KAJUKENBO: AMERICA'S MARTIAL ART

by John Bishop (Black Belt, Feb.98)

The title of this article may sound like a bold statement, but it's completely true. Kajukenbo was the first martial art developed on American soil, by American's, to meet the unique self defense needs of Americans.

Kajukenbo's Origin

Kajukenbo's inception came about in 1947 when five Hawaiian martial arts experts calling themselves the "Black Belt Society" set out to develop a comprehensive American self defense system. Although these five men were masters of Asian fighting systems, they felt that Americans had more modern and unique self defense needs. They felt that designing techniques for use against modern weapons such as knives and clubs was more beneficial than training to defend against classical weapons like swords and spears. They also felt that having just grappling skills or just striking skills severely limited one's self defense abilities. The five men responsible for the creation of kajukenbo were Peter Choo, the Hawaii welterweight boxing champion, and a Tang Soo Do black belt. Frank Ordonez, a Sekeino Jujitsu black belt. Joe Holck, a Kodokan Judo black belt. Clarence Chang, a master of Sil-lum Pai kung fu. And Adriano D. Emperado, a Chinese Kenpo black belt, and Escrima master.

For three years these men trained together several hours a day, taking advantage of each others strengths and weaknesses to develop their new art. When Joe Holck and Peter Choo would spar Holck could see judo's weaknesses in striking techniques, and Choo would realize that a tang soo do man was vulnerable once he was on the ground. Emperado, in turn was able to show Choo how a kenpo man could work inside a kicker's range with rapid fire hand techniques. Chang showed the others how the circular, flowing techniques of Sil-lum Pai were used to evade and strike while conserving energy. And Frank Ordonez showed everyone how to blend with an attackers force and then re-direct it against him with painful locks and throws.

Because the founder's wanted their system to be one comprehensive system, not five systems combined, it was decided that kenpo would be the base to build on. Added to this base were various tang soo do kicks, jujitsu joint locks, judo throws, and sil-lum pai circular techniques. The name "Kajukenbo"; ka for karate, ju for judo and jujitsu, ken for kenpo, and bo for Chinese boxing (kung fu) came from Joe Holck.

Kajukenbo techniques

When kajukenbo was founded, people no longer had a need for ancient battlefield training. Warriors armed with swords and spears had over the centuries been replaced by street thugs armed with knives and clubs. Kajukenbo's techniques met this need for change. Like most karate systems kajukenbo has katas or forms. These 14 katas are known as "Palama Sets" 1 through 14. ( These katas were formerly known as Pinans until February 1993 when Professor Adriano D. Emperado renamed the katas to show their origin, the Palama Settlement of Honolulu, Hawaii.) Like traditional systems, many of kajukenbo's self defense techniques are found in it's katas. Along with the Palama sets the system contains a large number of structured self defense combinations.

These self defense combinations are arranged and categorized into 15 grab arts, 21 punch counters, 15 knife counters, 15 club counters, 9 two and three man attack counters, and 26 advanced alphabet techniques. From these structured combinations the advanced kajukenbo practitioner can also create an limitless amount of additional self defense combinations. The combination of techniques from tang soo do, judo, jujitsu, kenpo and kung fu, adds immense versatility to the system. For example, if faced with a punch, the kajukenbo stylist may step into the attack at a 45 degree angle while blocking with a soft kung fu palm block. He would then counter attack with several rapid fire kenpo hand strikes followed by a judo foot sweep. Once on the ground the attacker could be struck again or controlled with a jujitsu lock. Unlike many traditional systems, kajukenbo's emphasis is on combination techniques. These combination techniques are arranged so that each technique will set up the next by following the natural reaction of the attacker's body. While some traditional martial artists may describe this as overkill, the kajukenbo stylist feels that an attacker may not be stopped by one strongly focused blow. Therefore the theory behind kajukenbo is that it is better to counter with a multitude of techniques that can be ended when the threat no longer exists, than to rely on one technique and find that it is not enough.

Kajukenbo Training

Even the best designed self defense system is useless if the training and instruction is weak.

In the early years the brutality of the kajukenbo workouts was legendary. Broken noses, bruised ribs, and black eyes were a common occurrence in the early kajukenbo schools. Professor Emperado had a motto, "The workout isn't over until I see blood on the floor". His philosophy was that if someone was afraid of pain, they would be defeated the first time they were hit. He also felt that his students had to get used to receiving painful blows. This enabled them to find out which techniques worked and which didn't. Because of these realistic workouts numerous martial artists from other systems undertook kajukenbo training.

Today's kajukenbo schools have had to alter their training somewhat due to the times. In the early days very few if any women or children trained. Also, nobody worried about lawsuits or liability insurance.

Today's kajukenbo schools still conduct full contact training, but the students are gradually eased into it, and it's not an absolute requirement. Most instructor's believe that the hard contact training is a very important part of the art because it is as close to reality as one can get in a class situation. This is now accomplished by working up to it slower, using protective equipment, and avoiding hard contact to the face and vital areas.

In Conclusion

From it's inception, kajukenbo was designed to meet the extraordinary self defense needs of the American people. The creation of this type of system could only be possible in America because of the vast martial arts richness that was brought by Asian immigrants seeking the American dream.
As to the brutal reputation that kajukenbo has acquired over the years, San Clemente kajukenbo instructor Gary Forbach had this to say. "Kajukenbo is designed to defend against many types of vicious attacks. I don't teach my students to be violent, but I also don't teach them to turn the other cheek. My students are taught to respect their fellow man, but they are also prepared to protect themselves completely if the need arises. In other words, It's better to know how, and not have to; than to have to, and not know how."