Sources concerning American Karate

[Ironberg]

I have to write a comprehensive paper for my black belt test. One of the topics includes the history of American Karate. The paper syllubus mentions the fact that this is the hardest part of the paper due to limited written material on the subject. I was kind of hoping that some of you could mention a few pointers that could help me in my research.

[Red J]

From a Kempo/Kenpo standpoint there is a definite lineage trace to Hawaii. Mitose, Chow, Emperado, Parker, Pesare, Cerio, Villari, Castro, etc. are responsible for the proliferation of various kempo/kenpo styles on the West Coast and East Coast (I'm sure I left off a few names, but this is off the top of my head). The styles that come from this are varied but a couple that come to mind are: American Kenpo, Chinese Kenpo, Kara-Ho Kempo, Shaolin Kempo, American Shaolin Kenpo, Kajukenbo, and other variations.

 

Of course it would help to know just what you mean by American Karate and what systems influenced this style.

 

Anyway, I hope this helps. Good luck.

[KTJWmark]

A critical read for your paper would be Randall Hassell's excellent, and I mean EXCELLENT book called Shotokan Karate: Its History and Evolution. Granted there are many other places where karate has sprung up in America, but this book is quite a valuable starting point.

 

I reviewed it on my site and still refer to it often:

 

http://www.karatethejapaneseway.com/books/hassell_history.html

 

Mark G

[Luckykboxer]

I guess im confused what exactly your researching...

 

are you researching the arrivals of martial arts in america?

 

or are you researching american martial arts and their origins?

 

because while there are probably close to every style of martial arts in america, i would venture to say that very few of those are able to claim they are American in their creation..

 

The two most successful american designed martial arts so to speak would have to be Kajukenbo and kenpo karates.

 

I am sure there are many more, but none that i know of that have as large a following.

 

obviously america is a hotbed for all martial arts including traditional japanese forms, brazilian jiujitsu, chines kung fu styles, korean, etc.etc.

 

I would imagine that if you were looking for the arrivals of different arts in america you would have issues, due to competing claims by different styles that they were here first.

 

I am sure that the major styles with large organized governing bodies will be easy to track though

 

I would imagine this research could take a lifetime, but man that would be one hell of a read i imagine

[Ironberg]

Sorry! I guess I should have been more concise.

 

"American Karate" is the style I practice. It has strong influence from Tae Kwon Do (it is different from "American Tae Kwon Do" which might have been fathered by Jhoon Re (sp)). American Karate is a mix of many traditional arts ranging from Karate to a bit of Juijutsu. It's kind of a poor man's traditional+mixed MA from that perspective, but it has strong principals that are founded primarily in TKD roots.

 

The forms we practice are actually Korean Hyung - Chung Gi, Dan Gun, Whon Yo, Chung Moon.

 

Does this help?

[Luckykboxer]

I cant help you here..

 

My suggestion is to make or find a family tree and go back as far as you can to the beginning and speak to the person closest to the source of the founding of American Karate...

 

I dont know how long that style has been around, but with what you are saying, I would say a good tape recorder, and some time to interview is the only way you are going to get there.