Kenpo Karate
Ed Parker’s system from the USA, rooted in his Hawaiian teacher William Chow, built on 154 named self-defense sequences and belts up to 10th dan.
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About Kenpo Karate
Kenpo Karate is the earlier name of the system of Ed Parker (1931–1990), who developed and codified it in the USA in the mid-twentieth century and later called it American Kenpo Karate. Parker was born in Honolulu and studied for almost six years under William Kwai Sun Chow, who from 1944 taught in Hawaii under the name Kenpo Karate. Chow was a student of James Mitose, whose claims of a Kosho-ryu family lineage are uncertain. We have not found an explicit statement that Parker’s system derives from Okinawan or Japanese karate. Sources state that Parker began teaching in 1954 in Provo, or in 1957. He had a dojo in Pasadena in 1956 and founded the International Kenpo Karate Association in 1962, or at the end of 1963.
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The technical basis is 154 named self-defense sequences with 96 extensions. The system rests on principles such as “Marriage of Gravity” or the rule that every block is a strike and every strike is a block. Parker understood techniques as ideas for logically understanding movement and encouraged students to adapt them. Instruction proceeds in the Ideal Phase, the What-if Phase and the Formulation Phase, and Parker created eleven forms. The belts run from white through yellow, orange, purple, blue and green to brown and black 1st to 10th dan, and the number of techniques per belt differed by school. From 1964 Parker held the kumite tournament Long Beach International Karate Championships, at whose first edition Bruce Lee appeared. We have not found competition rules of any kenpo organization. After Parker’s death in 1990 there remained neither a named successor nor a uniform syllabus. His senior students taught in their own way and derived styles arose, and we have not found mutual recognition of grades between organizations.
History
Kenpo Karate is the earlier name of the system developed and codified in the USA by Ed Parker (Edmund Kealoha Parker, 1931–1990, a native of Honolulu). He later called it American Kenpo Karate. The line leads through Hawaii. James Mitose (1916–1981) taught kenpo from 1936, but his claims of a Kosho-ryu family lineage are uncertain, and the content of his book matches Mutsu Mizuho’s book Karate Kenpo from 1933. His student William Kwai Sun Chow taught from 1944 at the Nuuanu YMCA in Honolulu under the name Kenpo Karate, and Parker studied under him for almost six years. After leaving for Brigham Young University, Parker began to teach. Sources give the year 1954 in Provo, Utah, or the year 1957. According to Black Belt he had a dojo in Pasadena, California, in 1956. He founded the International Kenpo Karate Association (IKKA) in 1962, or at the end of 1963. He published the books Kenpo Karate: Law of the Fist and the Empty Hand (1960 or 1961) and Secrets of Chinese Karate (1963).
How it differs
The word kenpo covers several arts that are only loosely related historically. According to Britannica, karate was systematized in Okinawa in the 17th century and reached Japan in the nineteen-twenties, and according to olympics.com competitive karate has two formats, kata and kumite. Ed Parker's American kenpo has no single competition ruleset or syllabus, and its teaching rests on named self-defense sequences. Shorinji Kempo is a different art with the same word in its name. It was founded in 1947 by Doshin So in Tadotsu in Kagawa Prefecture, and according to the World Shorinji Kempo Organization there is only one school worldwide with the same teaching, techniques and educational system. Nippon Budokan states that its strikes, kicks and holds are never used to start aggression, and the organization describes it as a method of human development with the principle of half for one's own happiness and half for the happiness of others. Kajukenbo arose, according to its own history, in 1947 to 1949 at the Palama Settlement community center on Oahu, and its name combines the abbreviations for karate, judo, kenpo and Chinese boxing, with kenpo being only one of its four components. According to the organization, Adriano Emperado stood behind kenpo in it.
Technique
The word kenpo (拳法) means “fist” and “method” and in Japanese denotes mainly striking systems, especially of Chinese origin. Mitose claimed a Japanese origin for the art but described Okinawan and Chinese roots. We have not found an explicit statement that Parker’s system derives from Okinawan or Japanese karate. Parker’s codification contains 154 named self-defense sequences of the so-called “ideal phase” and 96 extensions to them. It is stated that Parker gave techniques names such as Thundering Hammers, Five Swords, Prance of the Tiger or Flashing Mace as a memory aid. The principles of the system include “Marriage of Gravity”, the principle that every block is a strike and every strike is a block, the point of origin, economy of motion and personalization. John Sepulveda in an article in Black Belt quotes Parker that self-defense techniques are ideas meant to help students understand movement logically, and Parker encouraged them to adapt them.
Training
Instruction proceeds in three phases: the Ideal Phase, the What-if Phase and the Formulation Phase. Parker summarized the codification of instruction in the five-part series Infinite Insights into Kenpo (1982–1987). By his death he had created eleven forms, three short and eight long. We have not found their names or their placement in competition divisions. We have also not found a source on the degree of the opponent’s resistance in training, that is, whether and how sparring with full resistance is trained. Al Tracy describes Parker’s schools of the sixties as classes twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday or on Tuesday and Thursday, where forms took up a large part of the time. As locations of schools he gives Pasadena, Santa Monica, San Francisco, Daly City, San Jose and Portland. This is the personal historical account of a single organization.
Ranks and progression
The colour belts run in the order white, yellow, orange, purple, blue and green. They are followed by brown belts of the 1st to 3rd grade and black belts from 1st to 10th dan. The grades of the black belt are distinguished by red markings, and from 3rd dan upward promotion rests more on a contribution to the art, for example teaching and research. The number of techniques per belt differed by school and period. IKKA schools required 24 techniques per belt, and some schools use a 16–20–24 syllabus. The American Kenpo Karate club at Fremont Elementary School in Stockton states that belts in it are awarded by the International Kenpo Karate Academies (IKKA) or its instructors and that the requirements derive from Parker’s original 24 techniques. Al Tracy states that the Tracy brothers introduced about 40 techniques per belt, in 1966 there were 30 of them, and Parker later reduced the whole to under 200 techniques, 25 per belt. According to Tracy, the colour belts were preceded by a system of brown stripes, and Parker backdated IKKA certificates, so the early grades are difficult to verify.
Competition
In 1964 Parker held, under the banner of the IKKA, the first Long Beach International Karate Championships in the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium. The tournament ran until 1999 and was a kumite competition. At the first edition Bruce Lee demonstrated a one-inch punch, push-ups on two fingers and a wing chun demonstration, and Parker brought him to national attention there. According to Black Belt, the winner of the first tournament was Mike Stone. The competitors also included Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, Jim Kelly, Benny Urquidez and Bill Wallace. We have not found detailed rules of the tournament or the official competition rules of any kenpo organization, the IKKA or its successors. Scoring, bout length and permitted hits therefore remain undocumented.
Today
At his death in December 1990 Parker named no successor to the position of Senior Grandmaster. His senior students continued teaching in their own way and derived styles arose. Jeff Speakman, for example, presents Kenpo 5.0 as his adaptation of the system that Parker taught him, supplemented with ground fighting. American kenpo has no unified standardised syllabus across schools, partly because Parker’s art changed over time and some instructors left before its later modifications. We have not found mutual recognition of grades between organisations. Ed Parker Jr. took part in 1983–1991 in producing eight editions of the International Karate Championships and in 1992 published The Encyclopedia of Kenpo. The sources do not state that he led the IKKA. The word kenpo is borne by several martial arts and in the USA it is often combined into the name Kenpo Karate. A separate line was also led by William Kwai Sun Chow, who shortly before his death in 1987 renamed his system Kara-Ho Kempo. His students also included Adriano and Joseph Emperado, associated with Kajukenbo.
Did you know
Elvis Presley was Parker's best-known student. According to the encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World (ABC-CLIO, 2010), they met in 1960 after Presley's return from the army, in the health club of the Beverly Wilshire hotel, where Parker was demonstrating karate, while Peter Guralnick in the biography Careless Love (1999) places the demonstration in the Beverly Hills hotel. The friendship lasted until Presley's death in 1977. According to the encyclopedia, Presley received an honorary 7th dan in Parker's kenpo and had the IKKA logo depicted on a guitar, and he also held a 6th dan in the Korean system under Kang Rhee of Memphis. The World Karate Federation states that Parker introduced Presley to Henry Slomanski, who went on to train him. In 1978 Parker published the book Inside Elvis, and Black Belt magazine reported in December 2002 that in the seventies Presley sponsored the documentary The New Gladiators with Parker, which contains 32 minutes of footage of Presley demonstrating techniques in Memphis.
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Time magazine, according to the same encyclopedia, called Parker in March 1961 the high priest of the fast-growing Hollywood karate sect, and Inside Kung-Fu described him in May 1974 as the father of American karate, because in 1955 he opened the first commercial karate studio in the USA. Parker played several roles in the Pink Panther films by Blake Edwards, his student, and in the episode Lucy and Viv Learn Judo of the series I Love Lucy (25 February 1963) he played an intruder. According to the encyclopedia, he filmed a demonstration by Bruce Lee from Long Beach and showed it to the producer William Dozier, who cast Lee in the series The Green Hornet, while Linda Lee Cadwell states that Parker invited Lee to the tournament in August 1964. Parker's international championship in Long Beach had 4500 competitors at its peak. Parker received the Black Belt Hall of Fame award in 1976, 1979 and 1990, from 1968 to 1969 he published the magazine Action Karate, which ceased after four issues, and from 1982 to 1987 he published the five-volume Infinite Insights into Kenpo.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kenpo Karate?
Kenpo Karate is a martial art developed and codified in the USA by Ed Parker, who later called it American Kenpo Karate. The word kenpo means fist and method and in Japanese mainly denotes striking systems of Chinese origin. Teaching is built on named self-defense sequences.
Who was Ed Parker?
Ed Parker (Edmund Kealoha Parker, 1931–1990) was a Honolulu native who studied kenpo for almost six years under William Chow and codified his system in the USA as American Kenpo Karate. He founded the International Kenpo Karate Association and in 1964 organized the first Long Beach International Karate Championships.
What is the difference between kenpo and karate?
According to Britannica, karate was systematized in Okinawa, and competitive karate has the formats kata and kumite. American kenpo arose in the USA from the Hawaiian lineage of James Mitose and William Chow, the word kenpo refers to striking systems of Chinese origin, and teaching is built on self-defense sequences, not on competition.
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