The History of American Kenpo
Where did American Kenpo come from and how did it reach the U.K.?
This is an account of my understanding of the way kenpo reached the U.K., researched from many different sources. Please note that there are many conflicting accounts of certain events, so total accuracy is not guaranteed, although I have tried my utmost to make this as close to the truth as possible, without talking to everyone involved!
This map shows the spread of kenpo throughout the World, and the passages below explain a little more about each stage (you can click on the map to jump to a particular event):
Stage 1 : India to China (Bodhidharma)
The story of kenpo, according to legend, begins in the sixth century with the Indian warrior and missionary Bodhidharma. Born to a family of the Kshatriya warrior cast, he would have been trained in the fighting art known as Vajramushti, meaning ‘Diamond Fist’.
He traveled from India to China sometime between 500AD and 600AD, with the intention of spreading his religion to the Chinese. Having reached China and found the Buddhists there to have become materialistic, he traveled to the Shaolin monastery where he remained for nine years, spending his time in meditation.
After this time, he decided to teach the monks there his unique method of meditation, known as Chan (pronounced Zen in Japanese), but he found them to be in a poor state of health, and they did not have the endurance required for this type of training. Because of this, he created a series of exercises derived from the Vajramushti known as Shih Pa Lo Han Sho, meaning the ‘The 18 Hands of the Enlightened Man’.
Because the temple was at the mercy of bandits at this time, Bodhidharma showed the monks how to use these movements in combat. This new art was referred to using a combination of Dharma, meaning ‘truth of Buddhism’, and Mushti, meaning ‘fist’.
In Chinese, Dharma is ‘Ho’ and Mushti is ‘Chuan’. Thus, the art was called ‘Chuanfa’, the law of the fist, which is pronounced ‘kempo’ in Japanese.
Stage 2 : China to Japan
It was the Chinese Buddhists who traveled throughout the Orient in the 6th, 12th and 17th centuries, spreading their religion and also spreading their form of kenpo as they went. They reached Korea, Japan and Okinawa, where they kenpo became mixed with indigenous fighting arts.
During the 6th and 12th centuries, the monks in Japan developed distinctive forms of kenpo, with the differences in styles being attributed to location, climate and customs.
In the 16th century, the term ‘Jujutsu’ began to be used to describe all the different forms of combat in Japan. Several of the systems that were developed in the 12th century though retained the name kenpo. Some styles, such as Mitose’s Kosho Ryu combined the new phrase and the old phrase to create the term Kempo Jujutsu.
Stage 3 : Japan to Hawaii (James Mitose)
James Mitose (1916–1981) was born on Hawaii, but was sent to Japan at the age of five in order to receive a traditional education, which included the martial arts.
He returned to Hawaii 15 years later in 1937 after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, and decided to open up a Kosho Ryu Kempo Karate school on the island. Pivotally, this was the first kempo karate school to be opened outside of the Orient.
During his time teaching, Mitose had a student by the name of William Chow (1914–1987). Chow blended Mitose’s Kosho Ryu with Shaolinssu Chuanfa (Shorinji Kempo) to form his own style, which is known as Kara Ho Kempo Karate.
Chow opened up his first school in 1944, and his most prominent student was Edmund Kealoha Parker. This was to be the pivotal point in the history of modern American Kenpo.
Stage 4 : Hawaii to America (Ed Parker)
Senior Grand Master Edmund Kealoha Parker (1931–1990) was a great man, and deserves a great deal of anyone’s respect. He carries the title of Senior Grand Master, and is the only man who will ever carry this title.
He was known as the Father of American Karate, and quite rightly so.
After studying under William Chow on his native Hawaii, Parker moved to the USA in 1951 to attend Brigham Young University. After graduating, he moved to Pasadena where he opened the World famous Pasadena Kenpo Karate School. He modified the kenpo training that he received from Chow extensively, adding many of his own theories, ideas and techniques, until he had created the system known as ‘Ed Parker’s American Kenpo’, which he would continue to teach and refine for the rest of his life.
It was to be from this school that kenpo would spread to America, with many kenpo luminaries learning the art here, and then opening up their own schools in different parts of the USA.
Other famous faces could often be seen at the school as well, including Bruce Lee. Bruce mixed some of the kenpo he learnt here with Wing Chun (and also bits and pieces from other arts), and with the assistance of Dan Inosanto and Ed Parker he created Jeet Kune Do, his lasting legacy.
Stage 5 : America to Ireland (John McSweeney)
One of Ed Parker’s first black belts was John McSweeney. He was awarded his black belt in 1962, and in the same year moved to Dublin in Ireland, where he opened up a kenpo school of his own.
Stage 6 : Ireland to England (Tom McSweeny)
In 1966 Tom McSweeney, a student of John McSweeny’s from Dublin moved to Swindon in England. Along with Peter Presswell, Martin Sleeman and Phil Hegarty, Tom McSweeny opened up the first ever Kenpo Karate school in England. The club became affiliated with Wado Ryu, and at this point Phil Hegarty moved to Landrake in Cornwall, where he set up a small club which was faithful to the kenpo style.
The work of Hegarty was noticed by Bob Rose, who has previously been in the Foreign Legion and the Para’s. He had a black belt in Hun Gar Kung Fu at the time, but went all the way back to white belt and learnt kenpo from scratch under Hegarty. When Hegarty became too ill to continue teaching in 1975, Master Rose continued teaching in his stead at the club.
Rose traveled to the USA in order to train under Ed Parker in Pasadena, and when he returned to Britain in 1979 as a black belt, he brought Parker with him and established the IKKA in the UK, with Rose as the senior U.K. representative.
Due to some dissatisfaction with the IKKA, Rose left to form the BKKU (British Kenpo Karate Union) in 1980, which at the time had about 100 students.