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Old 07-11-2003, 02:10 AM   #6
Clayton Drescher
 
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Dojo: Beach Cities Aikido
Location: Long Beach, CA
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 72
United_States
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Well Louis,

I got my 9th Kub in hapkido in May after about 4 months of training...so I'm no expert, but the course (I took it as a PE course at the University of Texas) was entitled Self-Defense/Hapkido. Our instructor, a 10th Dan in hapkido, called the forms we learned "self-defence" technique 1, 2, etc. Hapkido is very similar to aikido in many ways, I believe it was developed by a Korean gentleman who spent some time training in Japan earlier in the 20th century. It also has certain Korean aspects, punches and kicks, and was much more sharp, short, and "brutal" feeling....in my opinion as a hapkido-turned-aikido newbie. A sensei at my dojo teaches a style of aikido which felt very similar to the hapkido escapes and pins i learned in aikido so I think there is definitely some crossover. In hapkido you will definitely learn more strikes than you ever would in aikido which might be more "useful" in a self-defense situation.

My personal opinion is that after taking these two martial arts for the past 7 months or so I feel much more confident in a self-defense-type situation just because I now have a much much better notion of how to move MY body in relation with an attacker's even if I may not be able to remember any complex techniques off-hand....nobody can hang on to my wrist or bear hug me from behind that I don't want to anymore. I may not be able to do much more beyond get out of that position and throw a kick their way, but that's 100times better than struggling and not getting away.

Good luck finding a hapkido dojo, I know a good one in Austin if you're interested

Clayton
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