History of Kenpo Karate
Kenpo Karate and it’s History
The Great Grand Master Dr. James M. Mitose (1916-1981) was born on the Kona coffee plantation in Hawaii in 1916. His father had moved to Hawaii at the end of the 19th century when Japan had appeared prepared to go to war. When the young Mitose was four, his sister accompanied him to Japan where he was expected to study the family art and to take over from his father as the master of the Kosho-Shorei system.
This art, Chuanfa, Kenpo (Chinese) or Kenpo (Japanese); literally means law of the fist. It was modified by successive Mitose Kenpo Masters until it became Kosho-Ryu (old pine tree style) Kenpo. Kosho-Ryu Kenpo represented more than just a system of fighting. It was a complete system of Self-defense (Kosho-Shorei) which included religion and training in the arts and humanities in addition to the actual self-defense techniques (Kosho-Ryu).
Mitose acquired his education and Kenpo training in the family temple on Mt. Akenkai in southern Japan. During the fifteen years he spent in Japan studying with his grandfather most of his time was spent in preparing to take over the family business, including religious activity and Kenpo arts. He was required to do the chores of the temple, like sweeping, cleaning and serving. This lasted for about two years, then he started studying religious books in Japanese, translated from Sanskrit. These studies ranged from religions of India and Tibet to Christianity and Judaism, and included Greek philosophy. Half of the day was spent studying these subjects and the other half day was used to learn the Kenpo martial arts, the law of the fist. James Mitose became a Kosho-Shorei minister at the age of eighteen and left the temple.
After leaving the temple, Mitose traveled to Kyushu where he discovered that law enforcement officers had no pistols or handcuffs. He decided to teach them Kenpo so that they could defend the citizens from bandits and gangsters. Subsequently, he left Kyushu to visit Hawaii and remained in Hawaii two or three years teaching Kenpo to the police cadets before eventually returning to Japan.
In the Law of Fists a person is not supposed to obey the order of even the Emperor or the supreme commander of military forces. When Mitose returned to Japan he encountered a Japanese cavalry division on maneuvers in a mountain area. His brother and himself were opposed to military operations, and some of their group were arrested. Mitose did not believe in war and many of his friends suggested that he should return to Hawaii as soon as possible, otherwise he might have been arrested and sent to a military jail. Therefore, in 1935, Mitose returned to Hawaii where he remained until moving to California in 1953.
When it became apparent to him that Japan and America would go to war, Mitose found himself in a very difficult position. He was American by birth and as a very young child, he had eaten American food and drank American water. Yet, his formative years had been spent in Japan. Ultimately, he decided his loyalty belonged with America. In 1939, he began teaching Kenpo to ROTC cadets at the University of Hawaii, and on December 8, 1941, he enlisted in the territorial guard, where he served until the guard was disbanded by the military in 1942.
Mitose wanted to teach people the true nature of self-defense, but since it was a time of war, he decided to concentrate on his family’s wartime art, Koshoryu Kenpo. Koshoryu Kenpo was taught at the school from 1942-1953. This organization lasted until 1953 under the leadership of Mitose and now is under the direction of one of his disciples, Thomas Young. In 1947 Mitose wrote What is Self-Defense? (Kenpo Jiujitsu). In this book he presented the philosophy and techniques of Kenpo. What is Self-Defense? was probably the first Kenpo textbook in English.
Mitose began teaching Koshoryu Kenpo to people of all races in the late 1930's. By 1953 he had come to believe that the West was not ready for his family’s wartime art, and that Westerners could not or would not understand that Kenpo represented more than a set of techniques for fighting. Believing that his art had become corrupted (one of his students seriously injured someone and, as the students teacher, Mitose felt personally responsible), he decided to retire from active martial arts instruction. From that time on he has kept a very low profile.
Because of Dr. Mitose’s intense dedication to the Kenpo way of life, he was somewhat of an enigma to the sports minded people of Hawaii, as well as to many who studied with him. When the doors of the Official Self-Defense Club opened for the first time, the majority of aspirants to respond were non-Okinawan, non-Japanese. It seemed inevitable that these people would be unable to fully comprehend--much less live up to--the total life involvement required by the study of Kosho-ryu Kenpo, and that most of them would not want Oriental morality mixed in with their martial arts training. The fundamental disparity that then arose between master and pupils naturally limited the numbers of students that would choose to pursue Kenpo studies.
Thus, at the time of Mitose’s departure for the United States mainland in 1953, only six pupils had attained the shodan or black belt degree. Jiro Nakamura, taught privately by Mitose, was the first. Following him (in alphabetical order) were William K.S. Chow (who earlier had studied the Chinese arts for about ten years with his father), Arthur Keawe, Edward Lowe, Paul Yamaguchi and Thomas Young. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Mitose retired from active Kenpo instruction and left the Hawaiian Islands for the United States, there to pursue the studies that ultimately led to his ordination as a Christian minister, and the attainment of the doctors of theology and philosophy degrees.
Kenpo arts did not expire after Dr. Mitose left the Hawaiian Islands, rather, an increase interest in unarmed combat grew due to the teachings of the Mitose graduates. Three of his shodan grantees formed clubs of their own, while the fourth, Thomas Young, assumed control of the official Self-Defense Club.
Thomas Young, a soft spoken and intelligent American-Chinese, probably best epitomized the type of individuals Mitose was looking for when he began Kenpo instruction in 1942. Young was a student of Chuanfa in his youth and his interest in these arts led him to seek out Mitose when he learned of Kosho-ryu Kenpo. He began his training in this art primarily because of his deep involvement with the principles of self-defense as expounded in Dr. Mitose’s Kosho-ryu Kenpo philosophy. As of 1966, Mr. Young had graduated a number of Shodan, including some who have gone on to form Kenpo clubs in Hawaii and on the mainland United States.
Arthur Keawe’s history is unknown. According to Bruce Haines, he may have left Hawaii for the mainland.
Paul Yamaguchi also organized his own school, but ceased operation in 1957.
Two other former Mitose pupils stand out on todays Hawaiian martial arts scene. They are William K.S. Chow and Edward BobbyLowe. Edward Lowe opened his own school, became affiliated with Mos Oyama’s Tokyo Kyokushinkai, and continued as an active instructor. Chow received his shodan in 1946, and three years later formed his own club at the Nuuanu YMCA. According to Bruce Haines an unusual aspect of this organization was the fact that it was called a Kenpo-Karate school. As Mitose had never associated Kosho-ryu Kenpo with Okinawan Karate in any manner, it might be difficult to understand this move by Chow. Kenpo-Karate, was first used in 1934 when the Yoen Fiho Sha newspaper advertised for prospective students for Chojun Miyagi’s Hawaiian visit. And, since Miyagi was well aware that Kenpo and Chuanfa were synonymous, his choice of the term probably meant that his style of Karate (Goju-ryu) was a combination of Chinese Chuanfu and Okinawan Karate. Another term which William Chow used which explained the specific martial art that he was teaching was that of Kara-Ho Kenpo. Kara Ho Kenpo is a combination of five major martial arts known to the world today; Jujitsu Karate, Kenpo, Kung-Fu, and Judo. Chow continued to expand and develop the self-defense sets which James Mitose taught utilizing these five systems. By the late 1950's, Chow had awarded the Shodan rank to at least four students; Adriano Emperado (who also studied with Mitose and who subsequently founded the Kajukenbo tradition in the late 1940's). Masaichi Oshiro, Edmund K. Parker (who also studied briefly with Mitose and who subsequently founded the American Kenpo Association), and Paul Yamaguchi (also awarded the Shodan rank by Mitose).
On January 15, 1955, Professor W.K.S. Chow certified and notarized Ron Alo in Chinese Kara-Ho Kenpo. Alo is probably the only certified instructor in existence within this system in the United States. Alo subsequently formed the Alo Kenpo-Karate Association after moving to the mainland. AKKA is devised by many martial arts systems organized and developed by the founder of the association, Ron Alo. According to Alo, the Kara-Ho Kenpo system katas were similar to Tai Chi, Professor Chow had a kata of 180 movements which is forgotten and lost to the world today. Alo, being an admirer of both Nishiyama and Oyama made a study to learn the Pinan Katas. Alo, also added the best of many various systems of Japan, Okinawan and China, and in the early 60's with modifications, developed what is known as the twenty katas of the Alo Kenpo-Karate Association. The system of fighting drills were formulated in 1971 to expediate teaching since oxidentals could learn faster with American physics and oriental theory. Alo explained, Since I deal with the physical, mental and spiritual it was easier to create a simplified method of teaching. There has never been any franchising within the AKKA system, each person is allowed to create and expand the system, always adding new ideas but never subtracting from the foundation developed by Ron Alo.
According to Dr. James Mitose, The student should train diligently with the development of the spirit as the primary aim. When the student has mastered the fundamentals of Kenpo, he should experiment by himself with the object of offering practical contributions to the art. Recalling the old adage, When in Rome do as the Romans do, James Mitose hopes that eventually Kenpo will be Americanized.