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Shaolin History:
The Chinese martial arts can be traced back to 520 B.C. when a prince and warrior
of Southern India called Bodhidharma entered China and traveled northward to the
kingdom of Wei and then to the Honan province, where he entered the Shaolin temple
and began a martial arts history.
Over the years, the fighting arts of the Shaolin temple grew and, it is said that,
over 400 art styles prospered, over the next several centuries. The monks worked
on their meditation and martial skills, developing wu xing quan
(the five animal form) and brought to the Shaolin temple a new stage in martial
arts evolution.
Over the next several centuries, the history of Chuan Fa and its advent to
Kenpo/Kempo continued. It is known is that the art of Chuan Fa remained and is
still practiced in China, but its teaching found its way to the Okinawian Islands,
the Ryukyu kingdom, as well as to Japan. In both places, the art was
referred to as Kempo or Law of the Fist.
Modern Kempo History
In 1936, James Mitose, an American of Japanese decent, opened in his native Hawaii
the "Official Self-Defense" club in a Honolulu Mission. It was here that he
promoted six of his students to black belt (instructor status); Thomas Young,
William Chow, Edmund Howe, Arthur Keawe, Jiro Naramura, and Paul Yamaguchi.
(Note that while Mr. Mitose has awarded other certificates of rank, only these
six were issued while he was the head of the Honolulu Official Self-Defense Club).
When James Mitose stopped teaching in order to pursue his religious studies,
he left his Hawaii Dojo in the hands of Thomas Young.
William K.S. Chow studied Kempo under Mitose for several years and previously had
studied his family art of Kung Fu. Chow united, like many Kempo masters before
and after him, the arts of Kosho Ryu Kempo and his family Kung Fu to form a new
art which would was called many names over the years, including, Chinese Kempo,
Shaolin Kempo Karate, and Chinese Kara-Ho Kempo Karate. In 1949, Chow had
attracted a number of students to his own teachings and opened a Dojo of his
own at a local YMCA. Throughout the next few decades, Chow made many innovations
to the system, including the use of circular techniques of Kung Fu as well as
various kata or forms.
One of the senior students of William Chow was Adrian Emperado. Adrian, who
along with his brother Joe, were students who followed William Chow from the
Mitose/Young dojo. Adrian Emperado was one of the founders of Kajukenbo.
Kajukenbo is an eclectic martial art that is a blend of Karate, Judo, Kenpo,
and Boxing, from which it takes its name. Kajukenbo concentrates on being an
effective art at all ranges of fighting. The techniques of the system were
perfected in the rough and tumble schools of Hawaiian street fighting. It also
stresses the following-up of techniques based on an opponents reactions and
not stopping with just one hit.
Kajukenbo came to the United States mainland by way of Sonny Gascon, one of
Adrian Emperado's students. One of Mr. Gascon's students, George Pesare brought
the art to the East Coast. One of his students was Nick Cerio, founder and
GrandMaster of Nick Cerio's Kenpo. Shaolin Kempo GrandMaster Fred Villari
was an early student of Mr. Cerio and one the first instructors in his dojo.
In addition to his training with Mr. Cerio, Fred Villari studied martial arts
with his father and studied several other martial arts styles. He and Nick
Cerio corresponded and trained with Professor William K.S. Chow. Villari's
approach to Kempo was to maintain the style as he learned it through Chow.
In addition to Kempo, GrandMaster Villari added Chin Na grappling and Shaolin
Temple Boxing arts to his system of Shaolin Kempo Karate.
Today's Shaolin Kempo Karate uses traditional and modern training methods to
fit the art to the person, not the person to the art. It is a no holds barred
fighting system of offensive and defensive methods, with equal emphasis of
striking techniques with the hands and feet, immobilization and controls,
projections and take downs. Shaolin Kempo Karate uses both linear and circular
techniques and focused multiple strikes to maximize effectiveness. At the heart
of the Shaolin Kempo Karate system is the four ways of fighting:
- With your hands (punching, striking - open or closed hand) or use of any part of the arms, elbows, forearms, etc.
- Kicking (with foot, leg, knee, shin)
- Felling - that is to knock an opponent off his feet by throwing, tripping, pulling, pushing, shoving, or scooping him
- Grappling - by either wrestling, holding, breaking, locking bones or joints against nerve centers
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