Han Bong-soo

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Bong Soo Han (born August 25, 1933 in On Chun, South Korea and passed away on January 8, 2007 in Santa Monica, California. Han was a Hapkido instructor and author.

Contents 1 Background 2 Early Training 3 The United States 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Background

Bong Soo Han was one of the world's foremost practitioners of the Korean martial art of Hapkido. He is often referred to as the "Father of Hapkido" in America.

Han was one of the early senior students to the founder of Hapkido, Choi Yong Sul. He studied and refined this powerful Korean martial art for more than 50 years. He held the rank of 9^th Dan Black Belt. He was the founder of the International Hapkido Federation^TM, and was its president until his death.

Throughout his life, Han led a dedicated effort in the ongoing development of Hapkido.

[edit] Early Training

During the occupation of Korea by Japan, between 1910 through 1945, all school-age children were required to read, write and speak Japanese. In addition they were taught judo and kendo for discipline and physical education. Bong Soo Han studied these arts during World War II.

From 1948 to 1950, Han studied kwon bup and earned a black belt in the art under the late Master Byung In Yoon. At the outbreak of the Korean War all schools of the martial arts were closed in Korea.^{[citation needed]}

Bong Soo Han resumed his martial training shortly after the end of the Korean War in July 1953. He began his study of Hapkido under its founder, Yong Sul Choi.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1950’s, Bong Soo Han would meet with other instructors to train and exchange ideas. From time to time, between 1956 to 1959, he traveled to Hwa Chun, Kang Won Province, where he spent time training in the art of Tae Kyon, under Master Bok Yong Lee.^{[citation needed]}

In 1966, during the Vietnam War, Han taught self-defense to hundreds of American and Korean military personnel.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The United States

Bong Soo Han opened his first school in Los Angeles in 1967.

On July 4, 1969, Bong Soo Han was performing a demonstration at a park in the Pacific Palisades, California. In the audience was Tom Laughlin. After a spectacular demonstration, Laughlin approached Han about being involved in a movie project called Billy Jack. Han gained critical acclaim for creating and staging some of the most realistic martial arts fight sequences in a film. Before Billy Jack, movies contained at most brief references to martial arts, with fights portrayed by actors who had little training. In Billy Jack, Han had introduced Hapkido to the west.

Han continued to choreograph, double, star in, and produce films with martial arts sequences. In 1977, he played the evil Dr. Klahn in the segment A Fistful of Yen in the spoof film, The Kentucky Fried Movie.

Bong Soo Han has been the subject of many magazine and newspaper articles, martial arts magazine cover stories, and was a member of the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in 1999. He was also featured in the A&E documentary, The Martial Arts and the Wesley Snipes-produced Master of the Martial Arts.

In addition to being cited in dozens of martial arts books, he wrote many articles on the Way of martial arts, and also authored the book, Hapkido, The Korean Art of Self-Defense, that was published by Ohara Publications in 1974, which is now in its 23rd printing. He completed a series of ten instructional Hapkido DVD's which are in worldwide distribution.

In 1974, Han founded the International Hapkido Federation. On July 6, 2006 Black Belt Magazine presented the International Hapkido Federation with its 2006 Industry Award for Best Traditional School for its commitment to preserving the legacy of Hapkido.

Bong Soo Han died at his home in Santa Monica, California on January 8, 2007.

[edit] External links

• International Hapkido Federation
• Bong Soo Han Hapkido Training (videotape)
• Entry for Bong Soo Han at the IMDB

[edit] References

• uncredited (2005). "International Hapkido Federation". Retrieved November 3, 2005.
• uncredited (2005). International Hapkido Federation Student Manual.