Excerpted from: Mitchell, David. 1989. The Complete Book of Martial Arts. Hamlyn Publishing.

The name hapkido consists of three Korean characters which mean way of harmony. Hapkido regards itself nowadays as a practical form of self-defence, a vehicle for maintaining the practice of old Korean martial arts traditions, and a combat sport.

History of Hapkido

It might appear at first that Hapkido is no more than a Korean school of aikido - especially since there is no record of hapkido in Korea before the Japanese invasion in 1909. Hapkido techniques have some similarities to aikido but use more locks which work against the joints. It also uses classic jiu jitsu body drops and throwing techniques which indicate that if hapkido is indeed an offshoot of aikido, it is from an early version.

This view is complicated by the uniquely northern Chinese/Korean high circling kicks which have no place in aikido and until the 1960s, no place in karate either. Breaking techniques are also practised and this, again, is another uniquely Korean characteristic. Hapkido involves weapons work, using sword, staff, short sticks and butterfly knives but curiously there is no record of spear forms, though they may have been present in the original tradition. Striking techniques and weapons forms appear, however, to be relatively late additions, rather than core features. Interestingly, there are hapkido schools which have none of these additions and these closely resemble an original aiki jiu jitsu ancestor.

The obvious conclusion is that hapkido derives from both modern and ancient, indigenous and foreign systems. When trying to identify the elements which contributed to present-day hapkido, it is necessary to look for stylistic similarities rather than functional ones. There are only a limited number of ways to attack the wrist, so many different systems have arrived at the same applications of leverage without being connected, but non-functional similarities in what otherwise seem to be distinct arts are evidence of a common origin

Hapkido and aikido use similar mannerisms, particularly in the way the index finger points during grip application. This habit was developed from Japanese aiki jiu jitsu, the forerunner of aikido, where it was believed to channel the flow of living energy known to both Japanese and Koreans as ki. Even though the index finger is not generally used in the classical gripping action of many traditions, it is rare to extend it. A second but less significant similarity is in the usage of the roll-out to dissipate landing force after being thrown.

During the setting up of the Korean Taekwondo Association, hapkido was pressured to join with other schools into one umbrella body. The principals declined to do so and affiliated themselves instead to the Department of Education.