Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

296 Korea
nese withdrawal. Moreover, Korean students who had studied in Japanese
universities often returned with knowledge of karate. Korea was devastated
by war, by the occupation, and by its postwar division into Soviet and
American spheres of influence.
The nation, of necessity, retained a military economy, fuelled by the
conflict between North Korea and South Korea. The Korean military supported
the martial arts not only as a method of unarmed combat, but also
as a means of building morale. General Choi Hong-Hi in particular supported
the development of a Korean form of karate, which he named taekwondo
in 1955.
Korean martial arts were also supported by the Korean Yudô College
(now Yong In University), founded in 1953. In 1957 it expanded to a fouryear
institution, and in 1958 it graduated its first yudô instructors. These
professionally trained instructors were responsible for much of the later
commercial success of Korean martial arts around the world.
Various kwan (schools) of karate were opened in Korea after 1945.
These called their art either kongsudô (empty-hand way), tangsudô (Chinese
hands way), or kwonbop (fist method, kenpô in Japanese). Early leaders
included Lee Won-Kuk, Ro Pyong-Chik, Choi Hong-Hi, Chun Sang-
Sup, Yun Pyung-In, and Hwang Ki. Most of these schools taught Japanese
forms up through the 1960s.
A few Koreans stayed in Japan to teach, including Yung Geka, Cho
Hyung-Ju, and Choi Yong-I. Choi Yong-I became the most famous of these,
and he is best known by his Japanese name, Masutatsu Oyama. Oyama was
perhaps the most famous Japanese Karateka (karate practitioner) of the
twentieth century. He founded Kyokushinkai Karate, sometimes known as
Oyama Karate, and became famous for fighting bulls with his bare hands.
After the Chinese Revolution of 1949, many Chinese fled to Korea.
The best known of these instructors taught Praying Mantis kung fu,
changquan (long fist), and baguazhang. They tended to teach only Chinese
students until the 1960s. Eventually, changquan became the most popular
of these systems.
Hapkidô developed in the 1950s and 1960s from Japanese jûjutsu.
Choi Yong-Shul (1904–1986) trained in Daitô-ryû Aikijutsu in Japan before
1945. Following the war, Choi returned to Korea and taught a system
composed of joint locking, striking, and throwing techniques to various
students in Taegu City. Choi used a variety of names for his art, including
Yusul (yielding art), Yukwonsul (“soft fist art”), Kidô (“energy way”), and
finally Hapkidô (coordinated energy way). Choi taught at a school run by
Suh Bok-Sup, an experienced practitioner of yudô. Among his first young
students were Ji Han-Jae and Kim Mu Hyun (also spelled Kim Moo
Woong). Suh, Kim, and Ji all eventually moved to Seoul.