Editing Hapkido (section)

=== Choi Yong-sool ===
{{Main|Choi Yong-sool}}
[[File:Choi Yong-sool portrait 888.jpg|thumb|right|Master Choi Yong-sool (c.&nbsp;1954)]]

Choi Yong-sool (최용술)'s <ref name="Choi Yong-sul">{{cite web|title=Choi Yong-sul|url=https://www.ushapkido.com/choiyong.htm}}</ref> training in martial arts is a subject of contention. It is known that Choi was sent to [[Japan]] as a young boy and returned to [[Korea]] with techniques characteristic of [[Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu]], a forerunner of aikido.

The subsequent history is quite controversial in Daitō-ryū circles but is claimed by many contemporary hapkido-ists and is attributed to Choi in an interview that took place during a trip Choi made to the [[United States]] in 1980 to visit his direct lineage successor Chin-il Chang in New York City.<ref name="rimshapkido.com">{{cite web
 |last=Sheya 
 |first=Joseph K. 
 |title=Historical Interview: Hapkido Grandmaster Choi, Yong-sool (1904–1986) 
 |publisher=Rim's Hapkido 
 |year=1982 
 |url=http://www.rimshapkido.com/ysc.html 
 |access-date=2007-03-17 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403060400/http://www.rimshapkido.com/ysc.html 
 |archive-date=2007-04-03 
}}</ref> In the interview with Chin-il Chang, Choi claimed to have been adopted by [[Takeda Sōkaku]] when he was 11 years old and to have been given the [[Japanese language|Japanese]] name Yoshida Asao. He claims to have been taken to Takeda's home and [[dojo]] in [[Akita Prefecture|Akita]] on Shin Shu mountain where he lived and trained with the master for 30 years. The interview also asserts that he travelled 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.<ref name="rimshapkido.com"/>

This is contradicted by other claims asserting that Choi was simply a worker in the home of Takeda. The meticulous enrollment and fee records of Tokimune Takeda, Takeda's eldest son and Daitō-ryū's successor, do not seem to include Choi's name among them. Therefore, except for claims made by Choi himself, there is little evidence that Choi was the adopted son of Takeda. Kondo Katsuyuki (current head of the mainline Daito Ryu) has however released a page from Takeda Sokaku's eimeiroku that contains Choi Yong-sul's name.<ref name="join-usama.com">[http://www.join-usama.com/blog/confirmation-of-hapkidos-connection-to-daito-ryu Hapkido's Connection to Daito Ryu confirmed]</ref>

[[File:Takeda Sokaku.jpg|thumb|200px|Retouched photograph of the master of Daito Ryu Aiki-jujutsu [[Takeda Sōkaku]] (c.&nbsp;1888)]]

[[Stanley Pranin]], then of Aiki News and now editor of the Aikidojournal.com, asked [[Kisshomaru Ueshiba]] about Choi Yong-sool and hapkido:

{{Centered pull quote|'''On another subject, it is true that a Korean named "Choi" who founded hapkido studied aikido or Daito-ryu?'''
I don't know what art it was but I understand that there was a young Korean of about 17 or 18 who participated in a seminar of Sokaku Takeda Sensei held in [[Asahikawa|Asahikawa City]] in [[Hokkaidō]]. It seems that he studied the art together with [[Morihei Ueshiba|my father]] and would refer to him as his "senior".

'''If that's the case the art must have been Daito-ryu.'''

I've heard that this man who studied Daito-ryu had some contact with my father after that. Then he returned to Korea and began teaching Daito-ryu on a modest scale. The art gradually became popular and many Koreans trained with him. Since aikido became popular in Japan he called his art hapkido [written in Korean with the same characters as aikido]. Then the art split into many schools before anyone realized it. This is what my father told me. I once received a letter from this teacher after my father's death.<ref>{{cite journal
 |last=Pranin 
 |first=Stanley 
 |title=Interview with Kisshomaru Ueshiba: The Early Days of Aikido 
 |journal=Aiki News 
 |volume=77 
 |date=April 1988 
 |url=http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=445 
 |access-date=2006-12-03 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060704102544/http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=445 
 |archive-date=2006-07-04 
}}</ref>}}

While Kondo Katsuyuki has released documentation from Takeda Sokaku's eimeiroku that confirms that Choi Yong-sul did in fact study with him for a short time, some scholars believe it is likely that Choi received most of his training in Daito Ryu from [[Kōtarō Yoshida (martial artist)|Yoshida Kotaro]].<ref name="join-usama.com"/>

Choi Yong-sool's first student, and the man whom some claim helped him develop the art of hapkido was Seo Bok-seob, a Korean [[judo]] black belt when they met. Some of Choi's other respected senior students are: Chinil Chang, Lim Hyun-soo, Ji Han-Jae, Chung Kee-tae, Kim Moo-hong, and arguably [https://lady.khan.co.kr/issue/article/5614 Suh In-hyuk] ({{Korean|서인혁}}) and Lee Joo-bang ({{Korean|이주방}}) who went on to form the arts of [[Kuk Sool Won]] and modern [[Hwa Rang Do]] respectively (though some argue that their training stems from time spent training under Kim Moo-hong).