Articles

Legends of Kung-Fu #13

Kenpo Karate - Where Does It Fit In?

In the past few years, as I've taken an increasingly active role in Chinese martial arts academia, I find myself dealing with more and more questions from the public about kenpo karate. The martial art system created by the late Edmund Kealoha Parker is a fertile ground for a great deal of controversy regarding lineage and argument. Some claim it as a descendant of Chinese martial arts, while others call it a purely American invention. Still others call it a hodgepodge of pan-Asian martial arts techniques thrown together to fit an audience that lacked the ability to remain loyal to one system. Whatever the case may be, there's no denying the popularity of Parker's kenpo system by virtue of the sheer number of imitators that it has spawned. By taking a simple look at the kenpo family tree, one can easily see how many different groups have splintered off from Parker's line since he first began teaching on the US mainland.

So here are some streamlined "facts" about kenpo's history as handed down by the forefathers of kenpo karate. Take it as you may, and make your own decision.

Kenpo's modern history began with the late James Mitose, an expert in kosho shorei-ryu kenpo. When Mitose relocated from Japan to Hawaii, he taught a local named William K.S. Chow. Chow, who later became known as "Professor Chow" or "Thunderbolt" for his remarkable strikes, would teach his art to a young mixed blood Hawaiian named Ed Parker. When Parker came to the US mainland, he implemented changes to the art that Chow passed on to him, making his own refinements along the way, and produced a highly scientific art he christened "kenpo karate". The rest, as they say, is history. Difficulty arises in trying to ascertain the historical lineage prior to Mitose. There is little evidence to verify any link from traditional Chinese martial systems to the kosho shorei-ryu kenpo system, so most are left to conjecture at best.

The rest of kenpo's identity might best be decided by the actions of the men who forged its greatness. If you look at the International Kenpo Karate Association patch, the Chinese characters for kenpo karate are "chuan fa, tang shou", which literally means "fist method, Chinese (Tang dynasty) hand". And it is well-known that Parker had many acquaintances within the Chinese martial arts community here on the mainland, as Parker himself was the one who deserves the credit for bringing Bruce Lee into the spotlight. One of my own teachers, Daniel K. Lee, who studied with Parker prior to becoming a student of Bruce Lee, once mentioned to me that Parker always felt an affinity for the Chinese systems. In addition, I recall a late night snack with Tommy Chavies, one of Parker's senior-most instructors at his Pasadena studio, when he told me that he went by the title of "sifu", a traditional Chinese title for a master, instead of the Japanese equivalent of "sensei". At one of the last Long Beach Internationals that I attended (as a guest of my "Caucasian father" - Terry Robinson - a close friend of the Parkers who introduced him to Blake Edwards long before Bruce Lee came on the scene), I was amazed that the kenpo black belts were by and large performing their renditions of traditional southern Chinese forms, like fu hok syeung ying and gung jee fook fu kuen from the Hung ga kung fu system.

So does that mean that kenpo karate is a Chinese system? If you've read the evidence I've listed above, it might seem like I'm trying to tell you that it is. But think again. The Japanese word for "bread" is "pan", and the Korean equivalent is "bang". But both cultures derived that word from the Portuguese, who introduced bread making to Japan a couple of centuries ago. I'm using this analogy because some Japanese and Koreans mistakenly think their words for bread are indigenous, yet the Japanese and Koreans have taken that word and assimilated it neatly into their own languages. In the same way, there are more than a few people who think that kenpo is a Chinese system, but the reality of the situation is that Parker took the all-American principle of "use whatever works" and applied it to his martial art.

Edmund K. Parker understood his obligation to improve on the traditional Asian systems as an American with Asian-Pacific roots. He took a Japanese-based system (which may have been strongly based on Chinese martial arts), infused it with more Chinese techniques that he was exposed to on the mainland, and added aspects from other systems such as Filipino kali, to make a modern American system of martial arts. This isn't an invitation for anyone to just go out and create a martial art stew and call it something new, but rather a commentary from a traditional Chinese martial arts researcher to recognize and appreciate Ed Parker's kenpo karate not as Chinese or Japanese, but as a distinctly separate form of martial art that was born in the United States of America. Although not a Chinese martial arts stylist, Parker played a crucial role in the development of kung-fu in the US, selflessly promoting other martial artists like a young Bruce Lee through the Long Beach Internationals, and earning his place among the legends of kung-fu.