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Karate
Kenpo: A brief lesson on the history and lineage
Kenpo is a Japanese unarmed fighting art that was brought from China to Japan about 700 years ago. The word Kenpo means literally, “Fist Law.” The Japanese adaptation of this style was well suited to defend against the various unarmed Japanese martial arts of the 12th century. Few modifications were required for Kenpo to overcome the new unarmed systems that developed over the next seven centuries that came to be known as Karate (Japanese for “Empty Hand”). However, for those who developed their art into a truly Japanese style, the term was simply Kenpo. During this same period the Chinese system from which Kenpo was derived underwent so many changes that, while most of the Kenpo techniques can be found scattered among the hundreds of Chinese fighting systems, there is no single system in China today that resembles Kenpo. The modern history of Kenpo began in the 1940s when Great Grandmaster James Mitose (1916-1981) started teaching his martial art, Kosho-Ryu Kenpo, in Hawaii.
Great Grand Master James Mitose: a Japanese American martial artist who brought the art of Kenpo to the United States. Mitose returned to Hawaii from Japan in 1936, and began teaching Kenpo, opening his own martial arts school in 1942. Almost all Kenpo schools outside of Japan trace their lineage to the teachings of James Mitose, via William K.S. Chow, Adriano Emperado and Edmund K. Parker Sr.
William Kwai Sun Chow: was instrumental in the development of the martial arts in the United States, specifically the family of styles referred to as Kenpo/Kempo. In 1944, Chow began teaching what he called “Kenpo Karate” at the Nuuanu YMCA in Honolulu.
Adriano Emperado: was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 16, 1926. Professor Emperado received much of his martial arts training from Professor K.S. Chow and Professor James Mitose. In 1947, he was part of the Black Belt Society that developed the art form currently known as Kajukenbo.
Victor Gascon: was born on March 6, 1933 to parents who had immigrated to Hawaii from the Philippines in 1926. Gascon’s journey with Kenpo began in 1948 under Professor Adriano Emperado whom he continued to study under until he joined the United States Air Force in 1952. In 1960, Gascon developed and began teaching his system of Karazenpo-Go-Shinjutsu.
S. George Pesare: was born in 1939 in Providence, Rhode Island, and attended high school there. Grandmaster Pesare began his martial arts career with Karazenpo-Go-Shinjutsu in 1958 with his instructor, Grandmaster Victor Gascon and would later achieve the rank of 10th degree in that system.
Grand Master Jean Guy Angell: started his martial arts with the art of Shorin-Ryu in April 1965 in Montreal, Canada receiving his black belt in 1968. Jean Guy Angell also trained with George Pesare and was promoted to black belt by Grand Master Pesare in August 1968. In 1968, Grand Master Jean Guy Angell opened his first Kenpo School in Quebec, Canada moving his school to Montreal in 1970. This is considered the Main Kenpo Institute and headquarters for the Style of Kenpo in Canada.
Kenpo in Newfoundland: All of the Kenpo schools in Newfoundland, including ours, currently trace their lineage to the Jean-Guy Angell style of Kenpo. We teach the traditional Katas as taught by Grand Master Angell and continue the Kenpo tradition of constant evaluation and evolution of the techniques taught within the system.
“I come to you with only karate, empty hands. I have no weapons, but should I be forced to defend myself, my principles or my honor; should it be a matter of life or death, of right or wrong; then here are my weapons, karate, my empty hands.” –Kenpo Creed (Ed Parker – March, 1957)