Styles of Kempo/Kenpo

[KempoTiger]

I am a 1st degree black belt instructor in Kempo Martial arts btw...nice to meet everyone here.

[Luckykboxer]

Kenpo Karate is a modern, progressive, street self-defense art originally taught in Hawaii by James Mitose who was born in Hawaii but raised as a youth in Japan where he learned his family art of Kosho Ryu Kenpo. He returned to Hawaii as a teenager and lived there for many years. His national loyalty was called into question with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. This must have been a very trying time for him but he decided that his loyalty was to the United States of America which had taken him in as one of there own. He began teaching martial arts to the Territorial National Guard shortly thereafter.

 

James Mitose taught his Kenpo Jiu Jitsu (title of his 1947 book) to, among others, William KS (Thunderbolt) Chow in the 1940's. Professor Chow, as he would become known, combined this new Kenpo knowledge with his previous knowledge from his family Kempo art, which he learned from his father, Hoon Chow. He combined all of this knowledge with his experience as a well-known and feared island street fighter and began teaching his Kara Ho Kempo to other local tough guys who wanted to learn how to fight better.

 

In those days Hawaii was a melting pot of many Asian cultures. Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Okinawans, and Filipinos. In addition, American military personal and local indigenous peoples found themselves mixing together in the local neighborhoods. With the levels of pride these cultures have in their fighting arts you could imagine how much real life testing was going on in those days on the mean streets of Honolulu. Rumor and story has it that those were tough days out of which came some very effective martial arts. Professor Chow's Kempo was respected as one of the most fierce and effective arts to emerge from that era.

 

Several of Professor Chow's students went on to evolve their own arts or to expand and evolve what the Professor had shown them. Adriano Emperado trained under William Chow then went on to contribute to the formation of Kajukenbo. Nick Cerio and Sam Kuhoa went on to form their own systems using what they had learned from William Chow as their base system. Probably Chow's most well known student was Edmund Kealoa Parker (1931-1990) who went on to form what he called, and we continue to call, American Kenpo.

 

Mr. Parker's training with Professor Chow would prove to be his calling in life. After high school he attended Brigham Young University in Provo Utah where he graduated with a major in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. He had taught some self-defense courses to other students and law enforcement personnel in the area. Through his connections he received a job offer in Los Angeles. He moved to L.A. where that offer fell through so he decided to open a Kenpo Karate School in Pasadena in 1956.

 

Mr. Parker's school is said to have been the first martial arts school open to the general public in the country. Others challenge this claim but we can definitely say that his was one of the first commercial martial arts schools in the United States. Mr. Parker was a great practitioner and teacher, but he also was an outstanding entrepreneur. He ran a successful school, formed what would become the largest Kenpo organization in the world (the IKKA) and started what became the largest and most prestigious karate tournament in the country, if not the world, for many years.

 

The International Karate Championships became the showpiece that launched the martial arts careers of many well-known practitioners who then became entertainers as well, most notably Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. Other well known practitioners whose lives and careers were influenced by Mr. Parker include Jeff Speakman, Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Bennie Urquidez, and Dan Inosanto, to name a few. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Mr. Parker was the seed from which sprang the most influential martial artists of the 20th Century. He is responsible for discovering and/or displaying the talent that would bring martial arts to the mainstream of American society.

[KempoTiger]

well, My school was originally under Grandmaster Cerio...but upon his passing we have since sought out Adriano Emperado.

 

thanks for the read LuckyBoxer, very informative.

[Lady Kitana]

hi everyone , It's nice to see some fellow Kenpo students.

[Red J]

Nice to see this post still alive. We also have some threads in the "Karate" section that deal strictly with kempo/kenpo.

[The Law Of The Fist]

At my kempo school, we have numbered techniques and unnumbered techniques simply called kempos. You must also know certian forms and takedowns for each belt.

[pineapple]

Traditional Kenpo was just one art taught to Adriano Emperado who was just one of five masters of five different styles who created Kajukenbo. Most modern Kenpo have Kajukenbo influence in their lineage and therefore incorporates many more techniques than traditional kenpo.

 

Many Kajukenbo practitioners broke off from Kajukenbo to create their own organizations and named their style either Kenpo or Kempo. I believe that most schools that use the name, Kempo, came through the late Professor Walter Godin who was at one time, the personal bodyguard of Emperado.

 

Adriano Emperado was ahead of his time because he encouraged his students to learn other styles and to incorporate their techniques. This was still in the days when crosstraining was discouraged in other schools. This is why there are so many variations of Kajukenbo and Kenpo.

 

There are numbered techniques for both punching defense and grabbing defense.

 

Kajukenbo have a unique set of katas because they were created by Emperado and now include katas created by his students.

[Red J]

Parkerlineage:

Here is an oldie but a goodie. We can talk stylistic differences and simularities here.

Read the posts and start making some comments. I'll join in.

Maybe we can get our own forum category!

[parkerlineage]

I did my senior project on the development of American Kenpo. It's ten pages long, though...not good post material. Tomorrow, I will perhaps edit it and post the important parts on here.