Some time ago in an earlier post I mentioned that in all the years I knew Ed Parker he had never once mentioned Mitose. I ment no disrespect, it was simply a statement of fact. I also mentioned a concern with the many distortions of Kenpo history that have crept into its growing legend.
Within the past week I had the opportunity to talk with Ed Parker Jr. I asked about the wealth of documents his father had left in his care. He kindly granted permission for me to share some of this information from time to time.
Some, but not all, of these treasures have been published elsewhere. For those of you who have already read this information please forgive the repetition. For those reading it for the first time, here are the FACTS about Ed Parkers contact with Mitose IN ED PARKERS OWN WORDS:
MY EXPERIENCES WITH JAMES MITOSE
BY
ED PARKER
Contrary to some of the claims that have been made in
publications, I was never a student of James M. Mitose. I observed his
class in Honolulu in the mid forties, but I was not convinced about
the effectiveness of many of the methods that he taught.
I did not see Mitose again until he visited me at my home and
Kenpo School in Pasadena, California during the early 1970's. His
visits extended over a five month period. Each time I saw him, he was
dressed as an ordained minister. Many of our conversations lasted
hours on end, touching upon an array of topics as well as his proposed
money raising projects.
He asked to meet a number of my celebrity students and friends.
This included friends of the movie industry as well as those in
politics. It was his desire to raise funds for a number of his
projects and he felt that photos taken with these celebrities would
give him greater recognition and prestige. He felt that donations
would be easier to raise if he could show proof of his affiliation
with these celebrities. He also felt that being dressed as an ordained
minister was another effective means of raising funds. "People are
more inclined to donate money to men of the ministry.", he said. He
mentioned that he planned to go to Japan to display these pictures. He
was convinced that he could raise one or two dollars from every family
he visited. His goal was to raise 10 to 15 million dollars.
One of Mitose's projects was to use part of the funds to build a
Kenpo Temple. The estimated cost was several million dollars. It was
Mitose's desire to operate the temple as a monastery where disciples
would be drafted from various parts of the country and become resident
trainees. He was intent and serious about his plans and asked me if I
would be the head of his temple when it was completed. I told Mitose
that I was definitely not interested for two reasons, (1) I already
had my own schools in operation, and (2) I did not teach his methods
of Kenpo. I told him that my innovative methods were modified and
geared for the American environment. That was what I believed in and
that was what I was sticking to. At this point of our conversation he
got extremely angry and threatened my future in Kenpo. While what he
said to me is not important, I abhor threats and like a true
polynesian gave him a piece of my mind and then some. Needless to say,
our conversation ended and I asked him to leave.
During the earlier months of our 1970 relationship, I found
Mitose to be knowledgeable about the evolution of Kenpo, as he
revealed many interesting historical facts. On occasion, he would take
off his shoes, walk on the mat area (of my Pasadena School),
demonstrate self-defense techniques and discuss Kenpo principles with
some of my Black Belt students; namely Tom Kelly, Richard "Huk"
Planas, Bob Perry, and Mike Pick. I noticed, after Mitose demonstrated
techniques, that my students would look at me hoping to detect from my
facial expressions some reaction confirming or disagreeing with
Mitose's performance. As I gazed into their faces, I could detect
telltale expressions of bewilderment and disappointment. Many of
Mitose's moves still leaned heavily toward impractical methods of
application. They still seemed to lack continuity and forethought and
left him dangerously exposed. My disappointment was heightened when I
witnessed a void of circular movements and strikes which Chow had so
emphatically stressed in his teachings.
During the months that followed, many other unanswered questions
surfaced. Why had the Mitose (Kosho) Clan so drastically deviated from
the original teachings of Tamo (Daruma) and his Chinese disciples in
the frequent use of circular movements? Circular moves had certainly
been a vital part of the original system that added to the totality of
movement. I could not understand why the Kosho Clan, who had so
proudly traced their roots to Tamo (Daruma) were willing to discard
and abort circular disciplines as well as other rudiments of motion. I
support the Mitose (Kosho) Clan's desire to change the art to suit the
needs of the Japanese people during that period of history, but why
did the Clan employ moves that were predominantly linear in context?
Circular moves, used within the framework of reason (logic)
undisputedly balances the blend of motion which, when given time,
inevitably leads to useful and practical movements. Lacking this
ingredient would be comparable to replacing round tires on an
automobile for square ones. Thanks to William Chow and his father, the
crucial link has been restored as well as preserved. They have been
responsible for circular movements again finding their rightful place
in the Kenpo system.
As I conclude this article, I am in no way saying that all
aspects of Mitose's teaching were impractical. He did employ methods
that once modified, could work with convincing results. Mitose's
Kenpo, as it was first perpetuated in Hawaii, did stress attacking
vital areas by punching, striking, chopping, thrusting and poking, as
well as throws, locks and take downs. But, although similar to Judo's
methods of Atemi Waza, his methods and philosophy were different. I
give him credit for placing importance in the order that fundamentals
were to be taught. He felt that punching, striking, and kicking were
not only faster than throwing, but were better methods of
self-defense. He felt that when a person was attacked, he should
preserve his physical resources and use strength and energy
economically. No one should risk exhausting himself by attempting to
grab and throw his opponent. Throwing, Mitose warned, exposed your
vital points, which multiplied, when you were faced with more than one
opponent.
Another positive aspect of his teaching was how to maneuver and
have your opponent unknowingly place himself in a precarious and
vulnerable position. Although he did not encourage Kenpo as a sport,
Mitose did feel that if it was made into a sport greater effort should
be taken to properly protect the vital areas on the body. Kenpo, he
said, is purely an art of self-defense and although similar to boxing,
there is a difference in fundamentals and philosophy. "Boxing, in the
Japanese language, is Ken-to, Ken means fist and to means fight. Kento
means fist fight. In Kenpo, Ken means fist and po means law. Thus
Kenpo means fist law." Knowing the similarities between American
boxing and Kenpo, it was Mitose's desire that Kenpo would one day
become Americanized. Kenpo has without question become Americanized
and although it was William K.S. Chow who really started to cultivate
the seed of American Kenpo, Mitose will always remain a part of our
Kenpo history.
*Used with the permission of Ed Parker Jr.*
This explains to my satisfaction why throughout my training there was great respect paid to William K. S Chow and others from the islands; but Ed Parker neglected to mention (to me, at least) Mitose.
Respectfully,
Mills Crenshaw
This message has been edited by MillsCrenshaw from IP address 72.25.160.238 on Apr 23, 2008 4:07 PM
It is in Infinite Insights volume 1 pages 21, 22 as a footnote. That was written in 1982.
Will Tracy answered the time frame with mentioning the temple was during the 60s not in the 70's. He used some footnotes also.
Bottom of the page he discuss's it. This was his answer to the claim in the 1982 book that EPSr wrote. Will did that in the early 1990s, was one of the good things about the web.
Since I was not there I am only posting it and adding my observations. I read quite a bit as many know. Thought I'd answer the question, Mills did not.
But before, thank you for the article, I enjoyed it. Did you ever train with any of the Tracy Brothers at any time throughout your evolution as a martial artist in kenpo? If so, could you please share your experience with us?
This message has been edited by KenpoDave from IP address 209.159.44.242 on Apr 24, 2008 9:23 AM This message has been edited by KenpoDave from IP address 209.159.44.242 on Apr 24, 2008 9:22 AM This message has been edited by KenpoDave from IP address 209.159.44.242 on Apr 24, 2008 9:21 AM
How much did the techniques that you learned at BYU from Matser Parker differ from the ones being currently taught in the AK curriculum? Do you feel that the current AK organizations/Tracy's Organization are going in the right direction?
Thank You Again Humbly For Your Time and Writing here on this board,
Zach Atkins
I hesitated to respond to your question (which was a valid question) only because I choose to stress points of agreement rather than divergent methods of training.
Kenpo, as Ed Parker first taught it, was based on street REALITY. It was hard, some would say brutal. Some of my students (Tony Martinez for example) still talk about the pain involved. That method of training was directly related to the Ed Parker axiom, "To hear is to be deceived; to see is to doubt; to feel is to be convinced."
The commercial side of running studios had the greatest impact on changing the way Kenpo was taught. American students had little tolerance for pain. Those studios which depended on longterm profits modified training methods the most. Although Ed Parker eventually "softened" the training regimen SLIGHTLY, he retained a much harder style of training than most offshoot schools did.
The "pure Kenpo" advocates, such as Jeff Speakman, are less tolerant of those deviations than others might be. That doesn't make him wrong. It merely demonstrates a different perspective.
Good question, I hope I've answered it to your satisfaction.
Cordially,
Mills Crenshaw
This message has been edited by MillsCrenshaw from IP address 72.25.160.238 on May 1, 2008 12:56 PM This message has been edited by MillsCrenshaw from IP address 72.25.160.238 on May 1, 2008 12:54 PM
Mills we met at the HOF in 2007 , as a student in the early days of Tracy's in Louisville Kentucky I can assure you that Jim Stewart and Gary Avery , put us in a world of hurt and that there were many years that those of us that had the honor of learning and working there never had a day we weren't nursing an injury and still manageing to train , teach, and fight on a daily basis. I bless Jim and Gary and the rest of the infamous Louisville Mafia for all the hard work , love and pain we all went thourgh.Yes to feel is to understand. I know the nature of the business has changed , some schools are little more than belt factories and after school baby sitting services. However I'm also sure that there are many schools that still teach and truly care about the students that they develop. There are some nights that my students limp home , but when the time comes they will be ready.
This video is an older one, I put it up in a different thread, good idea as how to show and train someone. That is a demo but to add a lot of pain in there is not sensible now or then...
The school I have always seen and think of when talking about a painful experience is the training in Marine Corps boot camp. Now that is and was all about pain. Kajukenbo brags about its painfull teaching of old.
Thank you for posting the full content of that article. I have seen it before, but only the first half or so of it. Reading the entire article gives a much more balanced view of Parker's views of Mitose. Those posting only the first half likely do so with an agenda in mind.
Are you implying, Gary, that I have a hidden agenda? Curses, you found me out! Yes, I have an agenda. It is to build bridges of FACT and UNDERSTANDING between the various branches of KENPO! It can't be done built on a foundation of fiction. It can't be done built on the sand of suspicion; but I believe it can be acheived with open and cordial communication between men of good will. We don't all have to agree on everything. We don't have to teach like robots. We can learn to think, think to learn and grow in understanding and respect for each other. That is why I have such a profound respect for Ted Sumner and Jeff Speakman. Ted is one of the Tracy organization's men among men. He is an example of what I personnaly know Ed Parker wanted his legacy to acheive. Ed Parker told me personally that he felt that Jeff was the future of Kenpo. If we can build a bridge between such men of character and excellence then the brotherhood (and yes, April, sisterhood)...of Kenpo will be secure. We don't always have to agree on specific techniques but we can agree on goals.
But then, that's just one man's opinion.
Mills
This message has been edited by MillsCrenshaw from IP address 72.25.160.238 on Apr 24, 2008 10:14 AM
I would have been interested in being able to ask what he meant by that, specifically. Jeff was a great marketing tool, via Lethal Weapon. Futures in studio income require a billboard, annd LW would have made a excellent billboard for kenpo incomes. That's my take. Personally, I find Mr. Speakmans arrogance and irascible demeanor towards other kenpo lineages disturbing (even aimed at other Parker kenpo folks, not just Tracy or other lineges), and not at all representative of the inclusiveness Mr. Parker so often demonstrated.
Uniting kenpoists under one roof in civility requires a willingness of all involved to look for the good each of the others does. I don't see this characteristic in Jeff. His perspectives and actions are judgemental and divisive...exclusionary traits that tend to place those who hold them more in the past, than in the future.
We do have to give quite a bit of credit to Chow but there were others in Hawaii that “improved the craft” along the way including certain individuals in California the 1950’s-60’s that are somewhat the silent minority.
Coming originally from American Kenpo, we learned much technique. I have read in Black Belt Magazine dated Augest 1990, Ed Parkers' take on James Mitose. It is written very simular to the above article.
If Mitose's moves were impractical as Ed Parker once claimed, then why does one of his earlier books on self defense shows technique that looks identical to that of Mitose's?
If James Mitose's techniques were ineffective, then why would someone as influencial as Ed Parker himself use techniques that James Mitose had used before in his own book?
Ed Parker did not say that EVERY ONE Mitose's techniques were without merit. There are many basic techniques that are common to MOST systems. It is not surprising that books from competing styles would include some similar techniques.
Ed was most critical of techniques that left the defender exposed or that limited the retaliatory response. The response of those students present when Mitose presented his demonstration was most telling. They recognized the limitations of Mitose's techniques. Ed Parker didn't have to saw a word to them.
Nowhere in the text does it say that Mitose's technique was inferior. Ed Parker said that it was his opinion on Mitose's moves.
I had trained in Ed Parker's Kenpo for many years and know the techniques. I was told the same thing in my training days under this system.
I picked up an old magazine with Thomas Mitose on the cover, and was told to ignore this man because he trains like his dad. Being a person of my own mind, I decided to look him up and have him over for a seminar.
The man moved with grace and style. I couldn't hit him, and I tried my best. I ate floor, and came out with a respect for the man and his family.
What I really wanted people to do(the reason for the posting) was to form their own opinions on what you see, not of what others have told you.
Go see them and train with them. If your opinion is still the same, then you have earned it with merit. Train with others and share and enjoy this art of Kenpo. There has been too many years of people trashing other systems.
We should all train together and take home our memories.Many times have I been teaching a beginner class, and have learn't something from a white belt....we all have, and there is nothing wrong with it.
Life is too short to bicker on who is better than who.All systems have strengths and weaknesses.
This message has been edited by kenpoken from IP address 74.12.63.64 on May 15, 2008 6:59 PM This message has been edited by kenpoken from IP address 74.12.63.64 on May 15, 2008 6:56 PM
He recalled that Mitose's technique wasn't evasive, circular, aiki-ish, or any of the things we associate with Kosho today. He related that Mitose came on like a train...an authoritative, linear hard-stylist. He recounted that his response (Perry's "huh?" look towards Parker) was specific to the absence of circular and semi-circular solutions associated with Mr. Parkers' instructional material, and that it lacked the multiplicity aimed for in Mr. Parkers techniques (i.e., buckling leg check with parry with strike, etc. The use of "with", versus "then" or "and".). Rather, he said the level of sophistication was about on par with a Japanese hard-stylist: Not much fancy or sophisticated going on, but if he's coming at you in a straight line, you definitely want to get out of the way.
For what it's worth. I had several chats in the office with Mr. Perry about this, as I was fascinated by the many existing facets of kenpo that cropped up in it's relatively short lifespan as a system in the US.
Go see the Mitose's and form your own opinion. There are things one cannot learn from listening to others, but to try it for themselves.
I tried to take Thomas's head clean off his shoulders. He moved so smoothly and effortlesly, and took me down with ease. There was no way I could have prevented what he did.
I studied EPAC for many years, was a boxer in the army, took judo as a child, some tae kwon do, and never ever saw a person move as clean as Thomas Mitose did. I didn't pull my punch.
I know what you mean about moving well and cleanly, Bruce J is one of the better movers out there regarding simple movement, able to evade and get the job done with a minimum of motion... But he is getting older and out of shape, where Thomas is still in shape, sort of like Dan Inosanto, who is still in great shape.
Is what Thomas and Bruce J do the same, probably not but they were together for 10 years some 17 years ago or so.
Thomas has a Kajukenbo background that should explain it for some who know about the art. For others they would say what Bruce ended up with was closer to Jujutsu/kempo and Aikido, well if you are well read you could agree with that also.
Movement is motion, is a natural way of moving as a human being.
If you would view the videos that Bruce J put out about "Keys" you could understand it a lot better.
Many have tons of various DVDs and Videos out among the populas of MA. I think Bruce J has as many as anyone does or more. If you don't think so just go to E-bay. My son has hundreds of them LOL I have a few myself.
It is in the art of Kosho Ryu Kempo that I have studied a lot and it is in the art of FMA, also in Kajukenbo (I know because I studied that also).
Kempo is kenpo, some mention "Kenpo Karate" is a name that is supposed to have much of it also. Does Judo have it? Sure...
In the early 90's the organization I was in had an affiliation with Bruce Jucnik that lasted for several years.
Kenpo is definatly Kenpo.
I am not one to compare one system of Kenpo to another.
Although my heart lies in Kosho Ryu under the guidance of the Mitose family, I still train from time to time with friends who have stayed in American Kenpo. I have even been known to train with my childhood friends who have enjoyed Judo.
The greatest gift anyone can offer is the sharing of knowledge through humulity, and leading by example.
One of my favorite books and it has been mentioned numerous times to be one of the best EPSr. ever put out. He borrowed a lot from other sources and compiled a good book for the new art he was going to develop over time.
The newer books in the 80s and the Encyclopedia of Kenpo (published after his death by his son) is pretty much what his art has really boiled down to as far as many of the people that have schools today are concerned.
But the Tracy group and some of the old AKers still like the book "Kenpo Karate, Law of the fist and the empty hand".
He was an inovator and when he saw things going Chinese and whence most of this came from due to his own study he then wrote the next book about " Secrets of Chinese Karate" that was a mistake that cost him dearly and took some time to get back on track (about that time Tracys and he split off).
The guy was a genuis for sure and he definitly produced a very good MA, His son is doing his job to make sure it will be around for some time to come.
For those who have been in the arts for the last 20 years and don't study much about the history are missing quite a bit of the fascination I find in the whole package.
Ken,
Sorry for not answering sooner about the Chow Memorial seminar, I was there with my Son, we went to observe and talk to as many who would talk. It was a real nice day. I got to meet many that are real good MA's. To bad there is so much political guano out there. Lot of old timers...
I talked to Thomas Mitose about his book and am still waiting, you will keep us informed I hope, when it comes out?
