A twentieth-century martial art based on the older kempo tradition of Okinawa and Japan. Kenpo is primarily an empty-hand, fist art. It is translated as “Law of the Fist” or “Fist Law.” The modern kenpo systems use a variety of hand strikes known to martial artists as finger thrusts, claws, half fist, full fist (horizontal and vertical), hammer fist, shuto (Japanese; edge of the hand “chop”), and ridge hand/reverse hand sword, among others. Ken-poists also may use low-line kicks that are directed below the opponent’s waist. The basic five kicks employed are labeled the front snap, the side thrust, the rear thrust, the roundhouse or wheel kick, and the front thrust kick. Some kenpo styles include other kicks such as the flying side kick, inside crescent utilizing the inner edge of the kicking foot, outside crescent with the outer edge of the foot, heel hook, and the spinning back kick. Strikes with the knees, forearms, wrists, and elbows are also found within some kenpo styles. It is quite common to find kenpo styles that are taught in conjunction with jujutsu techniques, featuring joint locking, throws, takedowns, and submission chokes.
Early History
The exact origins of the art that gave rise to the systems that came to be identified as kenpo are shrouded by myths and legends. There is, however, sufficient circumstantial evidence of a long series of ministerial, cultural, religious, and commercial exchanges between China and Okinawa to support the contention that Chinese boxing had a major impact on the indigenous systems of Okinawa that emerged as karate in the nineteenth century.
The Chinese martial arts that the Okinawans developed into kenpo were collectively known by the Mandarin term quanfa (ch’uan’ fa) or the Cantonese term ken-fat. This is romanized as kenpo (or, in the works of some authors, kempo) in Japanese, and means “way of the fist,” or “fist law.” It has been suggested that quanfa was first introduced to the Ryukyu Islands during the sixth and seventh centuries by visiting Buddhist monks and seafaring traders. These arts were most likely from Fuzhou. In 1392, thirty-six (signifying “many” in the Okinawan worldview rather than a precise number) Chinese families from Fujian province moved to Kumemura, outside of Naha, Okinawa. It is believed that they brought with them the knowledge of several quanfa systems, which they taught on Okinawa. Two distinct styles of kenpo developed within Okinawa over the course of time: Ju-no-kenpo (soft style) and Go-no-kenpo (hard style).
Japanese men and women practicing Kenpo, ca. 1955.
Modern Systems of Kenpo
Nippon Kempo and Goshido Kempo are modern Japanese arts that combine Okinawan kenpo roots with jujutsu and kendo (modern Japanese fencing). Both arts have blended techniques from the older Japanese arts to form new and effective modern self-defense systems. Blending weapons techniques with empty-hand arts is not a new idea in Japan. As Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook note, it is “possible to detect techniques clearly inspired by the use of swords, sticks, parriers and whirling blades” in several Japanese empty-hand arts such as jujutsu, aikido, aikijutsu, and kenpo (1973, 344). As Karl Friday demonstrates in his study of the Kashima-Shin-ryu, the traditional ryuha (Japanese; systems or schools) developed sciences of combat that provided frameworks for both their armed and unarmed disciplines. Other continuities are manifest in the modern karate hand weapons known as the yawara stick descendants of the Hindu vajara. The vajara, according to Ratti and Westbrook, was held within the fist; it consisted of sharpened prongs at both ends that could be used “to inflict paralyzing damage on the opponent’s vital organs in accordance with the techniques and strategic dictates of kenjutsu [martial use of the sword] and tessen-jutsu [martial use of an iron fan]” (324). Later, after World War I, Nakano Michiomi So Doshin founded the Nippon Shorinji Kenpo (NSK) system. The art blends an older form of Shaolin Boxing with jujutsu and Daito-ryu aikijutsu. The emphasis of NSK is on joint locks and throws that incapacitate the opponent but do not inflict serious bodily injury or death.
Older Okinawan masters maintain a tradition of the Chinese origin of kenpo. One such master is Motobu Choki, who stated in 1926 that “Ryukyu Kenpo-Karate originally came from China. Sanchin, Go-jushi-ho, Seisan, Seyuchin have been used there for many centuries.” Motobu wrote, “I am inclined to believe that this art was taught by Chinese men since there were many contacts made between Ryukyu and China from ancient days” (1926, 17). Despite Motobu’s assertion of the historical importance of the traditional kata, however, one of Motubu’s earliest Japanese students, Yamada Tatsuo, founded Nippon Kempo Karate, a system that stressed kumite (“sparring”) over kata (“forms”).
Contemporary Kenpo Karate
The kenpo variants are derivatives of the systems that were first taught in Hawaii by Dr. James M. Mitose and William Kwai Sun Chow, beginning in the late 1930s. Under the leadership of William K. S. Chow, the modern Hawaiian kenpo styles added more circular motions to the art than were taught under the Kosho-ryu Kempo-Jujitsu style of Dr. James Mitose. Professor Chow opened his first school in 1949 under the name of Kenpo Karate. This was the first time that the two words had been combined.
The modern era Hawaiian kempo/kenpo styles owe their existence to the Japanese and Okinawan based Kosho-ryu Kempo-Jujitsu system of Dr. James Mitose. The Okinawan connection is through his uncles, Motobu Choyu and Motobu Choki.
Dr. James Mitose (Kenposai Kosho) was born in pre-statehood Hawaii in 1916. At the age of 4, he was sent to Japan to be educated and trained in the family tradition that would eventually culminate in his being named the twenty-first headmaster of the Kosho-ryu Kempo System. It is most likely that he was educated and trained at a Buddhist temple on Mount Kinai, in a village called Izumi. According to Dr. Mitose, the Kosho-ryu Kempo-Jujitsu style was brought directly from the Shaolin Temple to Japan in the late 1500s by members of his clan. The art was modified by successive family masters until the new Kosho-ryu (Old Pine Tree Style) was developed. According to Barro Mitose, the current Kosho-ryu
Kempo grand master, the temple where his father studied was administered by the Koshogi monks, and they combined jujutsu with Shaolin Boxing to form the martial arts component of a much broader spiritual/philosophical system. Therefore, it is assumed that Dr. Mitose studied the Buddhist religion juxtaposed with his kempo training. It would also seem reasonable that he spent time with both of his uncles, Motobu Choyu and Motobu Choki. At least one author, John La Tourrette, believes that Dr. Mitose actually taught Motobu Choki’s “Shorei Karate Kempo under the system banner of Kosho-ryu Kenpo Juijitsu” (1981, 29).
However, Dr. Mitose taught that Kosho-ryu Kempo was not a variation of Okinawan kenpo, “even though some of the kata of Kosho-ryu resemble, and in a few instances are duplicated in, certain karate styles” (Corcoran and Farkas 1983, 355). There is also a strong similarity between the techniques shown in Motobu Choki’s 1926 publication, Ryukyu Kempo Karate-jutsu. Kumite (Okinawan Kempo: Karate-jutsu. Sparring Techniques), and Dr. Mitose’s 1953 publication, What Is Self Defense? (Kenpo Jui-jitsu). The major difference between the two topics seems to be the strong emphasis placed on punching and low-line kicks in Motobu’s topic, while the Mitose text is very strong on the jujutsu escape defenses, weapon defenses, and techniques that could be applied by women and girls.
Dr. Mitose returned to Hawaii in 1936. In 1942, he organized the Official Self Defense Club and began to train both civilians and servicemen “regardless of their race, color, creed or religion” (Mitose 1953). Between 1942 and 1953, Dr. Mitose promoted six students to shodan (first degree black belt) rank: Nakamura Jiro, Young, Edward Lowe, Paul Ya-maguchi, Arthur Keawe, and William K. S. Chow. William Chow proved to be the most innovative and dynamic of the Mitose students.
It is believed that Chow had studied both boxing and judo before he became a student of Mitose. Some versions of his biography claim that Chow’s father taught him kung fu techniques before he met Dr. Mitose, but this remains controversial.
On the other hand, there is no doubt that Chow did train with Dr. Mi-tose. Also established is the fact that a training partner under Dr. Mitose was Young, who had extensive knowledge of kung fu. Around 1946, Chow left the Kosho-ryu Kempo group to open his own school. At that time he changed the spelling of kempo to kenpo and added the term karate to his stylistic title. Chow reintroduced some of the circular movements of kung fu, or quanfa (ch’uan’ fa), to his version of kenpo, elements that had been removed by the Mitose clan during the development of Kosho-ryu Kempo in Japan.
Over the course of his long teaching career, Professor Chow changed the name of his particular style several times, and the last name change was to Kara-ho Kenpo. By substituting the label kara-ho for karate, he sought to emphasize his own Chinese heritage and acknowledge the Chinese roots of his system. Regardless of the name changes, his roster of black belt students is very impressive. A few of his better-known students are Adriano Emperado, Ralph Castro, Bobby Lowe, John Leone, Paul Pung, Ed Parker, and Sam Kuoha.
Currently, the modern spelling, kenpo, is indicative of a very vibrant, innovative set of martial arts subsystems that are rooted in the Kosho-ryu Kempo Jiujitsu Style of Dr. James Mitose. Professor William Chow’s dynamic personality and persistent curiosity breathed new life into the kempo/kenpo arts. He was a major influence on the development of the Kajukenbo System, under Professor Adriano Emperado; the American Kenpo Karate System, founded by the late grand master Ed Parker; and the American Shaolin Kenpo System, headed by Grand Master Ralph Castro.
Beyond that direct and immediate influence, Professor Chow is a figure in the lineage for such diverse kenpo groups as Al and Jim Tracy’s Tracy System of Kenpo. The Tracy group claims to have over a thousand club and school affiliates teaching their system of kenpo. In addition they offer a wide selection of training videos, audiotapes, and business-related materials for martial artists. A number of prominent kenpo stylists have trained with the Tracys: Joe Lewis, Jay T. Will, Al Dascascos, Steve “Nasty” Anderson, and Dennis Nackord.
The modern era of kenpo has given rise to a number of groups that have the common denominator of being offshoots of the Hawaiian kenpo roots first established by Dr. Mitose and Professor Chow. The following are just a few of them: CHA-3 (Central Hawaiian Authority #3, the housing project where Grand Master Marino Tiwanak first taught; later referred to by some as the Chinese Hawaiian Association) Kenpo, Hawaiian Kenpo Karate (founded by Grand Master Bill Ryusaki), Worldwide Kenpo Karate Association (Masters Joe Palanzo and Richard “Huk” Planas), United Kenpo Systems (Master Joe Hawkins), The Malone Kenpo Karate Association (Grand Master Ron Malone), the National Chinese Kenpo Association (Steve La Bounty and Gary Swan), John McSweeny’s Kenpo Karate Association, and Chinese Kara-ho Kenpo Association headed by Grand Master Sam Kuoha, successor to Professor W. K. S. Chow.
Currently, kenpo is a dynamic martial art. A careful reading of the history of this art indicates that innovation and change are its hallmarks. The art appears to have developed in China and over time was transplanted to Okinawa, Japan, and pre-statehood Hawaii, a martial system as flexible and adaptable as the people who have embraced it.
