Hapkido Korean Art of Self-Defense

Rating:
Summary: Not Hapkido or the art of Self-defense
Review: As a master instructor in Hapkido I find this book very depressing. The author who did the fight scenes for the movie "Billy Jack" (1972 ?) was my introduction to the art of Hapkido. It was one of the reasons I began to study the arts. But, this book is done in such a simple style with very basic techniques and concepts it does not contain the elements of hapkido, but as one reviewer wrote it is more like basic Taekwondo, I agree. My 11 year old son can write more about Hapkido than this book presents. Granted this is a publication from 1974. Yet, Master Han possessed the knowledge and expertise back then. I would like to see this author produce a new book or update this book and include the concepts and principles of Hapkido with its techniques of joint locks, pressure point strikes, submission & control holds, and self defense techniques. The strikes which this text demonstrate are not even black belt level for taekwondo students. I think this book was thrown together hastily and does an injustice to Hapkido and Grandmaster Han. ....


Rating:
Summary: Not Hapkido or the art of Self-defense
Review: As a master instructor in Hapkido I find this book very depressing. The author who did the fight scenes for the movie "Billy Jack" (1972 ?) was my introduction to the art of Hapkido. It was one of the reasons I began to study the arts. But, this book is done in such a simple style with very basic techniques and concepts it does not contain the elements of hapkido, but as one reviewer wrote it is more like basic Taekwondo, I agree. My 11 year old son can write more about Hapkido than this book presents. Granted this is a publication from 1974. Yet, Master Han possessed the knowledge and expertise back then. I would like to see this author produce a new book or update this book and include the concepts and principles of Hapkido with its techniques of joint locks, pressure point strikes, submission & control holds, and self defense techniques. The strikes which this text demonstrate are not even black belt level for taekwondo students. I think this book was thrown together hastily and does an injustice to Hapkido and Grandmaster Han. ....

Rating:
Summary: A book on Taekwon-Do ? C'mon.
Review: As the owner of the book, Hapkido: Korean Art of Self-defence and also, a black-belt in Taekwon-Do, I found the above reviews a little interesting! What people should understand is that Hapkido is a very eclectic martial art and it borrows a lot from Taekwon-Do, with respect to the advanced kicks and punches. For the most part, Grandmaster Han - for an old guy - shows some amazing flexibility in this book, as do his spinning kicks; could that explain why Mr. Toronto sounds a little jealous ? True, the self-defence portion isn't as elaborate as we would want. But, in my view, the best part of the book is in very beginning, where Master Han has an interesting discussion about spirituality; i.e., the Tan Jon breathing exercises and also, the water principle. Maybe what the author is conveying is that books (much like reviews) have their limitations. You can't really learn Hapkido just from a book, so might as well teach beginners how to be decent human beings, above all else ?

Rating:
Summary: The Essence of Hapkido.
Review: Grand Master Han presents an excellent reference and overview of the art of Hapkido. The reader will immediately recognize the author's personal knowledge and dedication to this martial art. I have numerous texts on the martial arts, and found this book to be the best. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Hapkido or mudo (the martial way) to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Too simple
Review: I hate to be a partypooper but I disagree... The book hardly had any Hapkido techniques in it such as wristlocks or throws. Most of the book was focused on very simple basic punches and kicks.I felt it did not convey the uniqueness of Hapkido and instead of emphasising the specialty's of joint and wrist locks turned out to be a very dissapointing guide to TaeKwondo techniques instead.

Rating:
Summary: What this book really is
Review: I read most of the reviews here and thought I should share my own perspective.

This book is an excellent introduction to Hapkido written by the best authority on the subject. You are not going to get your black belt by reading this book. If you are already a black belt, you may find this book or any other book on another martial arts philosophy somewhat simplistic.

This book on the other hand introduces you to the philosophy of Hapkido and some of the key components of it. It would help you understand Hapkido better and will in fact show you the eclectic nature of it. I found it very helpful and recommend it to those who are not in love with any one style and have an open mind and yearn for learning.

Rating:
Summary: The first significant book on hapkido available in English
Review: I think the buyer of this book should take into consideration that this was the first significant book published on the subject of Korean Hapkido in English. Joon M Lee also published in the 1970s but few people saw his 2 books as they never became really popular.

There now exist more extensive books of worth by Myung Kwang-Sik and Kimm He-Young but this book by Master Han provided those wishing to learn more about the art with a good overview of hapkido's general tactics and range of techniques performed by a true master.

I think it is worthwhile because it features a truly great teacher performing the basics of the art.

Rating:
Summary: Book if for general martial art beginners
Review: I was disappointed that I bought the book after reading most of it. The author focuses on on very simplistic techniques, kicks and punches. I thought the book would serve as a "training manual" for what I was being taught in the dojo by my instructor, and most of it I could not use.

Rating:
Summary: Simplistic with very dated photographs.
Review: I was living abroad at the time and waited what seemed like forever to receive this very unhapkido-like book about Hapkido. This book would be better described as Taekwondo - the martial art. The kicks section is good but the self-defence section is disappointing. A chin strike is Bong Soo Han's suggested defence against a rear wrist grab. This is not my experience of Hapkido except at the very basic levels. Added to this, the pictures are terribly dated and calls up unhappy memories of a nation's fashion faux-pas.

Rating:
Summary: Too simplistic, but OK for basics
Review: Some folks have accused this book of being too close to Tae Kwon Do; that's ok, because most Hapkido books I've seen look too much like aikijutsu, with limited attention to strikes. For the record, this book has a format similar to any Ohara Publications martial art book put out at the time. It starts with a history-philosophy section that isn't given hardly enough attention, then goes into some basic excersises, including deep breathing excersises and several stretch, push-up and sit-up variations. The most basic of strikes are then covered, and include the standard punch, backfist, knife-hand strikes, and elbows. The too-short blocking chapter is next, followed by kicks, both beginning and advanced. Then there are defenses shown against the punch and different types of kicks, which is OK in and of itself, followed by a self-defense chapter, where the only real locking techniques are shown. The last page shows where different pressure points are on the body, but it's just a grey silouette with black dots on it. The only person I'd recomend this book to is someone with little or no martial arts training, but then follow it with the warning to remember that these are only basic techniques, and not really the "art" of Hapkido.

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