Seo had created on the premises for that purpose.

Later Choi Yong-sool became a bodyguard to Seo's father, who was an important congressman in Daegu.

In 1958, Choi Yong-sool opened up his own school using the shortened name Hapkido for the first time.

Apparently Choi Yong-sool taught people on his farm during the early years of the art and it was in this way that Ji Han-jae, one of the great exponents of the art, came to learn from Choi Yong-sool.

In 1963, Choi Yong-sool became the first Chairman of the Korea Kido Association and appointed one of his most senior students, Kim Jeong-yoon as secretary general.

Doju Choi Yong-sool made a special trip to the United States in 1982, several years prior to his death, to visit his highest ranked instructor Chinil Chang in New York City and to preside over the creation of the US Hapkido Association.

Master Mike Wollmershauser, who was the only American to have trained under Choi Yong-sool himself, documented part of this historic visit on videotape, which is in the hands of Doju Chinil Chang.

Choi Yong-sool wished to keep his original system intact and for the lineage to be passed in a complete manner to his successor, which he accomplished.

One can only speculate as to why Choi Yong-sool's name is not on the otherwise meticulous records.

Choi Yong-sool left the full documentation and recordings of the system to Chang, who continued to research and document the full history and development of Hapkido.

Furthermore, the future Grandmaster, who was a personally trained, closed-door disciple of Choi Yong-sool, was given Letter of Appointment certificates, the second dated December 1,1977 and the third dated March 5,1980.

Black Belt Magazine, respecting Chinil Chang as the second lineage successor, asked him to write a brief obituary on Choi Yong-sool that appeared in the April 1987 issue.