HOW TO CREATE A MARTIAL ART CASE STUDY: COMBAT HAPKIDO

On October 22, 2022, the International Combat Hapkido Federation celebrated its 30th anniversary. As you might expect, we're proud of our organization's longevity, stability and success.

- JOHN PELLEGRINI

With hundreds of martial arts schools, military bases and law-enforcement departments teaching our system, in addition to our many magazine cover appearances and hall-of-fame inductions, we have good reason to celebrate.

Many martial artists I've met have expressed interest in creating their own system, so I thought I'd review the history of the ICHF to let everyone know how the process unfolded for us.

Many people hold the naive - and mistaken - assumption that the founders of martial arts systems receive a sudden inspiration akin to a mystical experience. Reality is not that glamorous. The creation of a system involves years of hard work, sacrifice, research and difficult choices. No one wakes up one morning and casually declares, “I am going to make a new martial art!” (Well, some people probably do, but they usually lack credibility.)

The process of founding a style or system is painstaking, demanding and complex. It’s an endeavor that requires creativity, commitment, discipline, humility and strong technical knowledge. And it’s always rooted in a profound understanding of the original art. Yes, at the root of every new style lies an “original art” that’s been modified, refined, modernized and used as a foundation or framework.

Hapkido is a Korean martial art reportedly founded in 1948 by Yong-sool Choi (1904– 1986). He lived in Japan for more than 30 years, which is where he received his training in the respected system known as daito-ryu aikijujitsu under its headmaster Sogaku Takeda (1859–1943).