Yo ni tengo idea de Hapkido, ni me interesa mucho, la verdad, pero con tanta controversia (y bastante poca educación muchas veces), buscando por ahí encontré esto (no es de un sitio de Sin Moo):
Controversial Hapkido Frequently Asked Questions:
http://martialarts.about.com/gi/dynamic ... kdfaq.html
Q. Who founded Hapkido?
A. Some sources will say Yong Sool CHOI (1904-1986), some will say Han Jae JI. My answer is Ji, and call Choi the 'father' of Hapkido.
Q. Why would Yong Sool Choi be considered the founder?
A. Because all the branches of Hapkido go back to Choi and Choi was Han Jae JI's primary teacher. Yong Sool CHOI was taken to Japan as a young boy and supposedly became an adopted son of the famous Daito-Ryu Aikijujitsu martial artist Sokaku TAKEDA (1860-1943). He supposedly was with Takeda until Takeda's death, after which Choi returned to Korea and shortly thereafter opened a school.
Q. Why 'supposedly'?
A. Choi always claimed he learned from Takeda, yet none of the Takeda family say they remember him. Takeda kept meticulate records of those he trained down to the level of how much he charged per technique, yet none of the names Choi used appears in the records, and there ARE some Korean names there, including a least one with a teaching license. Choi claimed to have teaching licenses from Takeda, but said they were stolen from him at a train station on his arrival in Korea after Choi's death.
It was common at the time for Korean children to be taken into rich Japanese households as servants. Perhaps Choi was a servant in the household and around (carrying the bags, etc) but not an actual participant in Takeda's seminars. But you would certainly expect the family to remember him. As far as an adopted son, perhaps Choi just looked on Takeda as a father figure and there's been some mistranslation in interviews. But culturally, adoption would be VERY unlikely.
There were other teachers of Daito-ryu aikijujitsu, I think that perhaps Choi was a second generation student of Takeda rather than first generation. Regardless of where and from whom he learned, Choi was a formidable martial artist when he returned to Korea after Takeda's death.
Q. Why would JI be considered the founder?
A. Because Ji came up with the name, added many different things to the art, and is most responsible for the spread of Hapkido. Choi actually directly taught very few people because he always charged very high rates and the training was very severe. Between 70-80% of the Hapkido branches can be traced back to Ji. Choi never taught high, spinning, or jumping kicks; cane, staff, or other weapons; or breathing exercises -- these things were added by Ji. Most new martial arts styles come from some one person studying several different arts under several teachers, merging some things and modifying others, and then teaching the result under a new name. Choi never claimed to have studied with any other teacher than Takeda, and never modified what he taught.
Han Jae JI began martial arts training in 1949 at the age of 13 with Choi in Seoul. He trained for 7 years full time with Choi and then moved to his hometown of Andong, opening a school there (the An Moo Kwan) as a 3rd Dan in 1956. He taught Yoo Kwon Sool there for 9 months, then moving to Seoul and opening a school at a tie factory he called the 'Sung Moo Kwan'. He gained more students and soon was able to teach from a boxing gym. He added techniques to deal with boxing style punches at this time.
JI learned meditation techniques, weapons, and kicking from a man he know as Taoist Lee starting at age 18. He learned more meditation techniques from a lady Taoist monk he knew only as Grandma.
In 1958, Ji moved his school to Joong Boo Shi Jang where he continued teaching until April of 1960. During this period, Ji began to add basic kicking and punching techniques taken from other Korean schools. In 1959 he decided that his system was sufficiently different from Choi's culturally patterned Japanese aiki-jiu jitsu to call it 'Hapkido'.
Into the early 60's, Ji was merging in techniques and modifying his curriculum. A fellow student of Choi's and good friend of Ji's, Moo-Woong KIM, gave input and advice during 8-9 months in 1961 to help finalize the kicking curriculum.
Ji offered Choi use of the name and Choi thereafter trained using 'hapkido' until his death in 1986. Choi continued always with his original teachings, which meant that most of the striking, kicking techniques and weapons techniques were omitted.
para los que le tienen mania.