The local martial arts studio near me offers a style of Hapkido that the instructor learned in Panama during his military years by its founder. I was just wondering if anyone had heard of it and if so tell me a little about it.
Tough to say - best way to get more info would be to ask the instructor what the lineage is for his system (who did he learn from, who is the head of the system) and then search that way.
From what I understand or could find, it is a style from Panama started by song park il. Who was a student of ji Han jae. Sorry I don't know who these folks are. I'm a newbie.
I pulled up a few pages from a google search... looks pretty cool. The connection to Ji Han Jae Dojunim seems good. You might ask the local instructor who he (or she) studied under (Was it Master Park Song-il or one of his students) and for how long. Who does s/he study under now? Seems like a legit group and could be very fun to train under that lineage - I would recommend trying a few classes and see if you like it.
Song Moo Kwan was the name of Ji Han-jae's gym in Seoul. So I would guess they teach a common hapkido style. Falling, strikes, kicks, joint locks, throws, some weapons. Pretty much what you would expect from a hapkido gym.
This is very late reply, but just in case anyone else would like to know. Grandmaster Park from Panama is the teacher of Nestor Jimenez who has studied Hapkido for over 24 years and is a 6th degree BB. GM Park did study under Ji Han Jae and it is a very progressive style of Hapkido . GM Park is always innovating new techniques and ideas. We also study under GM Kim in Jin Jung Kwan Hapkido, and he also studied under Ji Han Jae but his style is very traditional and he is out of Houston.
Although they are legit, Han-Jae Ji style of Hapkido is Sin Moo (pronounced shin moo), so probably a spin off style, the traditional Hapkido styles can be reckonised by the first technique taught is live hand.
