Kuhapdo History

                In 1975, Jung Gum Hae, a Society of the Sword  Association was born at the Jung Ki Kwan. The members included  Jung,  Tae Min, Lim, Hyun Su Be, Chan Han Kim, Jae Hyun Som, Sung Hak Jo, Sung  Bum Kim, Young Gu Park, Jong Dea Park, Sang Yyun Lee, Jae Young, etc.  The Association practiced every sunday at the Jung Ki Kwan to improve  their skills and also to learn Jae Jung Kuhapdo.

                The Kuhapdo team has accomplished many splendid  achievements such as group competition in the First President Cup and  3rd place on March 1st in Taegu-Kyungbuk Kumdo competition. They also  have many other outstanding achievements in other friendly competitions.  The Jung Ki Kwan's Kumdo team also demonstrated at the opening ceremony  of the Taegun Middle School. A special guest of the Jung Ki Kwan, Mr.  Nam Byung Sun, director of the Taegu-Gyungbuk Kumdo Association was  invited and attended the ceremony.

                By using only a bamboo sword in training, Grandmaster  Lim realized that there we limitations to truly understanding  swordsmanship. Thus in February 1982, to increase the momentum of the  sword art, we promoted an exchange with Komei Sekiguchi, president of  the Japanese Kuhapdo Association who is affiliated with Japanese  traditional martial arts. In September, 1982, the Korean Kuhapdo  Association was born.

                Members include the president, Lee Young Pal (a former  president of the Taegu Kumdo Association), Lim, Hyun Su (the  headquarters director), Yoon, Byung Il (a head coach), and others.

On May 6, 1984, President Komei Sekiguchi and six other masters came  to the Jung Ki Kwan and showed a high level of Kuhapdo skills. Mr. Nam,  Jung Bo (a bamboo sword 8th dan) and other high ranking masters  attended the show and praised it highly -- like an an act of sword skill  from heaven. They felt a strong necessity for Kuhapdo and prepared to  practice and expand it. However, due to an invisible pressure, not a  clear understanding, and prejudice about Kuhapdo, it was not  successfully expanded to the public.

In August 1984, President  Komei Sekiguchi and three other masters  visited the Jung Ki Kwan and agreed to exchange meetings and made a  written statement in detail.

In May 1985, Grandmaster Lim became the highest director of Kuhapdo  in Korea. In November of the same year, held the first Korean  and  Japanese friendship game at the Taegu Dongsan Hotel. This tournament  brought much public attention to Kuhapdo and Kuhapdo started to become  very popular.

Since the exchange began in 1985, there were many obstacles and hard  times during the introductory period of Kuhapdo. Without having any  knowledge about Kuhapdo and the true meaning of swordsmanship, there was  a boycott and unfriendly attitude towards Kuhapdo. Particularly, the  cultural antipathy stemming from a historical background  between the  Koreans and Japanese was the most difficult to overcome.

However, a pure exchange of the Kuhapdoian between the two countries  based upon the truthful spirit of Kuhapdo, made it possible to overcome  the differences and contribute to a steady expansion of the Korean  Kuhapdo.

Since the opening of the Jung Ki Kwan in 1974, we have been devoting  ourselves not only to the expand the spirit of Hapkido and Kuhapdo  to  the public, but also to search for traditional martial arts that our  ancestors have developed which cost many their lives.

In 1986, we released a Korean style Kuhapdo called Chung Suk  Kuhapdo. We showed it to the Japanese Kuhapdoians at Toyko Marshall Hall  on May 3, 1989. This event had a strong positive effect on the senior  Japanese  Kuhapdoians.

Hanao, a representative of the Japanese Ancient Martial Arts  Affiliation asked for an awakening effort of the Japanese Kuhapdoians to  realize that there will be a time that we, Japanese should learn from  the Korean Kuhapdo in the future.

We, the Jung Ki Kwan have been making every effort to present an  original style of Korean swordsmanship and its morality based upon  precise principle and theory.  We, the Kuhapdoians have seen and studied  the spirit of Kuahapdo from ancient "Beakje" people and their  historical artifacts.

We shall keep our minds and bodies strong, inheriting the spirit of  traditional martial arts.  We will follow the way of truthful martial  arts for all of mankind.

Borrowed from www.jungkikwan.com