page_title: Choi Yong-sool
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Choi Yong-sool / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Takeda Sokaku, who is the founder of Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu. 日本語: 武田惣角Українська: Такеда Сокаку. Майстер японських бойових мистецтв, засновник айкідзюцу, попередника айкідо. Один із найвидатніших вчителів будо сучасності.
context_page_description: Choi Yong-sool, 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 stated that he became a student of Takeda Sōkaku, and studied a form of jujutsu known as Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu while in Japan. This is disputed by some parties, due to the historically acrimonious relationship between Japan and Korea, and lack of clear documentary evidence.
  Choi 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. He first called his art "Yu Sul" or "Yawara" later changing it to "Yu Kwon Sool" and "Hap Ki Yu Kwon Sool" and eventually Hapkido.
  Choi Yong-Sool was honored with the titles doju, which can be translated as "Keeper of the way", and changsija, 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.
context_section_description: It is generally accepted that Choi was born in the year 1904, although some sources place his birth in 1899. Confusion about his age stem from a combination of being orphaned, delays in registering newborns with the government (common in impoverished Korea) and the way in which age is reckoned in Korea. His mother died when he was 2 years old, and his father died sometime after that, leaving Choi in the care of his aunt. 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 was abandoned 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. When Watanabe asked Choi what direction that he wished for his life to take he expressed interest in the martial arts. This matched the boy's temperament: Choi had a tendency to get into fights and he had an intense interest in the war scenes depicted in the temple's murals.
  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. Later Takeda Sōkaku would also famously teach Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido.
  During the Japanese occupation of Korea, all Koreans working in Japan were required to take on a Japanese name. Choi is said to have been assigned the Japanese name Asao Yoshida (吉田朝男) when he was 11 years old, according to a posthumously released interview, or Yoshida Tatujutsu, according to Seo Bok-Seob. Choi 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. The interview also asserts that: Choi traveled with Takeda as a teaching assistant, Choi led Takeda's demonstration team that presented in Hawaii (circa 1932), Choi was employed to catch war deserters, and that Choi was the only student to have a complete understanding of the system taught by Takeda. Note that Choi's claim to having studied under Takeda is quite controversial in Daito-ryu circles, but is nevertheless quoted by many contemporary hapkidoists.
  Other sources place Choi as a mere servant in the Takeda household, while still others assert that Choi had no connection to Takeda beyond attending 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 martial arts training, he returned to Korea after World War II and settled in Daegu, first selling sweets and later raising hogs. 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 to teach the brewery's employees at a makeshift dojang that Seo had created on the premises for that purpose. In this way, Seo Bok-seob became Choi Yong-sool's first student. Later Choi became a bodyguard to Seo's father, who was an important congressman in Daegu.
caption: Retouched photograph of Takeda Sōkaku circa 1888
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