Myung Jae Nam Kuksanim
Hankido and Hankumdo creator...
Grandmaster Myung Jae Nam (1938 – August 3, 1999) was a Korean Hapkido practitioner who would later found two new Korean martial arts, Hankido and Hankumdo. Myung Jae Nam was born in Jeollanam-do province but lived in Incheon for most of his life.
He began his martial arts training in 1948, and his Hapkido training with Grandmaster Ji Han Jae at the Joong Bu Si Jang in 1958 or 1959; this place was the third location that Grandmaster/Grandmaster Ji Han Jae had in Seoul. At the same time that he entered Grandmaster Myung, Grandmaster Bong Soo Han and Grandmaster Choi Sea Oh did so.
In 1972 Myung Jae Nam became one of the first members of the Korea Hapkido Association (Dae Han Hapkido Hyup Hwe), which was formed in 1965 at the request of then-President of South Korea Park Chung Hee. The Korea Hapkido Association was formed with the help of Mr. Park Jong Kyu, who was the head of the President's Protection Force and one of the most powerful men in Korea at the time.
In January 1972, he changed the name of his own group to "Han Kuk Hapki Hwe", and moved his headquarters from Incheon to Bukchang-Dong, Chung-Ku, in Seoul, Korea. In October 1973, while still maintaining his own organization, he helped create the "Dae Han Min Kuk Hapkido Hyop Hwe" (Republic of Korea Hapkido Association) and was appointed executive director, remaining with this organization until 1980. In August 1974, he changed the name of his organization again, now renamed "Kuk Jae Yong Meng Hapki Hwe" also known in English as the International Hapkido Federation (International Hapkido Federation). In the same year he also co-founded the Korean Hapkido Association.
Achievements
In 1965, GM Myung shared martial techniques and information with Japanese Aikidō master Sensei Hirata over a period of approximately four years. In 1969, GM Myung broke his relationship with the Korea Hapkido Association (Dae Han Hapkido Hyup Hwe) and formed his own group which he would call "Han Kuk Hapki Sool Hwe". Associating with the Aikikai Foundation in Japan, so much so that even at the top of the certificates granted by said association during that time, the name of the founder of Aikido Morihei Ueshiba appeared.
GM Myung was the oldest Korean representative of Aikikai in Japan and included many Japanese Aikido techniques in his version of Hapkido. He produced many videos and wrote a large number of books.
In the 1980s GM Myung began working on developing his own unique martial art, which he would later call Hankido (한기도). GM Myung wanted to develop a martial art for the Korean people that could be simple and easy to learn. The essence of Hankido consists of only twelve basic techniques, the same as Aikido (where 6 locking principles and 6 base throws are developed). GM Myung once said that it is better to learn one technique and practice it thousands of times than not to learn thousands of techniques.
In the years after the first edition of the first Hankido Games, GM Myung traveled all over the world to promote his unique style as well as his own organization, the International Hankido Federation. Later, he began the development of another art for the management of the sword called Hankumdo (한검도), which gives the non-Korean student the opportunity to learn the Korean alphabet (hangul), by using it to learn the different angles of defense and stroke.
Unfortunately, on August 3, 1999, GM Myung passed away in Yong-In, Korea. GM Myung's son, Dojunim Sung Kwang Myung, is now the 2nd Doju of the International H•K•D Federation – Jae Nam Musul Won. The International H•K•D Federation is headquartered in Yong-In, Korea and has over one million members in 60 different countries.