Chōjun Miyagi had summed up the numerous styles of Karate as being “different methods of teaching the same thing.” I personally think when you look at it this way, it reminds us not to take individual ‘styles’ too seriously. If the original intent of the pioneers was self defence against non consensual violence, what works works.
I have to agree with this, because you can even find this kind of variation within a single art. Each person and school is going to have a different approach and best to find the one that aligns with what you want.
@ArtofOneDojo How much do you know about Shodensho or South Mountain Kenpo? I met someone who says they teach it, but I've never heard of it before. Your thoughts?
I'm a former Villari Kempo student and I remember it being a lot of fun - my favorite form being "Stature of the Crane." I remember my school became a United Studies of Self Defense dojo and there were some changes I didn't like. Sparring, for example, became "no contact" which felt silly. I also remember it suddenly being more expensive too.
I respect Chuck Sullivan for attempting to reduce the vast amounts of techniques in the curriculum of American Kenpo as well......and a little disappointed you didnt review the most devastating form of Kenpo, so profoundly dangerous that it far surpassed the Kenpo it likely came from, New Mexico's Ameri-Dote....formulated by the venerable Master Ken! (He might be 20th degree by now)
Lololololololz! I know him! His name is Matt! He's in my friend's list on Facebook! I wish TH-cam allowed tagging of people's accounts in the comments, like Facebook does! He'd totally get a laugh from your comment, Brother! 😎
I trained in Chinese kenpo in the Traco system under Tomas Connor (thats how he spelled it at the time) in Phoenix, AZ. As far as his martial arts background is concerned, the only thing the senior instructors said was that he had been a boxer. He originated the 5 low priced introductory lessons approach to gaining new students. This was something he learned as a dance instructor for Arthur Murray Studios. He had been a weightlifter when he was in California, and became a competitive bodybuilder in he 50's. He was very strong and muscular and had a complete bodybuilding gym in his main studio. We became friends and I was one of only a couple students who were invited to Tom jr's wedding. I feel privileged to have known him.
i also trained in kempo,in kc mo at TRACO 40th broadway,trained till mr hower left,he went to where you trained,phoenix it think,this form of fighting has saved my ass numerous times,when i owned bars,got out of that business life became quieter
Thank you. I'm so grateful. I've been practicing mma and Mo Duk Pai Kajukenbo 25 years. It is so nice to find advanced teaching on history and stuff. Thank you times infinity million.
Studied this topic for years. Yours is the most precise and accurate narration I have ever heard on the history of Kenpo/Kempo and the descriptions of it's different branches. Kudos to you Sifu, you really did your homework.
Another excellent video. I always appreciate not only how well thought-out the content is, but how respectful the tone remains. A couple points: -I have seen the "m" vs. "n" used to distinguish lineage as well. -Funakoshi may have popularized 空手 over 唐手 but there are records of the former ("empty hands") being used as far back in the 18th century; Japanese, like English, was reaaally fluid back in the day. Initially, in Okinawa 唐手 was originally TOUDE (or TOUDII) until around 1901 when it started being promoted as KARATE, which led to the gradual shift toward 空手. Thank you again, and OSU Mr. Parker.
I thought karate tournaments was wack until I went to first one being a blue belt at Fred Villaris tournament never seen so many brown and black belts with mouth piece flying out and ribs nearly broken. It was quite impressive. I didn’t think villaris karate could get as brutal like others. I was proven wrong (Wisconsin)
I started Shaolin Kempo under a former Fred Villari school, but left after purple belt. It was my first martial art, and it’s what got me interested in the arts. I quit and started shotokan several years later eventually earning my Shodan at age 21 in 2008. Now a Sandan, I am teaching my children and wife. Had a great teacher from Massachusetts, miss him dearly.
This was very informative. I am not a student of martial arts, so the content, explanations and descriptions were extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Informative as always. I had an instructor in my early training who told us many times that to be considered truly knowledgeable by ones peers in the martial world, one should not only be able to recognize many arts on sight, but know something of their history, their proponents and factors leading to their present state of development. These videos you do where you explore other arts are a good tool for that. I find that even after 40+ years in the martial arts, there is much I do not know about many other arts...
Thank you, I really appreciate this comment. Perhaps especially so because I know exactly what you mean, I have learned so much after starting this channel that it's becoming an addiction. I love learning about other styles and then sharing that with everyone.
@@williamdicarlo4109 We probably didn't travel in the same circles and I have spent the last several years mostly as a solitary practitioner, only occasionally working or interacting with others, a condition that I thing is near the end of it's usefulness.
I started up Kenpo Taijutsu about three months ago, studying under Grandmaster Dr Taylor. I'm really enjoying it so far, but I'm not deep enough into it to be able to distinguish it from other forms. I'm super excited for next April; I get the opportunity to meet Dr Jeff Speakman and Demetrius 'Oaktree' Edwards!
Taijutsu is merely body movement, so would should be seeing more body/foot movement and just shorter punching methods. I watched White Tiger Kenpo and it would fit right in with my Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu training as we often combined striking making it more like Kenpo and less like Aikido. Best wishes in your training.
Hi everyone, I have experience training under GM Jim Brassard as mentioned. I trained in Shaolin Kempo for 16 years, 9 of which as a full-time dojo manager. Then I found GM Jim Brassard in 2012, and have stuck with him since. Grandmaster Brassard believes in no-nonsense Kempo, so he created Shaolin American Kempo. He found the most practical uses from many Kempo arts and teaches the best principles from them. A lot of this involves deleting forms and techniques. Like Bruce Lee, he teaches that physical fitness is the foundation of any capable martial artist, so fitness is highly emphasized in his program. It is designed to get you fit and conditioned while learning self defense, and it works! One of the things I love most about training under GM Brassard is that he gets you thinking. He doesn't just teach movements, he teaches principles and practical street sense. There is a time and place for different types of movement, and he has created a science of it. I have seen many types of Kempo/Kenpo, and I believe GM Brassard has done an outstanding job with his Art. GM Brassard has perpetuated my skill and understanding light years beyond what it was before I met him. I love Kempo, and to pay homage and give credibility to our style, I made a quick video demonstration - search in TH-cam for "Kempo Rocks". I hope this is helpful to some of you! Brad Randolph
BoulderKarate his lineage is as follows SGM Pesare Professor Cerio GM Villari Yet GM Brassard has incorporated many of the concepts and methods of Ed Parker’s Kenpo, I truly enjoy seeing GM Brassard in action, he’s great person. I’m a black belt under SGM George Pesare. Stay awesome in Kenpo 😊
Taking on this topic took a lot of courage, my hats off to you. Although there is much to comment on, I will refrain and only point out a couple discrepancies. ie. The B.K.F. (Black Karate Federation) is not a "Kenpo" organization or style. Second, The Black Karate Federation was not founded by either Steve Sanders (Muhammad) or Donnie Williams. The Black Karate Federation was founded by Myself, Dr. Clifford Stewart, and Grandmaster Jerry Smith. A little digging will verify this. You might also contact the CEO of the Black Karate Federation Mr. K.C. Jones through the BKF Facebook Page. Steve Muhammad was a student of Chuck Sullivan not Ed Parker Sr. I love what you're trying to do and it is obvious you work hard to present a valuable educational aspect of the arts. Keep up the good work Brother - Dr. Chapél
I really appreciate your feedback and insight Sir, and it's an honor to have you comment. We're trying to do a lot of good with this channel and it's been a great journey so far. Thank you :)
@@ArtofOneDojo You do an excellent job sir and no one knows better than I how difficult it is to sift through the complexities and politics of an art in general, and especially the roots of modern "Kenpo" and its many branches. Anytime you think I can help drop me a line docchapel@gmail.com
@@ArtofOneDojo Being an old media student out of UCLA, I recognize the challenges you face, especially in negotiating the egos of martial artists in any presentations.
Sensei Dan did an excellent job of researching Kenpo and making the video which helps to preserve martial arts history in the U.S. Bill Ryusaki was another Kenpo teacher in California who trained Benny Urquidez and Cecil Peoples. Ryusaki had learned Kenpo from Marino Tiwanak, a Hawaiian boxer and student of Adriano Emperado. Emperado taught a lot of students such as Tiwanak, John Leoning, "Sonny" Gascon, and many others. Gascon left Hawaii to join the Air Force and later went to California. Leoning also came to California and opened a school with Gascon as an instructor. Some black belt instructors from Hawaii came to their school and told them they could not use the name Kajukenbo or the patch since they were not paying a required percentage to the home school in Hawaii. Sonny was told that he needed to pay the money right then. Sonny invited the Black Belts in for a "work out," an invitation which they refused. However, Emperado had approved the splitting of Kajukenbo into "sections," one of which was developed by Sid Asuncion, who taught Al Dacascos. Branching off into "sections" in my opinion was similar to Bruce Lee's adage: “Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own."
In a nutshell when Ed Parker came here from Hawaii there were around 3 lineages of kempo including kajukenbo. Now there’s prob almost close to 10 that were associated at one time and broke away from one another or some folks have never heard of. My lineage is the Nick Cereo lineage.
I practice kyokushin, this past weekend we held our local tournament and we had a school of shorin kempo guys show up. They honestly cleaned up out tournament. With their fighters taking out most divisions. I myself lost to a kempo fighter in the final. Very strong style
Yes he did and so did his stepbrother, David Stanley. We interviewed Mr. Stanely earlier this year, did you catch that episode? He's a fascinating individual! th-cam.com/video/qqnlAZU0XXU/w-d-xo.html
this is the video i've been looking for. i'm still not sold on the system itself but i'm sure that's not what your aim is but to educate us on the roots of Kenpo. thank you for this video because it's answered a lot of my questions on the lineage of Kenpo.
Interesting information. I am old and knew most of the guys on the west coast from tournaments or training with them. Ralph Castro was a good man as well as teacher and his students could fight well. I don’t know his roots. Most of the time then (the 70s) people didn’t not talk to much about the style so much as they did about who they were training under. The guys then were serious dudes and a lot of us were Vietnam vets and we enjoyed being with the guys again that could relate and for some of us the martial arts was what we used.
@@rchapelyep me too. My wife was his goddaughter and Juli was my father in law’s god daughter best friends from Kakaako my father in law also trained with Chow, then with Unko Ralph when he moved mainland, was his first brown belt.
I'm from Indonesia. I learned Kenpo for around 3 years when I was 11yro until 13yro. Shorinji Kempo, with a horizontal flip swastika logo, called Manji. And I was told by my senpai that once I learned/join Shorinji Kempo, I shouldn't join other martial arts. There was nothing weird, apart from the fighting art, I did learn lots of moral value was taught and also meditation. Although he doesn't mention much about Shorinji Kempo in this video, after ages I finally understand the differences.
Thank you for putting so much time into this video. You stayed neutral and fair yet it had lots of good information. I studied Chua Fa out of Hawaii and it was nice to hear more of how the art spread, I don't normally know all this stuff because I just focus on training. Thank you sir.
I used to train in a style of Kenpo called "twin cats" it's aptly named because of the many techniques borrowed from Fou Jiao (tiger claw kung fu) Sadly it's not really a well-known system - my guess is because it's likely traded hands with many chinese families (triads) Nowadays I'm training in Tang Soo Do (Korean Karate) and loving every minute of it!
that ending was funny. thank you for including Villari , trained in that style for eight years, got my instructor patch and left, too commercial, too much politics, and they didn't like that I new Shotokan and still used it( but it worked and I was all about what worked and what didn't). and there were so many belt colors. still practice it on my own ( along with Shotokan and all the other styles I took since 1979) and went to the fillipino styles. got the 23 Larry Tatum DVDs and LOVE them. if he was my teacher, maybe I wouldn't have left. I don't know. still feeling some of my old injuries from our " gotta know what it feels like" sessions. and of course we didn't have matts for the grappling. ( short shag carpet- lots of rug burns on elbows and knees). but the art had alot of good points to it. really taught me all about flow through techniques.
Hello! A couple of points I wanted to clarify: 1.Fred Villari never trained with Prof. Chow 2. James Brassard's original training was with Fred Villari in Shaolin Kempo. Later, he would incorporate Ed Parker's American Kenpo to create his own hybrid. His brother Len has been involved in American Kenpo for decades. Thank you for correcting your earlier comment regarding John Mcsweeny and Tom Saviano. I was hoping you would mention David German's T.A.I, his system of Kenpo jujitsu made him one of the pioneers of MMA in this country and he was the first person to combine Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate with jujitsu.
Btw, the native Okinawan language does not follow Japanese syntax and call the art Kenpo, not Kempo. It was only due to the Japanese government influence that some on Okinawa use Kempo. For the majority, the term Kenpo is still used there.
Fred Villari himself claims the Professor Chow connection. On Villari's own website in the about section, he says in the summary that he's a former student of Nick Cerio and William K.S. Chow. Is that not correct? I will have to look more into Mr. German's T.A.I. I will admit that was one I hadn't known about. Do you have any specific suggestions you feel would be a good read about it? Thank you for the feedback!
Art of One Dojo Should look into Shihan Joe Nesta who was a direct Disciple of Prof Cerio. Shihan Nesta has created a beautifully effective system . He has soooo much respect for Prof Cerio .
@@ArtofOneDojo Fred Villari trained with Nick Cerio and received his nidan from him. In the early days of the original USSD in New England we used to bow to a photo of Prof Chow. Prof. Cerio had trained with Chow in the later 1960s along with Bill Marciarelli of Fall River,Massachusetts. However, Villari never studied directly with Prof. Chow that I am aware of. I knew the photo was taken off the wall of USSD studios in the later 1970s. Prof. Chow when asked stated he had never taught Villari.
@@KENPOJOE1 Nick Cerio taught Vilari? wow. I use to be a Nick Cerio student in the late '90s in a kickboxing/boxing community center in Pawtucket Prov. when i moved to Florida I went to try out vilari school doesn't feel the same. Nick Cerio training feels authentic Okinawan/modern serious modern stuff. like on the first day he made us do slipt till we were sore, it kinda felt like my Kyokushin training.
I really enjoyed the video. I have been studying Taika Oyata's Ryukyu Kempo for 2 years now. I am an E-Dan in Tang Soo Do as well. And yes you pronounced Taika's name correctly. Thanks.
@@scottbauer71 In South Carolina. My instructor studied under One of Tasshi Jim Logue's black belts. He has a small dojo in Wagner,S.C however he doesn't advertise his school. He is more interested in handing down Taika's art than having a lot of students.
Interesting history of Kenpo/Kempo karate. I keep hearing Okinawa being mentioned in the early formations of so many martial arts. It's also interesting that Kenpo is adding more grappling techniques. Thanks for the history lesson. It's troubling to see 20 different variatiions come out of the style with every major teacher going off and teaching "His style" of Kenpo.
The Kenpo style I study seems to come from Chow's student Ron Alo. When Alo brought Kara-Ho Kenpo to California, there was not really any forms in the system. Alo got a Dan rank under Robert Trias. Trias was taught by a student of Choki Motobu. Mitose had also referenced Choki Motobu as a great Kenpo master. The addition of Okinawan Kata in Kara-Ho Kenpo by Alo has been what is the Okinawan Kenpo I study in Arizona. The Ryukyu Kenpo is actually more varied. Motobu and Funakoshi both referred to karate as Ryukyu Kenpo/Kempo. Oyata had actually changed the name of his system to Ryu-Te because of controversy with Dillman. Basically, Okinawa Kenpo Tomri-te is what was passed down from Nakamura. Odo and Oyata brought the system to the USA. Dillman took the vital point strikes that Oyata taught into the "pressure point KO" and the "no touch KO". One of the students of the Arvisos here in Yuma, AZ has put himself under the Dillman organization. I do not study there, and will not study there, because of this issue. The lineage I have seems to go this route: To Alo... Me Cano Sensei Porchas Sensei Arviso Sensei Alo Sensei Alo lineage 1... Alo Sensei Chow Sensei Mitose Sensei (Reference to Motobu Sensei by Mitose) Alo lineage 2... Alo sensei Trias Sensei Hsiang Sensei Motobu Sensei I consider AK to be a sibling of my system. I also see some influence from AK in our system, as the Arvisos and Porchas families have often competed at competitions that Ed Parker and AK students also would attend. I have a deep respect for both the systems from Hawaii, and see the value in the systems and how they can improve my undrstanding of martial arts.
Cool to hear from an Alo lineage Kenpoist. I study under Ron Alo from 1969 -1979. We also shared an apartment as roommates in 1978-79. This was before he married Julie. Early on there were very few forms/kata. There was actually a heavy judo influence in the curriculum in the early years. In fact Ron was an asst. instructor at a judo club where I was at first before he branched off and I followed him.
Early on with Ron Alo we wore the Trias patch and were under the USKA umbrella. Trias was a 6th dan in Judo so his mixed style reflected that. It was about '74-75 ish that Ron created his own system and phased out some of the judo and introduced more forms and kata. Although he retained a lot of sparring heavy training. I've practiced with many Kenpoists from all linage and today I would say the original Kenpo Alo taught was closer to Kajukenpo. There are still just a few dojo's that wear the Alo Kenpo patch but those schools teach something closer to a Parker curriculum. In fact just a few years before they both died (both within 1-2 years of each other) Parker elevated Ron to 7th and it appears the current Alo schools seem to resemble that Parker influence.
Absolutely loved this. My first instructor, William Marciarelli, of Fall River Mass., was a student of William K.S.Chow, and a close friend of Nick Cerio of Providence, R.I. The two cities are only a 20 minute drive from each other. I have seen videos of the two men training with Prof. Chow in Hawaii. I also had the pleasure of meeting Nick Cerio on several occasions, when I was a youngster. I have also spent some time in the Fred Villari system, and find similarities in that system and Prof. Chow's system as well. Thanks so much for the in depth history of Kenpo. Quite frankly, I knew it was tangled web, but you have managed to clarify with chronology and even etomology the history of the art quite beautifully. Thanks again.
That's awesome that you were exposed to them as such an early age. Even if for a brief moment, meeting people like that leave an impression. I am very jealous :)
As a person that’s trained in Kenpo most of his life I have come to know a bit of the history as well. Basically, Kenpo split into two main paths after Professor Chow’s Karaho Kenpo. One being your lineage American Kenpo and two being Kajukenbo. My family tree ties into this branch. Kajukenbo lead to Karazenpo Goshinjutsu, which lead to Pesare’s Kenpo, which lead to Nick Cerio’s Kenpo, and finally lead to Shaolin Kempo Karate. Each founder like you said added other martial arts to help form their systems. But as you mentioned we all come from the same family tree. In some ways we are cousins in the Kenpo family.
Talking about differing styles of Kempo, I took lessons in the military with a friend who was ranked in Hsien Kempo (a Tibetan/Chinese variety). Became proficient that we tested for our Black Belts in Oregon at the same time. That was a big time proud moment for me. Now restarting my training to loosen some of these aged muscles/joints up so I should have some good news soon.
Dan, you really put together a great video on the Kenpo subject. What a sticky wicket, I must say. After reading through the comments, I thank Ed Parker for giving us the freedom to explore within our own system due to the fact so many 'traditional' styles are so concerned to not change anything. This brings out the fact that how important it is for a Kenpoist to train in something classical to give them a foundation to build on.
I love the history of all of this. Thank you for placing some things for me. And thank you for your video. I studied a form of Kenjo, offshoot of Kenpo/Kempo from Okinawa. The Grand Master was Jerry Knowle, his first student was James Crowder, and Master Crowder became Grand Master after Grand Master Knowle died about 20 years ago. My discipline was Crane. It was very different but I loved it very much until an injury took me completely out of commission. I can no longer practice martial arts in any capacity and I miss it so much. When I found it, and it found me, I was searching for something in my life and had searched for something most of my life, it filled that void. I've seen other forms of Kenjo that are nothing like what I experienced. It was very deadly and very aggressive. I will never forget the feeling of being able to perform my Crane Kata. Bo staff, and chucks, double chucks. It was a wonderful time in my life. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
I’ve been doing Kempo at United Studios Of Self Defense for 32yrs and I love it. It was Villaris but then they split. Maybe u could do ab episode on the Kempo i study. I would love 2 help out. I love this show!!
I got my foundational training in Okinawan Kenpo, while growing up in Hawaii. The system was founded back in Okinawa by Shigeru Nakamura in the 1950s. In 1969, Seikichi Odo took over as Grandmaster till his passing in 2002. Odo Sensei added several kata to our curriculum as well as Kobudo. Incidentally, Seiyu Oyata also trained under Nakamura. I have a few videos on my channel performing some of the kata & kobudo forms. I left Hawaii in 1991, so my kata is from that time period - other videos elsewhere on TH-cam will have different variations as the system has continued to evolve. Re: Kara Ho Kenpo - I had the honor of meeting Master Sam Kuoha at a recent seminar. He had a lot of great knowledge to share!
Four Scorpio Productions I viewed your kata and I’m surprised Odo added on to Nakamura’s 12 kata. Nakamura taught Kuniyoshi No Sai as well. Was that still taught?
@@RaulPerez1 If that sai kata was taught, it dropped off our curriculum by the 1980s, at least in Hawaii. There might be older students of Nakamura who still know it. Thanks for taking a look at my videos!
@@fourscorpio That's a shame that Hawaii is missing out on such historical Kata. The Kata was handed down to Nakamura from Kuniyoshi (who also taught Nakamura Seisan and Neisaishi Kata). I've searched around and find it now being called Nakamura No Sai.
I remember something Bruce Lee said about Parker, both were reaching for the same goal, natural fighting( wrong term, but close) Lee held the non-traditional approach, training you freedom from the start, Parker, traditional, gaining freedom as you develope!
@@rchapel did not say he was a traditionalist, said he approached it, as in taught, in the traditional way! ie: rank requirements, katas, etc. been at this since 1973, i do know a bit! in fact even my instructors called me their walking martial arts encyclopedia, as i knew the history and origins of many, many of the arts.
@@stevendoty9408 That's nice. When you started I had been a Black Belt for just over a decade. You may think you know the origin of many arts, but clearly, you know little about Ed Parker Sr. Not only was he not a traditionalist, but he also did not teach in a traditional way. His original art as taught to him by William Kwai Sun Chow (nicknamed Thunderbolt) was a hybrid of different arts that included elements of Chinese Gung-Fu, Jiu-jitsu, Karate, and "Kenpo." The term "Kenpo-Karate" was created by Sifu Chow who was also a student of Henry Okazaki and studied Dan Zan Ryu Jiu-jitsu. Mr. Parker's 1st Black Diploma listed him as a "Shodan" in Kenpo, Jiu-jitsu, and karate-do. I have a copy. I began study with him in 1963 as a black belt of one of his primary former mainland teachers, Sifu Ark Wong in Los Angeles Chinatown. I was with him until his death in December of 1990 and was given the honor of awarding a Black Belt to my student, his son Edmund Parker Jr. The closest you could come to attributing anything "traditional" to Ed Parker, was a karate-gi. I was there and assisted in building some of the commercial curricula that most are familiar with called Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, and studied with him before, during, and after its creation as well and assisted with the non-published work that he unfortunately never finished. He was my best friend as his son is now. Your "encyclopedia" needs some work, sir. - Dr. Chapél
@@rchapel You are still not getting what I am saying. I am saying, it was structured like traditional arts, belts, katas, etc, just as traditional arts are structured. Yes! his system in itself is not traditional, but the structure in the way you progressed was! That is all I meant by that. unlike Bruce who started you from the get go, basing it not on, learn this stance, this kata, etc but rather on how you fought when you started learning from him, then progressing as needed to trim down, maybe not the right words, bad habits and un needed techniques, as in no set pattern. Parker, who I greatly admire did teach things as a pattern, then later, as you progressed, you yourself did the trimming down. Both grew great artist, but had different approaches on how to get them there.
@@stevendoty9408 If you're speaking of Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, you're close. However, it was famous for being an "idea" system based on concepts and not a hard curriculum. Everything was a"suggestion" and Mr. Parker left everything in the hands of the students and its teachers. It was and is more a training regimen in many ways like JKD, and not an actual "style" of the arts. It was designed to "expose" a student to many aspects and allow them to choose how they would implement them in self-defense. And yes, it had to be structured to make it business-friendly so students could progress. The whole concept was borrowed wholesale from the Arthur Murray Dance Studios Business Plan.
As someone who has a background in Villari's Shaolin Kempo Karate and Saviano's White Tiger Kenpo I found this video very interesting. Thank you for making it. You should see if Master Saviano would do an interview with you...there is a lot of history and knowledge there.
For history sake: SGM George Pesare was the teacher of Professor Nick Cerio, Professor Nick Cerio later taught GM Fred Villari Although they have a straight line lineage their respective hearts look very different from each other. SGM Pesare was taught earlier by Victor Gascon who was a Kajukenbo instructor. I was extremely fortunate to directly train under SGM George Pesare for my black belt
I would love to see a video on "no touch" martial arts. As a magician, I can tell you it's all psychological. No different than psychics. You might as well fight using astrology.
The more people I talk to the more I learn just how much these roots connect. I recommend our episode with Darryl Vidal, he's from Chinese Kempo but his system is a branch off the same Hawaiian roots as Kajukenbo. I also just interview John Hackleman yesterday who founded Hawaiian Kempo, but his roots are also Kajukenbo. I love the intertwined history!
Trained with Sijo Muhammed in a seminar and had the privilege of receiving training from his student in Cleveland under Sijo Saheim. Very giving and humble men.
Do not forget that sword arts were also once called Kenpo. I study Kenpo, as well as Taisha Ryu (classical swordsmanship from Sengoku era). Taisha Ryu is also a form of Kenpo, though it uses sword. There we go, more confusion for everyone.
I am from the "Koga Ha Kosho shorei ryu," "Shorei Ryu tiger claw," and "Manjidani Koga Ryu Wada Ha Shinobito" traditions under DR Raymond Pi. DR Pi was loosely connected with grand master Mitose through his daughter. I must say that I salute you good sir, and I am most thankful for your clarifications and comprehensive commentary. Continue forward, represent with integrity, practice well, peace and blessings to you. ❤️🙏
I practice an off shoot of American Shaolin Kempo and I can confirm that it is a self-defense based art, however we do promote fitness as well. I have had the honor of meeting Jim brassard and other high-ranking belts in this system and in my personal opinion it is a great working martial art.
We work strikes, blocks, kicks, combos, Kempos, forms and grappling to some extent however not as much as jeff speakmans Kenpo 5.0 which in my opinion has a better understanding of grappling. I used to train Kenpo 5.0 until I moved up to Oregon and started training under Scott Miller who according to my understanding broke off from the main school and opened his own school however it is for the most part a an American Shaolin Kempo school he calls his branch Open Hand Kempo there's only two schools and the system has changed several times over the years while training under Master Scott.
Great explanation. I come in the Nick Cerio line, but have gravitated to Larry Tatum. But in the end, all forms of Kenpo/Kempo are similar and we are all one family in the end.
Did you find the ginormous amount of forms, and only 32 Techniques in Cerio a contrast to the limited # of forms in Tatum but ginormous amount of techniques?
A great historical video that was very objective - I've been an AKKA (American Kenpo Karate Academies, ltd) student and ultimately school owner of Mr. Bill Packer (Senior Student of Master Tom Connor) since '89 so it's appreciated to see Mr. Connor as well as Mr. Rick Gibbins' manual. Mr. Rick Gibbins is overseeing a branch of AKKA since Mr. Packer's passing in '05. The 3 Circles concept is from Mr. Bill Packer - Santiago Barela, owner AKKA Pueblo
I have a few friends you would enjoy talking to. One of my teachers was a student of Professor Chow. And one of my other teachers was well acquainted with Ed Parker. Over the years it has been really interesting to learn the little snippets of history they have shared.
I have studied IKCA kenpo my grand master is chuck Sullivan and vic leroux i love kenpo in all its forms I studied shorin ryu karate till I was 15 achieving my black belt but I always felt out of place with the style something felt missing for myself then I tried Chinese kenpo and found what I was missing kenpo is a great martial art
Thanks for taking a shot at unraveling a complicated topic. I swear it's worse than trying to explain all the different varieties of Protestantism. It's important for people to understand that much of the history of ke(m|n)po wasn't documented by any authoritative source, and what is there is told from certain points of view. So we do the best we can, and the differences or inaccuracies aren't really worth worrying about too much.
In case you are not aware Ryu-te (Japanese: 琉手 Hepburn: Ryūte) is an Okinawan martial art founded by Seiyu Oyata Formerly : Ryu Kyu Kempo is now Ryu-Te . Master Oyata dedicated his life teaching Martial Arts to American when is want popular. Research his story, it is worth your time.
21:57 lmao omg this is epic! Love the video and please make several on this subject like a part 2 etc... This channel and masterful Dan can't be touched "see what i did 😉, seriously tho, just AWESOME sir. Thank you we all appreciate the time & knowledge you put in sir. SALUTE
I never really took you seriously in watching your other videos. However this one caught my attention and kept it from the beginning.. Thank you for a very well presented explanation of the different forms of Kenpo that are out there. It really helped my understanding of the Kenpo tradition of martial arts.
I'm....not entirely sure how to interpret this message lol. Most people that don't like me or take me seriously don't typically like Kenpo and will blast it at every chance they get. I do appreicate the comment though and I truly you hope enjoy more content on this channel. If I may ask, what videos did you watch before that you didn't care for or thought I was off base on?
As always a fun, entertaining, and knowledgeable video. Thank you. I briefly studied Kosho Shorei Ryu Kempo for about a year. I enjoyed it immensely and wouldn't mind taking it up again or finding an American Kempo school near me. There is a Villari school, but from my research it seemed very sketchy. Right now I'm studying Uechi Ryu Karate-Do,. If I may suggest, there is a wealth of information about Uechi Ryu and might make a pretty good video or two.
I have a very close friend who studied Uechi Ryu while we were in high school. I was Kenpo and he was Uechi Ryu and we have a fun rivalry back and forth and some great sparring sessions. His instructor closed the school and moved away but that is definitely on the list of arts I want to cover.
I commend you on your efforts in researching all the systems of kenpo/kempo with its multi-cultural roots and lineage. What an endeavor ... You've sparked a lot of interest, so I'll be looking forward to your next video submission(s).
I have a black belt in shaolin kempo. Technically it is almost identicial to Karazenpo goshinjutsu as taught by George Pesare and Nick Cerio Kempo. The kata series, 1-5 are the same ones taught by Pesare and the Pinian series are the same ones taught by cerio, which are themselves heavily modified versions of the okinowan/japanese Pinians. Additionally students learn 26 "combinations" taken almost directly from Karazenpo. The main difference is that Villari added a whole bunch of extra techniques on top of the core 26 combinations. These include combination 27-108, and awhole bunch of extra "Kempo" techniques. The art itself has a lot of good techniques and a whole lot of overwhelmingly bad techniques. A a student I had to learn 37 hand striking techniques, some of which were wildly impractical. The main problem I have seen in SKK, as well as virtually every other kempo system, is a focus on quantity over quality. Students learn hundreds of different self defense techniques, but never actuall learn how to throw a decent kick or punch. This leads to a lot of sloppy slapping, kicking, and flailing when a quick jab cross combo would do. That being said, as a competative kickboxer and Mixed martial artist Kempo continues to be the core of my own personal fighting style and I have used a lot of the technniques and concepts I first learned in Kempo both in the ring, and in my dy to day job as a police officer
Sir, you are almost completely correct. The most basic reason for the /n/ and /m/ pronunciation change is this: when the tongue makes the /n/ sound by touching the alveolar ridge (directly behind the front teeth) and immediately thereafter a /p/ sound is needed, the natural progression is the conversion of /n/ to /m/ because the lips have to come together to make both sounds, /n/ converts to /m/ followed by /p/. Either way, in Japanese hiragana the final consonant sounds /n/ & /m/ are always represented by the symbol /ん/. I hope this helps to increase understanding. B.A., Linguistics, University of Hawai`i @ Hilo.
This topic is intriguing to me as My Chinese Kempo instructors Sensei perished in a helicopter accident in the military back in the 80s i believe by the name of Major Rodney Ventar. After he was discharged, my instructor competed in Forms and weapons forms in the international circuit, which led to him meeting Professor Harold Laranang, whose style i believe was technically Kajukenfu, and trained under Adriano Emperado. The style had Kata, and Ko-budo weapons kata, but also had Arnis curriculum as my instructor had come from the Phillipines at 17. It would really be great to determine Professors lineage.
The first time that Karate was written as empty hand kanji was in 1902, not by Funakoshi sensei (due respect) the chinese even read them as Kong so, which is close to sound kung fu. Funakoshi sensei adopted the idea strongly when in Tokyo, but it was only a general adoption in 1936 in a masters meeting in okinawa, where the shotokan founder was not present. At that meeting it was established Karate-Do! as the martial art - the way of empty hand
Actually Funakoshi was asked to change the Kanji by members of the Japanese military academies where he taught. He had a meeting with other karate sensei in 1932? There it was suggested to use Kara as in empty as opposed to china. Some say it was due to the Japanese knowing of the upcoming invasion of China and the "sick men of Asia " analogy.
Thank you for giving Kajukenbo a mention, 🙏 When I started in 1968 we had Kempo Karate on our gi. 1972 we switched to Kempo Kungfu (Tv series Kung fu lol) I have spent much time with the Kosho folks. Blessed with Paul Yamaguchi and Thomas Young via Bruce Jurnick. Thank again Mahalo Nui Loa🙏
I'm a 3rd degree BB under Jean Guy Angell in Canada, who''s a BB under George Pesare from Rhode Island. Kenpo is Canada has a significant presence primarily in Eastern Canada.
I practice a newly created style called tajawuka Kai do kempo. Only about 23 years old and a mix of almost every traditional Asian art but now it's really more of kempo and taekwondo because our founder left to start a new school in a different state and leaving us with a master in TJKD and taekwondo. So our style has more taekwondo in it, heavy on high kicks and fast flowing hands for up close.
The first Kenpo technique I learned was "Chinese Sword A" in 1990. Since then I have seen a whole lot of versions. The way I look at it now is it doesn't matter how I move, it's how I make my opponent react that matters. I have really enjoyed this whole Kenpo series, thank you.
I have studied in traditional wing chun kuen for12 years, 6 years in Shaolin kempo, and VADHA kempo which I still train in till this day.. I have been training in Vadha kempo for the last 5 years and am and a assistant instructor or (sempai) the system derived from traditional Vadha and combined other arts such as go ju ryu, judo, akido, and tai Kwon do, not many people have heard of this style of kempo it started in Staten Island Ny and was a small but effective system.
I have trained in Guardian Kempo since 2005. It was founded in 1990 by Scot Conway. It is sometimes referred to as Guardian Kempo Do or Guardian Kempo Kajuko Do. It has roots in Kajukenbo, Kara-Ho Kempo, and the system developed by James Mitose. Several other masters have helped developed the system since our art’s founder, Grandmaster Conway, left the Kara-Ho organization in 1989-1990.
Kajukenbo is actually 7 martial art forms Ka: Karate / Kali, Ju: Judo/ Ju-Jitsu, Ken: Kenpo, Bo: Boxing/ Chuan Fa (Chinese Boxing) Kajukenbo saying: Kenpo is Kajukebo, but Kajukenbo is not Kenpo! Awesome video, not easy to convey Kenpo information with out ruffling feathers. Oss! Sifu Sullivan,
buzzardneckseahag That would be an interesting topic, How much is Kajukenbo part of the Kenpo Family? There is a lot of Kenpo in Kajukenbo. It’s also where are root came from but I believe Kajukenbo has become its own entity apart from the arts it derived from. It’s is intended to be different (MMA) Mean Martial Arts! A street combative system with many derivatives.
I trained in the Vallari system for about 10 years. Then I came across Grand master Jim Brassard, his form of Kempo was pretty much the same as Villaris. But when I started with GM Brassard, he changed the techniques from the Vallari system that actually is much more practical, things like moving backwards then moving forward and the biggest thing is box steps. Personally, I think GM Brassard's style of kempo is hands down the better American kempo styles. My nephew goes to Villaris in CT and they are teaching the same old BS techniques that will never work in a real-world situation. great vid, been watching them for a while now.
Chōjun Miyagi had summed up the numerous styles of Karate as being “different methods of teaching the same thing.” I personally think when you look at it this way, it reminds us not to take individual ‘styles’ too seriously. If the original intent of the pioneers was self defence against non consensual violence, what works works.
I have to agree with this, because you can even find this kind of variation within a single art. Each person and school is going to have a different approach and best to find the one that aligns with what you want.
@@ArtofOneDojo Jesse Enkamp recently said that styles are like different trails that lead to the top of the same mountain.
Lmao nonconsensual violence
@ArtofOneDojo How much do you know about Shodensho or South Mountain Kenpo? I met someone who says they teach it, but I've never heard of it before. Your thoughts?
I'm a former Villari Kempo student and I remember it being a lot of fun - my favorite form being "Stature of the Crane." I remember my school became a United Studies of Self Defense dojo and there were some changes I didn't like. Sparring, for example, became "no contact" which felt silly. I also remember it suddenly being more expensive too.
Kempo technique names always sound like Dragon Ball Z attacks.
Since kenpo predates DBZ, I would offer that DBZ attacks sound like kenpo techs. 😂
Even like katas. Like in nick cerio's kempo
Circle of the tiger doesnt it sound like an attack or smthing lol
I mean Goku knows Kempo, since in DB a Kempo master notices he uses it
Grow up
I think the "Dance of Death" or "Alternating Maces" are the best names for techniques
I respect Chuck Sullivan for attempting to reduce the vast amounts of techniques in the curriculum of American Kenpo as well......and a little disappointed you didnt review the most devastating form of Kenpo, so profoundly dangerous that it far surpassed the Kenpo it likely came from, New Mexico's Ameri-Dote....formulated by the venerable Master Ken! (He might be 20th degree by now)
LOL 🤑
Our channel is not yet large enough to support that kind of awesome. I think if I attempted to tackle Ameri-do Te the internet might collapse.
Lmao
Lololololololz!
I know him! His name is Matt! He's in my friend's list on Facebook!
I wish TH-cam allowed tagging of people's accounts in the comments, like Facebook does! He'd totally get a laugh from your comment, Brother!
😎
Right
Thank you for adding Tracy's Kenpo; I'm REALLY interested in KENPO 5.0, but Tracy brought me to the dance.
Thank you for including Prof. Nick Cerio
I trained in Chinese kenpo in the Traco system under Tomas Connor (thats how he spelled it at the time) in Phoenix, AZ. As far as his martial arts background is concerned, the only thing the senior instructors said was that he had been a boxer. He originated the 5 low priced introductory lessons approach to gaining new students. This was something he learned as a dance instructor for Arthur Murray Studios. He had been a weightlifter when he was in California, and became a competitive bodybuilder in he 50's. He was very strong and muscular and had a complete bodybuilding gym in his main studio. We became friends and I was one of only a couple students who were invited to Tom jr's wedding. I feel privileged to have known him.
i also trained in kempo,in kc mo at TRACO 40th broadway,trained till mr hower left,he went to where you trained,phoenix it think,this form of fighting has saved my ass numerous times,when i owned bars,got out of that business life became quieter
Thanks for the honorable mention of Saviano and McSweeney. Very well put together.
Finally some Shorinji Kempo representation! Looking forward to any future videos expanding on it further!
shorinji kempo :) awesome.
Thank you. I'm so grateful. I've been practicing mma and Mo Duk Pai Kajukenbo 25 years. It is so nice to find advanced teaching on history and stuff. Thank you times infinity million.
Hey Mr Dan another great episode. Every time I watch another one of these Arts and styles videos I feel like I learn so much.
Studied this topic for years. Yours is the most precise and accurate narration I have ever heard on the history of Kenpo/Kempo and the descriptions of it's different branches. Kudos to you Sifu, you really did your homework.
Another excellent video. I always appreciate not only how well thought-out the content is, but how respectful the tone remains. A couple points:
-I have seen the "m" vs. "n" used to distinguish lineage as well.
-Funakoshi may have popularized 空手 over 唐手 but there are records of the former ("empty hands") being used as far back in the 18th century; Japanese, like English, was reaaally fluid back in the day. Initially, in Okinawa 唐手 was originally TOUDE (or TOUDII) until around 1901 when it started being promoted as KARATE, which led to the gradual shift toward 空手.
Thank you again, and OSU Mr. Parker.
15th Degree Black Belt?!? Seems like Fred Villari was Master Ken before it was cool.
Ludicrous claim. 15 degree my ass ! On second thought I'm a 16 degree. So there !
Sonny Gallo pfff amateur. I am a 26th dan army belt
Sonny Gallo 😂😂😂
I bet Ashida Kim and Frank Dux gave him the idea.
🤣🤣🤣
I thought karate tournaments was wack until I went to first one being a blue belt at Fred Villaris tournament never seen so many brown and black belts with mouth piece flying out and ribs nearly broken. It was quite impressive. I didn’t think villaris karate could get as brutal like others. I was proven wrong (Wisconsin)
I’d love to see videos of those tournaments. The few videos I’ve seen of Shaolin Kempo look suspect.
I started Shaolin Kempo under a former Fred Villari school, but left after purple belt. It was my first martial art, and it’s what got me interested in the arts. I quit and started shotokan several years later eventually earning my Shodan at age 21 in 2008. Now a Sandan, I am teaching my children and wife. Had a great teacher from Massachusetts, miss him dearly.
This was very informative. I am not a student of martial arts, so the content, explanations and descriptions were extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Have you started training yet, sir?
Informative as always. I had an instructor in my early training who told us many times that to be considered truly knowledgeable by ones peers in the martial world, one should not only be able to recognize many arts on sight, but know something of their history, their proponents and factors leading to their present state of development. These videos you do where you explore other arts are a good tool for that. I find that even after 40+ years in the martial arts, there is much I do not know about many other arts...
Alex, awesome comment. I am surprised we haven't met, with the amount of time we.ve both have been in the martial arts.
Thank you, I really appreciate this comment. Perhaps especially so because I know exactly what you mean, I have learned so much after starting this channel that it's becoming an addiction. I love learning about other styles and then sharing that with everyone.
@@williamdicarlo4109 We probably didn't travel in the same circles and I have spent the last several years mostly as a solitary practitioner, only occasionally working or interacting with others, a condition that I thing is near the end of it's usefulness.
I started up Kenpo Taijutsu about three months ago, studying under Grandmaster Dr Taylor. I'm really enjoying it so far, but I'm not deep enough into it to be able to distinguish it from other forms.
I'm super excited for next April; I get the opportunity to meet Dr Jeff Speakman and Demetrius 'Oaktree' Edwards!
Taijutsu is merely body movement, so would should be seeing more body/foot movement and just shorter punching methods. I watched White Tiger Kenpo and it would fit right in with my Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu training as we often combined striking making it more like Kenpo and less like Aikido. Best wishes in your training.
Hi everyone, I have experience training under GM Jim Brassard as mentioned. I trained in Shaolin Kempo for 16 years, 9 of which as a full-time dojo manager. Then I found GM Jim Brassard in 2012, and have stuck with him since.
Grandmaster Brassard believes in no-nonsense Kempo, so he created Shaolin American Kempo. He found the most practical uses from many Kempo arts and teaches the best principles from them. A lot of this involves deleting forms and techniques.
Like Bruce Lee, he teaches that physical fitness is the foundation of any capable martial artist, so fitness is highly emphasized in his program. It is designed to get you fit and conditioned while learning self defense, and it works!
One of the things I love most about training under GM Brassard is that he gets you thinking. He doesn't just teach movements, he teaches principles and practical street sense. There is a time and place for different types of movement, and he has created a science of it. I have seen many types of Kempo/Kenpo, and I believe GM Brassard has done an outstanding job with his Art.
GM Brassard has perpetuated my skill and understanding light years beyond what it was before I met him. I love Kempo, and to pay homage and give credibility to our style, I made a quick video demonstration - search in TH-cam for "Kempo Rocks".
I hope this is helpful to some of you!
Brad Randolph
BoulderKarate his lineage is as follows
SGM Pesare
Professor Cerio
GM Villari
Yet GM Brassard has incorporated many of the concepts and methods of Ed Parker’s Kenpo, I truly enjoy seeing GM Brassard in action, he’s great person.
I’m a black belt under SGM George Pesare.
Stay awesome in Kenpo 😊
Taking on this topic took a lot of courage, my hats off to you. Although there is much to comment on, I will refrain and only point out a couple discrepancies. ie. The B.K.F. (Black Karate Federation) is not a "Kenpo" organization or style. Second, The Black Karate Federation was not founded by either Steve Sanders (Muhammad) or Donnie Williams. The Black Karate Federation was founded by Myself, Dr. Clifford Stewart, and Grandmaster Jerry Smith. A little digging will verify this. You might also contact the CEO of the Black Karate Federation Mr. K.C. Jones through the BKF Facebook Page. Steve Muhammad was a student of Chuck Sullivan not Ed Parker Sr. I love what you're trying to do and it is obvious you work hard to present a valuable educational aspect of the arts. Keep up the good work Brother - Dr. Chapél
I really appreciate your feedback and insight Sir, and it's an honor to have you comment. We're trying to do a lot of good with this channel and it's been a great journey so far. Thank you :)
@@ArtofOneDojo You do an excellent job sir and no one knows better than I how difficult it is to sift through the complexities and politics of an art in general, and especially the roots of modern "Kenpo" and its many branches. Anytime you think I can help drop me a line docchapel@gmail.com
I may take you up on that for future videos, thank you and I appreciate your help and feedback :)
@@ArtofOneDojo Being an old media student out of UCLA, I recognize the challenges you face, especially in negotiating the egos of martial artists in any presentations.
Dr. Chapel hope all is well.
I think if there’s anyway you guys can work out a interview on this Channel it would be amazing...
Sensei Dan did an excellent job of researching Kenpo and making the video which helps to preserve martial arts history in the U.S. Bill Ryusaki was another Kenpo teacher in California who trained Benny Urquidez and Cecil Peoples. Ryusaki had learned Kenpo from Marino Tiwanak, a Hawaiian boxer and student of Adriano Emperado. Emperado taught a lot of students such as Tiwanak, John Leoning, "Sonny" Gascon, and many others. Gascon left Hawaii to join the Air Force and later went to California. Leoning also came to California and opened a school with Gascon as an instructor. Some black belt instructors from Hawaii came to their school and told them they could not use the name Kajukenbo or the patch since they were not paying a required percentage to the home school in Hawaii. Sonny was told that he needed to pay the money right then. Sonny invited the Black Belts in for a "work out," an invitation which they refused. However, Emperado had approved the splitting of Kajukenbo into "sections," one of which was developed by Sid Asuncion, who taught Al Dacascos. Branching off into "sections" in my opinion was similar to Bruce Lee's adage: “Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own."
In a nutshell when Ed Parker came here from Hawaii there were around 3 lineages of kempo including kajukenbo. Now there’s prob almost close to 10 that were associated at one time and broke away from one another or some folks have never heard of.
My lineage is the Nick Cereo lineage.
I practice kyokushin, this past weekend we held our local tournament and we had a school of shorin kempo guys show up. They honestly cleaned up out tournament. With their fighters taking out most divisions. I myself lost to a kempo fighter in the final. Very strong style
'Shorin' as Shorinji Kempo, or Shorin-Ryu?
@@DegenerateSharingan honestly I dont know
@@DegenerateSharingan shorin
You should record it, I would like to see that go down me being a Kyokushin guy
@@hotpopcorncake I've uploaded the videos on my channel. It's in 2 parts
Elvis Presley studied Kempo under Ed Parker I believe.
Yes he did and so did his stepbrother, David Stanley. We interviewed Mr. Stanely earlier this year, did you catch that episode? He's a fascinating individual! th-cam.com/video/qqnlAZU0XXU/w-d-xo.html
@@ArtofOneDojo just seen it ..loved it thank you!
Walter Godin was one of the men who use to punch in for "The King", they use to tell him..."Not to hurt him"
Correct, Elvis was a 7th degree black belt.
There is a certificate out there for Elvis as a 9th. Has caused quite a bit of fuss, considering he moved like mud.
this is the video i've been looking for. i'm still not sold on the system itself but i'm sure that's not what your aim is but to educate us on the roots of Kenpo. thank you for this video because it's answered a lot of my questions on the lineage of Kenpo.
Interesting information. I am old and knew most of the guys on the west coast from tournaments or training with them. Ralph Castro was a good man as well as teacher and his students could fight well. I don’t know his roots. Most of the time then (the 70s) people didn’t not talk to much about the style so much as they did about who they were training under.
The guys then were serious dudes and a lot of us were Vietnam vets and we enjoyed being with the guys again that could relate and for some of us the martial arts was what we used.
Uncle Ralph was a student of Chow and Parker and one of the true "seniors." he was always good to me.
@@rchapelyep me too. My wife was his goddaughter and Juli was my father in law’s god daughter best friends from Kakaako my father in law also trained with Chow, then with Unko Ralph when he moved mainland, was his first brown belt.
This is best Kenpo video I've ever come across. Thank you for your detailed and lucid explanations.
I'm from Indonesia. I learned Kenpo for around 3 years when I was 11yro until 13yro. Shorinji Kempo, with a horizontal flip swastika logo, called Manji. And I was told by my senpai that once I learned/join Shorinji Kempo, I shouldn't join other martial arts. There was nothing weird, apart from the fighting art, I did learn lots of moral value was taught and also meditation. Although he doesn't mention much about Shorinji Kempo in this video, after ages I finally understand the differences.
Thank you for putting so much time into this video. You stayed neutral and fair yet it had lots of good information. I studied Chua Fa out of Hawaii and it was nice to hear more of how the art spread, I don't normally know all this stuff because I just focus on training. Thank you sir.
I used to train in a style of Kenpo called "twin cats" it's aptly named because of the many techniques borrowed from Fou Jiao (tiger claw kung fu)
Sadly it's not really a well-known system - my guess is because it's likely traded hands with many chinese families (triads)
Nowadays I'm training in Tang Soo Do (Korean Karate) and loving every minute of it!
that ending was funny. thank you for including Villari , trained in that style for eight years, got my instructor patch and left, too commercial, too much politics, and they didn't like that I new Shotokan and still used it( but it worked and I was all about what worked and what didn't). and there were so many belt colors. still practice it on my own ( along with Shotokan and all the other styles I took since 1979) and went to the fillipino styles. got the 23 Larry Tatum DVDs and LOVE them. if he was my teacher, maybe I wouldn't have left. I don't know. still feeling some of my old injuries from our " gotta know what it feels like" sessions. and of course we didn't have matts for the grappling. ( short shag carpet- lots of rug burns on elbows and knees). but the art had alot of good points to it. really taught me all about flow through techniques.
Hello! A couple of points I wanted to clarify:
1.Fred Villari never trained with Prof. Chow
2. James Brassard's original training was with Fred Villari in Shaolin Kempo. Later, he would incorporate Ed Parker's American Kenpo to create his own hybrid. His brother Len has been involved in American Kenpo for decades.
Thank you for correcting your earlier comment regarding John Mcsweeny and Tom Saviano.
I was hoping you would mention David German's T.A.I, his system of Kenpo jujitsu made him one of the pioneers of MMA in this country and he was the first person to combine Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate with jujitsu.
Btw, the native Okinawan language does not follow Japanese syntax and call the art Kenpo, not Kempo. It was only due to the Japanese government influence that some on Okinawa use Kempo. For the majority, the term Kenpo is still used there.
Fred Villari himself claims the Professor Chow connection. On Villari's own website in the about section, he says in the summary that he's a former student of Nick Cerio and William K.S. Chow. Is that not correct?
I will have to look more into Mr. German's T.A.I. I will admit that was one I hadn't known about. Do you have any specific suggestions you feel would be a good read about it?
Thank you for the feedback!
Art of One Dojo Should look into Shihan Joe Nesta who was a direct Disciple of Prof Cerio. Shihan Nesta has created a beautifully effective system . He has soooo much respect for Prof Cerio .
@@ArtofOneDojo Fred Villari trained with Nick Cerio and received his nidan from him. In the early days of the original USSD in New England we used to bow to a photo of Prof Chow. Prof. Cerio had trained with Chow in the later 1960s along with Bill Marciarelli of Fall River,Massachusetts. However, Villari never studied directly with Prof. Chow that I am aware of. I knew the photo was taken off the wall of USSD studios in the later 1970s. Prof. Chow when asked stated he had never taught Villari.
@@KENPOJOE1 Nick Cerio taught Vilari? wow. I use to be a Nick Cerio student in the late '90s in a kickboxing/boxing community center in Pawtucket Prov. when i moved to Florida I went to try out vilari school doesn't feel the same. Nick Cerio training feels authentic Okinawan/modern serious modern stuff. like on the first day he made us do slipt till we were sore, it kinda felt like my Kyokushin training.
Thank you for getting GM Cerio's Information correct, so many people don't
I really enjoyed the video. I have been studying Taika Oyata's Ryukyu Kempo for 2 years now. I am an E-Dan in Tang Soo Do as well. And yes you pronounced Taika's name correctly. Thanks.
Which location? I knew practitioners from Quad Cities and KC
@@scottbauer71 In South Carolina. My instructor studied under One of Tasshi Jim Logue's black belts. He has a small dojo in Wagner,S.C however he doesn't advertise his school. He is more interested in handing down Taika's art than having a lot of students.
Interesting history of Kenpo/Kempo karate. I keep hearing Okinawa being mentioned in the early formations of so many martial arts. It's also interesting that Kenpo is adding more grappling techniques. Thanks for the history lesson. It's troubling to see 20 different variatiions come out of the style with every major teacher going off and teaching "His style" of Kenpo.
Jim Brassard was a student of Fred Villari. The systems are the same but Jim has added his own rapid fire flare.
Another great video. The kenpo I was learning for the last two years is more like kenpo 5.0. It was a mix of American kenpo and Brazilian jujitsu.
The Kenpo style I study seems to come from Chow's student Ron Alo. When Alo brought Kara-Ho Kenpo to California, there was not really any forms in the system. Alo got a Dan rank under Robert Trias. Trias was taught by a student of Choki Motobu. Mitose had also referenced Choki Motobu as a great Kenpo master. The addition of Okinawan Kata in Kara-Ho Kenpo by Alo has been what is the Okinawan Kenpo I study in Arizona.
The Ryukyu Kenpo is actually more varied. Motobu and Funakoshi both referred to karate as Ryukyu Kenpo/Kempo. Oyata had actually changed the name of his system to Ryu-Te because of controversy with Dillman. Basically, Okinawa Kenpo Tomri-te is what was passed down from Nakamura. Odo and Oyata brought the system to the USA. Dillman took the vital point strikes that Oyata taught into the "pressure point KO" and the "no touch KO". One of the students of the Arvisos here in Yuma, AZ has put himself under the Dillman organization. I do not study there, and will not study there, because of this issue.
The lineage I have seems to go this route:
To Alo...
Me
Cano Sensei
Porchas Sensei
Arviso Sensei
Alo Sensei
Alo lineage 1...
Alo Sensei
Chow Sensei
Mitose Sensei
(Reference to Motobu Sensei by Mitose)
Alo lineage 2...
Alo sensei
Trias Sensei
Hsiang Sensei
Motobu Sensei
I consider AK to be a sibling of my system. I also see some influence from AK in our system, as the Arvisos and Porchas families have often competed at competitions that Ed Parker and AK students also would attend. I have a deep respect for both the systems from Hawaii, and see the value in the systems and how they can improve my undrstanding of martial arts.
Cool to hear from an Alo lineage Kenpoist. I study under Ron Alo from 1969 -1979. We also shared an apartment as roommates in 1978-79. This was before he married Julie. Early on there were very few forms/kata. There was actually a heavy judo influence in the curriculum in the early years. In fact Ron was an asst. instructor at a judo club where I was at first before he branched off and I followed him.
Early on with Ron Alo we wore the Trias patch and were under the USKA umbrella. Trias was a 6th dan in Judo so his mixed style reflected that. It was about '74-75 ish that Ron created his own system and phased out some of the judo and introduced more forms and kata. Although he retained a lot of sparring heavy training. I've practiced with many Kenpoists from all linage and today I would say the original Kenpo Alo taught was closer to Kajukenpo. There are still just a few dojo's that wear the Alo Kenpo patch but those schools teach something closer to a Parker curriculum. In fact just a few years before they both died (both within 1-2 years of each other) Parker elevated Ron to 7th and it appears the current Alo schools seem to resemble that Parker influence.
Absolutely loved this. My first instructor, William Marciarelli, of Fall River Mass., was a student of William K.S.Chow, and a close friend of Nick Cerio of Providence, R.I. The two cities are only a 20 minute drive from each other. I have seen videos of the two men training with Prof. Chow in Hawaii. I also had the pleasure of meeting Nick Cerio on several occasions, when I was a youngster. I have also spent some time in the Fred Villari system, and find similarities in that system and Prof. Chow's system as well. Thanks so much for the in depth history of Kenpo. Quite frankly, I knew it was tangled web, but you have managed to clarify with chronology and even etomology the history of the art quite beautifully. Thanks again.
That's awesome that you were exposed to them as such an early age. Even if for a brief moment, meeting people like that leave an impression. I am very jealous :)
As a person that’s trained in Kenpo most of his life I have come to know a bit of the history as well. Basically, Kenpo split into two main paths after Professor Chow’s Karaho Kenpo. One being your lineage American Kenpo and two being Kajukenbo. My family tree ties into this branch. Kajukenbo lead to Karazenpo Goshinjutsu, which lead to Pesare’s Kenpo, which lead to Nick Cerio’s Kenpo, and finally lead to Shaolin Kempo Karate. Each founder like you said added other martial arts to help form their systems. But as you mentioned we all come from the same family tree. In some ways we are cousins in the Kenpo family.
Talking about differing styles of Kempo, I took lessons in the military with a friend who was ranked in Hsien Kempo (a Tibetan/Chinese variety). Became proficient that we tested for our Black Belts in Oregon at the same time. That was a big time proud moment for me. Now restarting my training to loosen some of these aged muscles/joints up so I should have some good news soon.
Wow! Awesome information especially when it come to this Art called fist law and the George Dillman joint was funny as hell 🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Dan, you really put together a great video on the Kenpo subject. What a sticky wicket, I must say. After reading through the comments, I thank Ed Parker for giving us the freedom to explore within our own system due to the fact so many 'traditional' styles are so concerned to not change anything. This brings out the fact that how important it is for a Kenpoist to train in something classical to give them a foundation to build on.
William Chow's brother John Chow-Hoon created the Chow-Hoon Goshin Jitsu system.
I love the history of all of this. Thank you for placing some things for me. And thank you for your video. I studied a form of Kenjo, offshoot of Kenpo/Kempo from Okinawa. The Grand Master was Jerry Knowle, his first student was James Crowder, and Master Crowder became Grand Master after Grand Master Knowle died about 20 years ago. My discipline was Crane. It was very different but I loved it very much until an injury took me completely out of commission. I can no longer practice martial arts in any capacity and I miss it so much. When I found it, and it found me, I was searching for something in my life and had searched for something most of my life, it filled that void. I've seen other forms of Kenjo that are nothing like what I experienced. It was very deadly and very aggressive. I will never forget the feeling of being able to perform my Crane Kata. Bo staff, and chucks, double chucks. It was a wonderful time in my life. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
I’ve been doing Kempo at United Studios Of Self Defense for 32yrs and I love it. It was Villaris but then they split. Maybe u could do ab episode on the Kempo i study. I would love 2 help out. I love this show!!
In light of Master Villari's passing, it might be a nice tribute.
tell me a little about this style...i'm very curious, greetings
I was waiting for this video. Keep up the good work
I got my foundational training in Okinawan Kenpo, while growing up in Hawaii. The system was founded back in Okinawa by Shigeru Nakamura in the 1950s. In 1969, Seikichi Odo took over as Grandmaster till his passing in 2002. Odo Sensei added several kata to our curriculum as well as Kobudo. Incidentally, Seiyu Oyata also trained under Nakamura. I have a few videos on my channel performing some of the kata & kobudo forms. I left Hawaii in 1991, so my kata is from that time period - other videos elsewhere on TH-cam will have different variations as the system has continued to evolve. Re: Kara Ho Kenpo - I had the honor of meeting Master Sam Kuoha at a recent seminar. He had a lot of great knowledge to share!
Oyata was Nakamura's enforcer and the Okinawan full contact Bogu Kumite champion.
Four Scorpio Productions I viewed your kata and I’m surprised Odo added on to Nakamura’s 12 kata. Nakamura taught Kuniyoshi No Sai as well. Was that still taught?
@@RaulPerez1 If that sai kata was taught, it dropped off our curriculum by the 1980s, at least in Hawaii. There might be older students of Nakamura who still know it. Thanks for taking a look at my videos!
@@RaulPerez1 I know that Nakamura was one of the first to use full contact kumite with bogu -- years before it became popular!
@@fourscorpio That's a shame that Hawaii is missing out on such historical Kata. The Kata was handed down to Nakamura from Kuniyoshi (who also taught Nakamura Seisan and Neisaishi Kata). I've searched around and find it now being called Nakamura No Sai.
Black belt in Tracy Kenpo and Kajukenbo. Represent!
That was really good! thanks for improving my martial arts history knowledge...
This is one of my favorite episodes. I’ve watched this so many times I’ve lost count
:)
I remember something Bruce Lee said about Parker, both were reaching for the same goal, natural fighting( wrong term, but close) Lee held the non-traditional approach, training you freedom from the start, Parker, traditional, gaining freedom as you develope!
Ed Parker Sr. was never a traditionalist and neither were his teacher(s).
@@rchapel did not say he was a traditionalist, said he approached it, as in taught, in the traditional way! ie: rank requirements, katas, etc. been at this since 1973, i do know a bit! in fact even my instructors called me their walking martial arts encyclopedia, as i knew the history and origins of many, many of the arts.
@@stevendoty9408 That's nice. When you started I had been a Black Belt for just over a decade. You may think you know the origin of many arts, but clearly, you know little about Ed Parker Sr. Not only was he not a traditionalist, but he also did not teach in a traditional way. His original art as taught to him by William Kwai Sun Chow (nicknamed Thunderbolt) was a hybrid of different arts that included elements of Chinese Gung-Fu, Jiu-jitsu, Karate, and "Kenpo." The term "Kenpo-Karate" was created by Sifu Chow who was also a student of Henry Okazaki and studied Dan Zan Ryu Jiu-jitsu. Mr. Parker's 1st Black Diploma listed him as a "Shodan" in Kenpo, Jiu-jitsu, and karate-do. I have a copy. I began study with him in 1963 as a black belt of one of his primary former mainland teachers, Sifu Ark Wong in Los Angeles Chinatown. I was with him until his death in December of 1990 and was given the honor of awarding a Black Belt to my student, his son Edmund Parker Jr. The closest you could come to attributing anything "traditional" to Ed Parker, was a karate-gi. I was there and assisted in building some of the commercial curricula that most are familiar with called Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, and studied with him before, during, and after its creation as well and assisted with the non-published work that he unfortunately never finished. He was my best friend as his son is now. Your "encyclopedia" needs some work, sir. - Dr. Chapél
@@rchapel You are still not getting what I am saying. I am saying, it was structured like traditional arts, belts, katas, etc, just as traditional arts are structured. Yes! his system in itself is not traditional, but the structure in the way you progressed was! That is all I meant by that. unlike Bruce who started you from the get go, basing it not on, learn this stance, this kata, etc but rather on how you fought when you started learning from him, then progressing as needed to trim down, maybe not the right words, bad habits and un needed techniques, as in no set pattern. Parker, who I greatly admire did teach things as a pattern, then later, as you progressed, you yourself did the trimming down. Both grew great artist, but had different approaches on how to get them there.
@@stevendoty9408 If you're speaking of Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, you're close. However, it was famous for being an "idea" system based on concepts and not a hard curriculum. Everything was a"suggestion" and Mr. Parker left everything in the hands of the students and its teachers. It was and is more a training regimen in many ways like JKD, and not an actual "style" of the arts. It was designed to "expose" a student to many aspects and allow them to choose how they would implement them in self-defense. And yes, it had to be structured to make it business-friendly so students could progress. The whole concept was borrowed wholesale from the Arthur Murray Dance Studios Business Plan.
As someone who has a background in Villari's Shaolin Kempo Karate and Saviano's White Tiger Kenpo I found this video very interesting. Thank you for making it. You should see if Master Saviano would do an interview with you...there is a lot of history and knowledge there.
For history sake: SGM George Pesare was the teacher of Professor Nick Cerio, Professor Nick Cerio later taught GM Fred Villari Although they have a straight line lineage their respective hearts look very different from each other.
SGM Pesare was taught earlier by Victor Gascon who was a Kajukenbo instructor. I was extremely fortunate to directly train under SGM George Pesare for my black belt
A very informative video thank you for sharing I studied kempo many years ago
I would love to see a video on "no touch" martial arts. As a magician, I can tell you it's all psychological. No different than psychics. You might as well fight using astrology.
yellow bamboo
Oh yeah? Well lets see how you fair against my wrath once all the planets are aligned!!!
@@ArtofOneDojo I'll see your planet alignment, and I'll counter with candles and incense!
@@richardthemagician8991 Oh yeah?? We'll I'll SEE YOUR INCENSE and.....wait...what scent? I'm a sucker for Frankincense.
@@ArtofOneDojo check and mate!
Thank you, amazing explaination.
I practice Kajukenbo, and now it's everything much more clear about its style, roots and relationship with Kempo.
The more people I talk to the more I learn just how much these roots connect. I recommend our episode with Darryl Vidal, he's from Chinese Kempo but his system is a branch off the same Hawaiian roots as Kajukenbo. I also just interview John Hackleman yesterday who founded Hawaiian Kempo, but his roots are also Kajukenbo. I love the intertwined history!
The only relevant kenpo style lol jkjk
Trained with Sijo Muhammed in a seminar and had the privilege of receiving training from his student in Cleveland under Sijo Saheim. Very giving and humble men.
Do not forget that sword arts were also once called Kenpo. I study Kenpo, as well as Taisha Ryu (classical swordsmanship from Sengoku era). Taisha Ryu is also a form of Kenpo, though it uses sword. There we go, more confusion for everyone.
Ed parker is a legend thanks to strong ties with others
Elvis?
James Wing Woo?
Johnathan Mcbride Peter Parker is better.
I am from the "Koga Ha Kosho shorei ryu," "Shorei Ryu tiger claw," and "Manjidani Koga Ryu Wada Ha Shinobito" traditions under DR Raymond Pi. DR Pi was loosely connected with grand master Mitose through his daughter. I must say that I salute you good sir, and I am most thankful for your clarifications and comprehensive commentary. Continue forward, represent with integrity, practice well, peace and blessings to you.
❤️🙏
I study kajukenbo 12 yrs now. Yay emperado!
O do Hawaiian kempo and i agree with you. He was the main man in kempo.
Ohana !! Salute 🤚🏼🤛🏼 Kajukenbo K.S.D.S 🤙🏼
I practice an off shoot of American Shaolin Kempo and I can confirm that it is a self-defense based art, however we do promote fitness as well. I have had the honor of meeting Jim brassard and other high-ranking belts in this system and in my personal opinion it is a great working martial art.
We work strikes, blocks, kicks, combos, Kempos, forms and grappling to some extent however not as much as jeff speakmans Kenpo 5.0 which in my opinion has a better understanding of grappling. I used to train Kenpo 5.0 until I moved up to Oregon and started training under Scott Miller who according to my understanding broke off from the main school and opened his own school however it is for the most part a an American Shaolin Kempo school he calls his branch Open Hand Kempo there's only two schools and the system has changed several times over the years while training under Master Scott.
Great explanation. I come in the Nick Cerio line, but have gravitated to Larry Tatum. But in the end, all forms of Kenpo/Kempo are similar and we are all one family in the end.
Did you find the ginormous amount of forms, and only 32 Techniques in Cerio a contrast to the limited # of forms in Tatum but ginormous amount of techniques?
@@TheGrafton12 Yes I see the differences. Cerio is more Shaolin so not surprising to see a lot of forms.
A great historical video that was very objective - I've been an AKKA (American Kenpo Karate Academies, ltd) student and ultimately school owner of Mr. Bill Packer (Senior Student of Master Tom Connor) since '89 so it's appreciated to see Mr. Connor as well as Mr. Rick Gibbins' manual. Mr. Rick Gibbins is overseeing a branch of AKKA since Mr. Packer's passing in '05. The 3 Circles concept is from Mr. Bill Packer - Santiago Barela, owner AKKA Pueblo
Hawaiian Kempo
I have a few friends you would enjoy talking to. One of my teachers was a student of Professor Chow. And one of my other teachers was well acquainted with Ed Parker. Over the years it has been really interesting to learn the little snippets of history they have shared.
I have studied IKCA kenpo my grand master is chuck Sullivan and vic leroux i love kenpo in all its forms I studied shorin ryu karate till I was 15 achieving my black belt but I always felt out of place with the style something felt missing for myself then I tried Chinese kenpo and found what I was missing kenpo is a great martial art
Hello to a fellow IKCA practitioner!!
Thanks for taking a shot at unraveling a complicated topic. I swear it's worse than trying to explain all the different varieties of Protestantism. It's important for people to understand that much of the history of ke(m|n)po wasn't documented by any authoritative source, and what is there is told from certain points of view. So we do the best we can, and the differences or inaccuracies aren't really worth worrying about too much.
In case you are not aware Ryu-te (Japanese: 琉手 Hepburn: Ryūte) is an Okinawan martial art founded by Seiyu Oyata
Formerly :
Ryu Kyu Kempo
is now Ryu-Te . Master Oyata dedicated his life teaching Martial Arts to American when is want popular. Research his story, it is worth your time.
21:57 lmao omg this is epic! Love the video and please make several on this subject like a part 2 etc... This channel and masterful Dan can't be touched "see what i did 😉, seriously tho, just AWESOME sir. Thank you we all appreciate the time & knowledge you put in sir. SALUTE
surprised we didn’t hear about hawaiian kenpo or kempo (shrug) that chuck liddell put on the map
White Tiger with Master Sav! Great school and sorry he recently retired.
I learned a lot and I give you a 10 for the back kick 😂😂😂
I really love your channel I do shaolin Kung fu and I love learning about different martial arts! Keep up great work!
Thanks for mentioning Oyata Ryukyu Kempo.
I never really took you seriously in watching your other videos. However this one caught my attention and kept it from the beginning.. Thank you for a very well presented explanation of the different forms of Kenpo that are out there. It really helped my understanding of the Kenpo tradition of martial arts.
I'm....not entirely sure how to interpret this message lol. Most people that don't like me or take me seriously don't typically like Kenpo and will blast it at every chance they get. I do appreicate the comment though and I truly you hope enjoy more content on this channel. If I may ask, what videos did you watch before that you didn't care for or thought I was off base on?
As always a fun, entertaining, and knowledgeable video. Thank you. I briefly studied Kosho Shorei Ryu Kempo for about a year. I enjoyed it immensely and wouldn't mind taking it up again or finding an American Kempo school near me. There is a Villari school, but from my research it seemed very sketchy. Right now I'm studying Uechi Ryu Karate-Do,. If I may suggest, there is a wealth of information about Uechi Ryu and might make a pretty good video or two.
I have a very close friend who studied Uechi Ryu while we were in high school. I was Kenpo and he was Uechi Ryu and we have a fun rivalry back and forth and some great sparring sessions. His instructor closed the school and moved away but that is definitely on the list of arts I want to cover.
@@ArtofOneDojo Jesse Encamp claims it is the best form of Karate for self defense.
The late George Iversen was a ninth degree black belt and a student of Emporado and had developed his own style;
Iversen Kajukenbo.
Do a video covering shorinji Kempo
I commend you on your efforts in researching all the systems of kenpo/kempo with its multi-cultural roots and lineage. What an endeavor ... You've sparked a lot of interest, so I'll be looking forward to your next video submission(s).
I have a black belt in shaolin kempo. Technically it is almost identicial to Karazenpo goshinjutsu as taught by George Pesare and Nick Cerio Kempo. The kata series, 1-5 are the same ones taught by Pesare and the Pinian series are the same ones taught by cerio, which are themselves heavily modified versions of the okinowan/japanese Pinians. Additionally students learn 26 "combinations" taken almost directly from Karazenpo.
The main difference is that Villari added a whole bunch of extra techniques on top of the core 26 combinations. These include combination 27-108, and awhole bunch of extra "Kempo" techniques.
The art itself has a lot of good techniques and a whole lot of overwhelmingly bad techniques. A a student I had to learn 37 hand striking techniques, some of which were wildly impractical.
The main problem I have seen in SKK, as well as virtually every other kempo system, is a focus on quantity over quality. Students learn hundreds of different self defense techniques, but never actuall learn how to throw a decent kick or punch. This leads to a lot of sloppy slapping, kicking, and flailing when a quick jab cross combo would do.
That being said, as a competative kickboxer and Mixed martial artist Kempo continues to be the core of my own personal fighting style and I have used a lot of the technniques and concepts I first learned in Kempo both in the ring, and in my dy to day job as a police officer
Sir, you are almost completely correct. The most basic reason for the /n/ and /m/ pronunciation change is this: when the tongue makes the /n/ sound by touching the alveolar ridge (directly behind the front teeth) and immediately thereafter a /p/ sound is needed, the natural progression is the conversion of /n/ to /m/ because the lips have to come together to make both sounds, /n/ converts to /m/ followed by /p/. Either way, in Japanese hiragana the final consonant sounds /n/ & /m/ are always represented by the symbol /ん/. I hope this helps to increase understanding. B.A., Linguistics, University of Hawai`i @ Hilo.
Did you guys mention Kwon Bop? Also, please do a video with Kenpo Joe Rebelo
Thanks for the mention! I am surprised Kwon bop and the kenpo connection isn't mentioned in their Tang Soo Do segments!
@@KENPOJOE1 oh wow, thanks for the reply Kenpo Joe. I'm a big fan of yours, love your videos, these guys are very similar to your channel too.
This topic is intriguing to me as My Chinese Kempo instructors Sensei perished in a helicopter accident in the military back in the 80s i believe by the name of Major Rodney Ventar. After he was discharged, my instructor competed in Forms and weapons forms in the international circuit, which led to him meeting Professor Harold Laranang, whose style i believe was technically Kajukenfu, and trained under Adriano Emperado.
The style had Kata, and Ko-budo weapons kata, but also had Arnis curriculum as my instructor had come from the Phillipines at 17.
It would really be great to determine Professors lineage.
The first time that Karate was written as empty hand kanji was in 1902, not by Funakoshi sensei (due respect) the chinese even read them as Kong so, which is close to sound kung fu. Funakoshi sensei adopted the idea strongly when in Tokyo, but it was only a general adoption in 1936 in a masters meeting in okinawa, where the shotokan founder was not present. At that meeting it was established Karate-Do! as the martial art - the way of empty hand
Actually Funakoshi was asked to change the Kanji by members of the Japanese military academies where he taught. He had a meeting with other karate sensei in 1932? There it was suggested to use Kara as in empty as opposed to china. Some say it was due to the Japanese knowing of the upcoming invasion of China and the "sick men of Asia " analogy.
Thank you for giving Kajukenbo a mention, 🙏
When I started in 1968 we had Kempo Karate on our gi. 1972 we switched to Kempo Kungfu
(Tv series Kung fu lol)
I have spent much time with the Kosho folks. Blessed with Paul Yamaguchi and Thomas
Young via Bruce Jurnick.
Thank again
Mahalo Nui Loa🙏
I'm a 3rd degree BB under Jean Guy Angell in Canada, who''s a BB under George Pesare from Rhode Island. Kenpo is Canada has a significant presence primarily in Eastern Canada.
I practice a newly created style called tajawuka Kai do kempo. Only about 23 years old and a mix of almost every traditional Asian art but now it's really more of kempo and taekwondo because our founder left to start a new school in a different state and leaving us with a master in TJKD and taekwondo. So our style has more taekwondo in it, heavy on high kicks and fast flowing hands for up close.
I really don't know much about Kempo, I'm just here to observe.
The first Kenpo technique I learned was "Chinese Sword A" in 1990. Since then I have seen a whole lot of versions. The way I look at it now is it doesn't matter how I move, it's how I make my opponent react that matters. I have really enjoyed this whole Kenpo series, thank you.
Tracy Kenpo then? I remember learning that a LONG time ago, but I don't recall it exactly now.
22:00 you forgot to restomp the groin
I have studied in traditional wing chun kuen for12 years, 6 years in Shaolin kempo, and VADHA kempo which I still train in till this day.. I have been training in Vadha kempo for the last 5 years and am and a assistant instructor or (sempai) the system derived from traditional Vadha and combined other arts such as go ju ryu, judo, akido, and tai Kwon do, not many people have heard of this style of kempo it started in Staten Island Ny and was a small but effective system.
Around 2 and a half months ago I started doing shaolin kempo
I have trained in Guardian Kempo since 2005. It was founded in 1990 by Scot Conway. It is sometimes referred to as Guardian Kempo Do or Guardian Kempo Kajuko Do. It has roots in Kajukenbo, Kara-Ho Kempo, and the system developed by James Mitose. Several other masters have helped developed the system since our art’s founder, Grandmaster Conway, left the Kara-Ho organization in 1989-1990.
Kajukenbo is actually 7 martial art forms Ka: Karate / Kali, Ju: Judo/ Ju-Jitsu, Ken: Kenpo, Bo: Boxing/ Chuan Fa (Chinese Boxing)
Kajukenbo saying:
Kenpo is Kajukebo, but Kajukenbo is not Kenpo!
Awesome video, not easy to convey Kenpo information with out ruffling feathers. Oss!
Sifu Sullivan,
Kajukenbo is Al Dacasco's combination of everything in existence like a mixed martial art. Ha!
I feel that Kajukenbo is part of the Kempo family
Jim M
I teach Kajukenbo and SGM George Pesare’s Kempo in Albany NY
buzzardneckseahag
That would be an interesting topic, How much is Kajukenbo part of the Kenpo Family? There is a lot of Kenpo in Kajukenbo. It’s also where are root came from but I believe Kajukenbo has become its own entity apart from the arts it derived from. It’s is intended to be different (MMA) Mean Martial Arts! A street combative system with many derivatives.
Trained in tang te kempo for almost 10 years. Thank you for this video
I went to USSD for ten years and Villari for 2. A lot of the material is very similar with small differences.
I trained in the Vallari system for about 10 years. Then I came across Grand master Jim Brassard, his form of Kempo was pretty much the same as Villaris. But when I started with GM Brassard, he changed the techniques from the Vallari system that actually is much more practical, things like moving backwards then moving forward and the biggest thing is box steps. Personally, I think GM Brassard's style of kempo is hands down the better American kempo styles. My nephew goes to Villaris in CT and they are teaching the same old BS techniques that will never work in a real-world situation. great vid, been watching them for a while now.