Decades before anyone envisioned
the combining of martial arts systems to form a eclectic system 5 men in Hawaii
were already doing it. These men were not like some of our modern day style
founders who have a marginal knowledge of various systems and no expertise in
any. These men were all experts in their own systems. Peter Choo was a
welterweight boxing champion and a black belt in tang soo do. Frank Ordonez was
a black belt in sekeino jujitsu. Joe Holck was a black belt in kodokan judo.
George "Clarence" Chang was an expert of sil-lum pai kung fu. And Adriano
Emperado was a black belt in kara-ho kenpo. All 5 of these men worked together
between the years 1947-49 to combine their techniques and create the Kajukenbo
system. With the start of the Korean War, Joe Holck, Peter Choo, Frank Ordonez,
and Clarence Chang were drafted into service. This left Emperado to teach their
new art.
Adriano D. Emperado was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 16, 1926. He was born
to Filipino-Hawaiian parents in the poor Palama/Kalihi section of Honolulu.
Like a lot of poor areas, the Palama/Kalihi district settlement was a
violent place to live. Confrontations and fights were a daily occurrence.
Because of this Emperado started his self defense training at the age of 8. At
this time in his life both his father and uncle were professional boxers, so of
course he was taught how to box. His next training came at the age of 11 while
he was living with his older brother in Kauai. There he learned the basic 12
strikes of escrima. At age 14 he found himself back in his old Palama
neighborhood. There he trained in judo under Sensei Taneo at the Palama
Settlement Gym. A few years later at the age of 20 Emperado undertook the
serious study of kenpo at the Catholic Youth Organization in Honolulu. These
classes were taught by the legendary Professor William K.S. Chow. Professor
Chow had been a student of kenpo jiu jitsu instructor James Mitose, and also
held a 5th degree black belt in judo. Emperado trained daily with Chow and soon
became his first black belt. Emperado spent many years with Professor Chow
becoming his Chief Instructor and attaining the rank of 5th degree black belt.
During the developmental years of kajukenbo Emperado would train with the 4
other co-founders during the day and then teach classes for Chow in the
evenings.
After the other 4 went off to war, Emperado started the first kajukenbo school
at the Palama Settlement Gym in 1950. At the Palama school students could train
for $2.00 a month. The workouts that took place there are legendary for their
brutality. Emperado has been quoted as saying that a workout wasn't over until
there was blood on the floor. When this author asked him about this statement
he explained that the statement was true. He went on to say "that you have to
experience pain before you can give it. You have to know what your technique
can do. "We lost a lot of students in those days, but we also got a lot from
other schools, including black belts. These students would look at what we were
doing and realize that we had a no nonsense effective system". When asked who
some of these early black belts were he named Woodrow McCandless from the
Mitose school, Brother Abe Kamahoahoa and Paul Yamaguichi from the Chow school,
and others from various fighting systems. He then described how his early black
belt Marino Tiwanak joined his class after being soundly defeated by him in
response to Tiwanak's challenge. What makes this such a astonishing story is
the fact that Marino Tiwanak was the flyweight boxing champion of Hawaii at the
time of the challenge.
With the success of the Palama Settlement school Emperado started expanding. He
left the teaching at the Palama school to his brother Joe while he started
classes at the Kaimuki Y.M.C.A. and the Wahiwa Y.M.C.A.. Soon the Kajukenbo
Self Defense Institute of Hawaii, Inc. was the largest chain of karate schools
in Hawaii. Emperado also became instrumental in the development of tournament
karate in Hawaii. He sat on the Hawaii Karate Rules Board, which established
standards for competition used throughout the islands. He also promoted and
officiated at several major karate tournaments throughout the islands.
Although he was very successful in the martial arts he never made a living at
it. Because he taught at Y.M.C.A.'s and recreation centers he always kept his
student fees low. A lot of Emperado's knowledge of street fighting came from
his many years in law enforcement. He had spent 14 years as a harbor policeman
for the Hawaii Department of a Transportation, and a year with the Hawaii
Attorney General's Office. While with the Attorney General's Office he served
as a body guard to the governor. He then entered the private sector as the
security director for a large company. He worked in the corporate security
field until he suffered a heart attack in 1982.
All of his life Emperado has studied various martial arts. In his 30s he
expanded his knowledge of escrima by training with his step father Alfredo
Peralta. Peralta taught him a method using the single stick. Emperado described
how they would take 2x4s and taper down handles and then train with them. He
said that "after a workout with the 2x4 you could make a rattan stick go like
lighting".
About the same time he started a serious study of various kung fu systems. He
studied under Professor Lau Bun of the Choy Li Fut system and Professor Wong of
the Northern Shaolin system. Several years later these professors and the
Hawaii Chinese Physical Culture Association awarded Emperado the title
Professor 10th degree. Also at this time he was awarded a certificate by
Grandmaster Ho Gau of Hong Kong appointing him as a advisor and representative
of the Choy Li Fut system. This certificate was signed by Grandmaster Ho Gau,
Professor Cheuk Tse, and the directors of the Hawaii Chinese Physical Culture
Association. This was truly an accolade when one considers that the Hawaii
Chinese Physical Culture Association was the first kung fu school outside of
China.
Because he had been exposed to many fighting systems Emperado has always been
one to welcome innovation. Unlike most of the traditional systems, his
kajukenbo evolves constantly. To date there are 4 systems within then kajukenbo
style. The first of course is the Original Method, sometimes referred to as the
kenpo karate branch. This is the system that Emperado, Holke, Choo, Ordonez,
and Chang formulated between 1947 and 1949. The original method uses kenpo
karate as a base and adds selected techniques from the tang soo do, judo,
jujitsu, and sil-lum pai kung fu systems. The second system is the Tum Pai
branch. This system was in development from 1959-1966 by Emperado, Al Dacascos,
and Al De La Cruz. Development was suspended in 1966 when Dacascos moved to the
mainland. Its development was then re-activated in 1984 by Jon Loren. The Tum
Pai system incorporates the original kajukenbo techniques along with tai chi
chuan elements. The third system is the Chuan Fa branch. This system started
development in 1966. Again this was a collaboration of Emperado, Al Dacascos,
and Al De La Cruz. This system incorporated the Northern and Southern styles of
kung fu with the original method of kajukenbo.
The result was a blend of soft and hard techniques. The Chuan Fa system also
opened the door to the richness and unlimited techniques that the Chinese arts
had to offer. The last system is the Won Hop Kuen Do (combination fist art)
branch. This branch was the brain child of Al Dacascos. When he moved to the
San Francisco area in the early 60s Dacascos supplemented his kajukenbo
training with an extensive study of the Chinese and Filipino arts. In 1969 he
saw that his kajukenbo was becoming a blend of the various systems that he was
learning. This system that he named Won Hop Kuen Do contained the original
kajukenbo forms and 25 exclusive fighting principles. Like all of the systems,
Won Hop Kuen Do is in a constant state of evolution. Although kajukenbo has 4
systems Emperado has always stressed that no system is superior to another and
that they are not improvements on the original method. They are just kajukenbo
expressions that emphasize different techniques.
In his lifetime Emperado has seen his kajukenbo style grow into a major martial
art that is practiced all across the United States and in several countries.
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