Ok this may sound silly to some of you out there . But I need some insight into the actual enviroment Hapkido grew up in . It was the 1950's ... I cant imagine the 1950's in Korea ...this site ( bless googles heart ) appears to give some good info . While sites like this are pretty , offer me very little in terms of context or history .For some reason when I think Korea in the 50's I have a hard time seeing anything but War and conflict .. both internal and external . It was a very strange time and I would like to talk to people who were there or know something about the times of Hapkido's birth . Not just dates and times and places , but what they ate , what kind of people roamed the streets , shops , and bars ? What did people do in their lives ? What levels of technology where available ? Why would one save money to buy several pigs they then had to take an extra job on to feed (Grandmaster Choi) Where did all these things take place in present North or South Korea (the naming and teaching of early Hapido) ? So many things I want to know .... :bang: I also keep seeing lines drawn from Hapkido to some of the most ... umm interesting ... people in history . Korean Culture in the Mid 1900's (KCS101) ... it should be a course at a college somewhere ... Any links or general info would be greatly appreciated there is alot of info available but most of it seems to be filler of the lowest caliber ... nobody seems to want to talk about Korea without a P.R. firm behind the helm ....
Here's a couple of related books that will provide some insight on Korea and Koreans from the 1950s to the present (I recommend both of them): Michael Breen The Koreans http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_9/104-6359103-6209522?v=glance&s=books Don Oberdorfer Two Koreas http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_2/104-6359103-6209522?v=glance&s=books
Thomas, Which is the first line of the first book you recomended ... The Koreans ..sums up the problems I have been encountering . :bang: But thank you very much for the book links I will go attempt to check out the books from the library . If anyone else has anything to add please feel free ... something tells me I may have to buy this particular pair and I hate to be idle .... I could go do some breathing excersises .... Be well train hard BackFistMonkey
"There is no magic elixir...just hard training..." I think that that is the answer to your underlying question. Anyway...as a 2nd generation Korean Canadian who has talked to his parents and in-laws and grandparents, I can tell you that Korea had nothing after WW2 and the Korean war. No infrastructure. No food. No industry. No technology. This is really hard to fathom unless you have experienced this life firsthand, and my parents rarely talked about life during this period of their life. So people lived day to day, and when people have nothing to do, they end up finding something they can do to get ahead. And one way is to fight. These early HKD masters basically learned and applied HKD 24/7, so it is not surprising that the flowering period of HKD was in the late 50s to mid 60s. And I mean they trained and fought all day, everyday...something very few people can do, let alone as a large group. When Korea began to grow economically, there were other things to do, so less people had the time to spent training and by the 70s, HKD's development stagnated and perhaps in some respects degenerated. This is very simplistic and brief, but I think the gist of why martial arts developed in Korea the way they did is really not so unique a set of circumstances IMHO, just very rare in history... Austin
Why not go to the local college or look up a local GM who was there, tell them what you want and go from there. I'm sure they would feel honored by a sincere attempt to learn more from them. I interviewed both of my grandmothers when they were in their late 90's on what it was like growing up in rural/mountain america in the early 20th century. Fascinating stuff.
rent the movie "Taegukki" which is about the Korean War- it'll give you a cursory idea of what it was like back then, that is if you don't feel like reading. It's a good war flick, you should see it anyway.
I bought The Koreans today , Good book so far . Thank you Thomas austinso I was wondering what enviroment would create such an art like HapKiDo and I was wondering if my ignorant guess was close to reality . From what I have seen learned so far its exactly that ... rough , almost tribal-ish, agriculturaly based economy . And honestly ... an enviroment that is rough tends to be a "magic potion" to those with the abilities to survive and flourish . Very few people who are unchallenged ever reach their potential .... Thank you for your comments . Its easy to see why people dont like talking about the times , some areas where being torn apart by war .. others by industry , and others by their own deeds . And OH!! to have the ability to focus on HapkiDo 24/7 !!!! :bang: :bang: or any Martial Art for that matter . Some times I wanna go live on a rice patty ... Kwajman My Grandmaster has four schools ... three of which are very close together . The Dojang I go to .. is a tad bit off the beaten path * coughs * I havent actually met him yet * coughs again and bites tongue * but ... hopefully he will be helpfull I hear he is a nice guy Rogin * makes note * Taegukki ... ok I will look for it thank you for your help . I love all forms of media ... I am not very discrimant ... Thank you all BackFistMonkey
