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Author: Bret Gordon
For decades, the stories of Choi Yong Sul's training with Takeda Sokaku in Daito Ryu have been the subject of countless disputes. I've heard numerous versions of this so-called history, with everything ranging from Choi being the adopted son of Takeda to being just a simple houseboy. Some renditions emphasize they didn't know each other at all. What is indisputable is that when Choi returned to Korea following the end of the Japanese occupation, he was a formidable martial artist whose reputation grew quickly.
But where did his martial prowess come from? A technical analysis of Choi's teaching certainly shows similarities to Daito Ryu technique, but Takeda Sokaku was notorious for keeping meticulous records of every student he taught. Who can blame him when over the course of his career, he taught an estimated 30,000 students, many of whom were heads of other martial arts? He felt his art of Daito Ryu was proprietary and wanted a way to ensure those who trained with him wouldn't take what they learned back to their schools and pass them off as information that had been there already. It has been generally accepted that Choi Yong Sul did not appear anywhere in Takeda's records, nor did his alleged Japanese name "Yoshida Asao." It has been suggested that he was intentionally omitted because he was Korean, but other Koreans (such as Jang In Mok) appear in official Daito Ryu records so that's not a valid excuse. How then, can we reconcile that with his claims of studying with Takeda?For decades, the stories of Choi Yong Sul's training with Takeda Sokaku in Daito Ryu have been the subject of countless disputes. I've heard numerous versions of this so-called history, with everything ranging from Choi being the adopted son of Takeda to being just a simple houseboy. Some renditions emphasize they didn't know each other at all. What is indisputable is that when Choi returned to Korea following the end of the Japanese occupation, he was a formidable martial artist whose reputation grew quickly. But where did his martial prowess come from? A technical analysis of Choi's teaching certainly shows similarities to Daito Ryu technique, but Takeda Sokaku was notorious for keeping meticulous records of every student he taught. Who can blame him when over the course of his career, he taught an estimated 30,000 students, many of whom were heads of other martial arts? He felt his art of Daito Ryu was proprietary and wanted a way to ensure those who trained with him wouldn't take what they learned back to their schools and pass them off as information that had been there already. It has been generally accepted that Choi Yong Sul did not appear anywhere in Takeda's records, nor did his alleged Japanese name "Yoshida Asao." It has been suggested that he was intentionally omitted because he was Korean, but other Koreans (such as Jang In Mok) appear in official Daito Ryu records so that's not a valid excuse. How then, can we reconcile that with his claims of studying with Takeda? 
In what is sure to make the entire Hapkido world celebrate, Kondo Katsuyuki (current head of the mainline Daito Ryu) released the following page from Takeda Sokaku's eimeiroku that confirms that Choi Yong Sul did in fact study with him. There are some kanji I can't make out, but the text generally says:
崔龍述 昭和十七年八月六日ヨリ八月十五日迠拾日間 小樽市色内町三自九(.......)地旅敆業渡辺金大郎 氏宅ニ於テ武田大先生ニ就キ大東流合気柔 術ニ御教授相候受也 "Dai Sensei Takeda Sokaku in an intense journey through Ironai Otaru, while living in the Mr. Kintaro Watanabe's home taught Choi Yong Sul for 10 days from 6 to 15 August 1942." So there it is, in black and white, that Choi Yong Sul trained with Takeda Sokaku. But this brings up more questions than answers. It shows that Choi attended a 10-day seminar, as was Takeda's preferred teaching method, but surely he had more than 10 days of training. No one is that naturally gifted to go from zero to mastery in just 10 days, regardless of how rigorous the training was. So where, then, did Choi receive the majority of his training? 
In my opinion, it is most likely Choi trained with Yoshida Kotaro. Yoshida is well-known in Daito Ryu circles as the man who introduced Ueshiba Morihei, the founder of Aikido, to Takeda Sokaku. He is also the father of Yoshida Kenji, who emigrated to the United States and passed on his family's art of Shidare Yanagi Ryu to Don Angier. Yoshida Kotaro is one of two Daito Ryu instructors, the other being Matsuda Toshimi, who actively trained Korean students. Yoshida's most prominent Korean student is none other than Oyama Masutatsu, founder of Kyokushin Karate.
In addition to Yoshida's public acceptance of Korean students, I think the most compelling evidence is Choi's alleged Japanese name. It would be highly irregular for Choi to be adopted into the Takeda family and not given the surname Takeda. Yoshi (adopted sons) are a very common tradition in Japanese martial arts, and they are always given the family name of the instructor to carry on their legacy as a "blood" relative. Therefore, if there is truth to the story of Choi becoming an adopted son of a Daito Ryu master, tradition would dictate the family name was Yoshida. 
So why the mix up? In Japan, it was not uncommon that if you had trained with two instructors of the same art, you would claim the more famous or high ranking of the two as your instructor even if only for short time. By claiming Takeda Sokaku as his instructor, considering his position as the head of Daito Ryu, Choi was simply following tradition.
Over the course of his nearly 40 year teaching career, Choi taught numerous students. It is in those students we truly find the evidence of Choi's connection to Daito Ryu. In Aiki Jujutsu, it is generally accepted that aiki (hapki in Korean) is one of those skills that can only be learned through hands-on instruction. Therefore, if you "have it," it came from somewhere. It is not something that can be replicated by watching. So the question is then... Did Choi have it? Judging by the demonstrations by his long-term first generation students, not the ones who only stuck around for a few years and then filled the "holes" in their training with acrobatics, the answer is yes. For example, see this demo by Kim Yun Sang, awarded the Doju title directly by Choi's family and given permission by Choi himself to use his name as the name of his school - Yong Sul Kwan.
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck... Any experienced Aiki Jujutsu instructor will recognize the distinctive reactions from Kim's uke. We can argue about his level of refinement all day long, but aiki is aiki. And what Kim displays is aiki. Plain and simple. The very fact he can demonstrate such material is proof of having a connection to the source, and unless we learn that he had some secret Daito Ryu teacher no one's ever heard of, that connection is Choi Yong Sul. Kim even uses the term Hapkiyusul, Korean for Aiki Jujutsu, to describe his art.
There's also another lineage actively promoting themselves as inheritors of Choi's aiki skills. Currently run by Sang Park, Hapki Yukwonsul traces their lineage to Choi through Rim Jong Bae (pictured at left). I haven't seen any aiki videos come out of this group yet, but if what their students describe is accurate, it's there.
What is interesting to note is that both groups I mentioned distinctly use terminology to separate themselves from modern Hapkido. Does that mean that the majority of modern Hapkido doesn't actually incorporate any teachings of aiki/hapki and they feel a need to distance themselves? Who knows? When looking at what is most commonly displayed as Hapkido, it is hard to see anything more than a superficial connection to Daito Ryu. That is to say that a wrist lock is a wrist lock. As I said earlier, the majority of the Hapkido community stems from those who really only trained a few years with Choi. Certainly not long enough to get the "goods," only a cursory understanding of joint manipulation and throwing techniques that had to be supplemented with material from other arts to be functional. But when you start to dig deeper, you find these small pockets of high level practitioners that truly show that what Choi taught his most dedicated students was infact Daito Ryu. The documentation is there. The biomechanics are there. The teachings are there. Choi's art must be considered a member of the aiki community.
EDIT (August 10, 2024) - Since Kim Yun Sang's passing, the question arises whether or not his skills were successfully transmitted to the next generation. This video of Seijin Han, one of his students now teaching here in the United States, is a great testament to Kim's legacy and the establishment of Hapkiyusul/Hapkido as a legitimate derivative of Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu.
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