My last blog entry about Chuck Norris film “The Octagon” got me thinking about martial arts in film. When I was growing up, most ‘Muricans thought of martial arts all as “karate” , but that’s just slightly generic. It gets confusing in terms of countries of origin and the different names of the styles. The first time I heard of the Korean style “Hapkido” was in college when a friend of mine and I trained together in another Korean style called Tae Kwon Do. Hapkido incorporates a lot of throws and wrist locks…what people think of as self-defense as well as the “spin kick.” Its most famous portrayal on film was in the Billy Jack series of films starting Tom Laughlin. The guy who actually did all of the spin kicks, etc. was Hapkido Master Bong Soo Han.

While the pronunciation is usually “hap” it’s sometimes pronounced “hop” so I’m including Danny and the Juniors.

Getting back to the world of Hapkido, there are a couple of other things that stand out in my mind. One is the black gi/uniform that features the criss cross white stripes on it. You don’t see it in the video here, but they’re out there. I actually received some training with the wooden cane which is also a Hapkido thing. It’s truly an unassuming, defensive concept, which I think is pretty cool.

Bong Soo Han also appeared as the villain in the ridiculous film called “Kentucky Fried Movie” (1977). Perhaps I’ll blog about that one some day.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon.