Choi Yong-sool

Doju Chang died in his sleep on February 23, 2018 at the age of 77 as a result of Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease.

In 2013, Doju Chang was teaching a small group in NYC dedicated to the preservation of Hapkido, after previously maintaining a commercial school for decades, as well as a stint teaching Hapkido at the United Nations. Many detractors have spread endless conjecture about him. One lineage created further controversy by stating Choi passed the system to his only son, Choi Bok-Yeol, which is incorrect, misleading, and insulting to the legacy and wishes of Choi. Black Belt Magazine, respecting Chinil Chang as the second lineage successor, asked him to write a brief obituary on Choi that appeared in the April 1987 issue.

A direct student of Choi, Chinil Chang inherited the title of Doju in Choi's personal and complete system of Hapkido on January 15, 1985, becoming the second direct lineage Grandmaster.

On April 5, 1985 Choi personally awarded Chang the only existing 10th Dan certificate in Hapkido history. Chang also had the privilege and honor of being the first Hapkido master awarded the 9th Dan certificate by Choi in 1980.

A large inauguration ceremony followed on April 11, 1985. The historic event was covered and documented by Korea Sports News and MBC Korean Television. Choi Young-sool, Chang, and Choi's son, the late Choi Bok-Yeol, were in attendance. Chang is the only Hapkido master ever awarded the 10th Dan and Doju title directly from Choi. Choi left the full documentation and recordings of the system to Chang, who continued to research and document the full history and development of Hapkido.

Doju Choi made a special trip to the United States in 1982, several years prior to his death, to visit his highest ranked instructor Chinil Chang in New York City and to preside over the creation of the US Hapkido Association. Master Mike Wollmershauser, who was the only American to have trained under Choi Yong-sool himself, documented part of this historic visit on videotape, which is in the hands of Doju Chinil Chang. Doju Choi's final wishes were to spread Hap Ki Do all over the world as well as to unite the art as one family, although Doju Choi had realized at that point that the system had splintered into too many political and warring factions for that to ever happen. He also wished to keep his original system intact and for the lineage to be passed in a complete manner to his successor, which he accomplished. Master Wollmershauser attempted to spread this word of unity throughout the world until his death in December 2002. Doju Chang maintains the integrity and purpose of his mission while continuing to teach his students as he has since arriving in the United States decades ago.

The source of the name Hapkido is also disputed. Choi Yong-Sool's student, Ji Han-Jae, claims to have coined the name for the art. Seo Bok-Seob states in a 1980 interview that Jung Moo Kwan first used the term to refer to the art as well as introducing the symbol of the eagle to represent the art.

Furthermore, the future Grandmaster, who was a personally trained, closed-door disciple of Choi, was given Letter of Appointment certificates, the second dated December 1, 1977 and the third dated March 5, 1980. This gave Chang more progressive power and authority in Choi's Hapkido Association. These specific certificates, along with his 9th Dan ranking in 1980, and 10th Dan ranking in 1985, amply demonstrate that Choi was grooming Chang to be the future Grandmaster of Hapkido.

In 1963, Choi became the first Chairman of the Korea Kido Association (Daehan Ki Do Hwe; Korean: 대한 기도회; Hanja: 大韓氣道會) and appointed one of his most senior students, Kim Jeong-Yoon (Korean: 김정윤; also rendered Kim Jung-Yun) as secretary general. Later, Kim separated from the hapkido organizations to form his own Han Pul Hapkido organization, although his art remains firmly based in the teachings of Choi Yong-sool. Another prominent top student who became crucial to the survival of Doju Choi's full system was Chinil Chang, the personally chosen second Doju (Grandmaster) and the only man awarded the 10th Dan and the title of Doju directly from Doju Choi.

In 1951, Choi and Seo opened up the Daehan Hapki Yu Kwon Sool Dojang (Korean: 대한 합기 유권술 도장; Hanja: 大韓合氣柔拳術道場), the first formal school to teach the art. In 1958 Choi Yong-sool opened up his own school using the shortened name Hapkido for the first time. Both schools were located in Daegu. Some of the more important students from this period of time were Kim Moo-Hong (Korean: 김무홍) and Moon Jong-Won (Korean: 문종원). Apparently Choi also taught people on his farm during the early years of the art and it was in this way that Ji Han-Jae (Korean: 지한재), one of the great exploiters of the art, came to learn from Choi.

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.

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. While Kondo Katsuyuki (current head of the mainline Daito Ryu) has released a page from Takeda Sokaku's eimeiroku that confirms that Choi Yong Sul did in fact study with him briefly, some scholars believe it is likely that Choi received most of his training in Daito Ryu from Yoshida Kotaro.

Choi Yong-sool (Korean: 최용술; Hanja: 崔龍述; November 9, 1904 – June 15, 1986), alternative spelling Choi Yong-sul, was the founder of the martial art Hapkido (Hangul: 합기도; hanja: 合氣道). 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 (大東流合気柔術) while in Japan. 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 (Korean: 서복섭; Suh Bok-Sub). He first called his art "Yu Sul (Korean: 유술)" or "Yawara (Korean: 야와라; 柔術)" later changing it to "Yu Kwon Sool (Korean: 유권술; 柔拳術)" and "Hap Ki Yu Kwon Sool (Korean: 합기 유권술; 合氣柔拳術)" and eventually Hapkido.

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.