9 November 1904|
|Died||15 June 1986(aged 81)|
|Other names||Choi Yong-Sul, Yoshida Asao|
|Notable students||Chinil Chang, 10th dan/Successor
|Notable school(s)||Daehan Hapki YuKwonSool Dojang|
|Revised Romanization||Choi Yong-sul|
Choi Yong-sool (Hangul: 최용술; November 9, 1904 – June 15, 1986), alternative spelling Choi Yong-sul, was the founder of the martial art hapkido. He was born in today's Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea, and was taken to Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea when he was eight years old. Choi later claimed that he became a student of Takeda Sōkaku, and studied a form of jujutsu known as Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu (大東流合気柔術) while in Japan; this is disputed due to the historically tense relationship between the two sides and lack of clear documentary evidence.
Choi returned to Korea after the end of the World War II and in 1948 began teaching his art at a brewery owned by the father of his first student Seo Bok-Seob (Hangul: 서복섭; Suh Bok-Sub). He first called his art "Yu Sul (Hangul: 유술)" or "Yawara (Hangul: 야와라; 柔術)" later changing it to "Yu Kwon Sool (Hangul: 유권술; 柔拳術)" and "Hap Ki Yu Kwon Sool (Hangul: 합기 유권술; 合氣柔拳術)" and eventually Hapkido.
Choi Yong-Sool was honored with the titles doju (Hangul: 도주; 道主), which can be translated as "Keeper of the way", and changsija (Hangul: 창시자; 創始者), which simply means "founder". The arts of Hapkido, modern Hwa Rang Do, Kuk Sool Won, as well as lesser known arts such as Han Pul all show influence of the teachings of Master Choi.
According to Choi he was abducted from his home village of Yong Dong in Chungcheongbuk-do in 1912 by a Japanese sweet merchant named Morimoto who had lost his own sons and wished to adopt Choi. Choi resisted and proved so troublesome to the candymaker that he abandoned him in the streets of Moji, Japan. Choi 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. The abbot of the temple was a monk named Wantanabe Kintaro.
Choi 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. Apparently due to the boy's tendency of getting into fights and his intense interest in the temples murals depicting war scenes, when asked by Watanabe what direction that he wished for his life to take he expressed interest in the martial arts.
The temple monk (Wantanabe Kintaro) was reputedly a friend of Takeda Sōkaku, the founder of the Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu system, which is a Japanese martial arts system emphasizing empty handed methods based upon the sword styles and jujutsu tactics in which Takeda was an expert. Takeda Sōkaku is also famous for having taught Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido.
The next portion of the story is quite controversial in Daito-ryu circles, but is claimed by many contemporary hapkidoists, and is attributed to Choi in a posthumously released interview reputed to have taken place during a visit Choi made to the United States in 1980.
In the interview, Choi says to have been adopted by Takeda Sokaku when he was 11 years old and was given the Japanese name, Yoshida Asao (吉田朝男). He says to have been taken to Takeda's home and dojo in Akita on Shin Shu mountain where he lived and trained with the master for 30 years. The interview also asserts that he traveled with him as a teaching assistant, that he was employed to catch war deserters and that he was the only student to have a complete understanding of the system taught by Takeda.
Other sources place Choi as a servant in the Takeda household, while still others assert that he merely attended some of Takeda's seminars. Kisshomaru Ueshiba, son of Morihei Ueshiba, stated that his father had told him that Choi had attended seminars held by Takeda with his father in Hokkaidō and that his father had been Choi's senior. Choi apparently contacted Kisshomaru upon hearing the news of Morihei's death.
Regardless of the circumstances of Choi's marti