Chinese Kenpo Karate Scandal!
I’ve heard many tales of many martial arts that were, shall we say, less than honorable, but the one I heard about Chinese Kenpo Karate, however, is one of the worst I have heard. Unfortunately, I don’t know how true it is, but with the information I present in this article perhaps some one could let me know if they have any light to shed on the truth or falsity of it.
Ed Parker is credited with being the creator of modern Kenpo, putting on the biggest tournament in the world for years, the Internationals, teaching movie stars, including Elvis, and all manner of other deeds. His prowess is quite well known, and his students are legion. Unfortunately, when he first began teaching, while he seemed to demonstrate a talent as a teacher, he was only a brown belt.
In those days he was actually teaching the Heian forms from Shotokan karate, this as illustrated by one of his earliest books. Running out of material to teach his students, he went back to Hawaii and was told to go take a hike, the founder of the system apparently had lost interest in him as a student. I’m not sure, exactly, what the fall out was, but it was perhaps that Ed was teaching without permission.
Ed then ran into a fellow in San Francisco named Jimmy Woo, whose named might have been Jimmy Wu, who knew tremendous and authentic gung fu, but who spoke almost no English. Ed brought Jimmy to Los Angeles, where they lived together, and where Jimmy devised the Kenpo forms, the techniques, and so on. Ed took these forms and techniques and began teaching them as his own.
To complicate matters further, Ed asked Jimmy to write a book with him on what they were doing, and Jimmy spent his days writing kenpo, teaching Ed and some of his students, all while still being deficient in the English language. One day Jimmy saw a rough translation/draft of the book that Ed was planning on turning over to a publisher, and he was surprised to see that his name was not on the cover, or anywhere in the book. This was surprising, because even though Ed was half the team, Jimmy was doing all the work.
Why not my name on book, is what he was supposed to have said. Ed said he would explain, but he had an errand to run, could they take a drive, and Ed would explain on the way. Jimmy got into the car, and Ed drove into Hollywood, but Ed didn’t say a word about the book the whole time. On Hollywood Blvd, there is an Armenian pastry shop there now, Ed let Jimmy out of the car, and drove off.
Jimmy had one single quarter in his pocket, the clothes on his back, and nothing else. With that last quarter he called one of Ed’s students, who he had been teaching. In his broken English he explained what Ed had done, that he didn’t know where he was, or why it had all happened.
He had been teaching, writing, and then, he had been betrayed. Now, is this story true, or is it a pack of lies? If anybody has definite information on this story, I sure would like to know.
This page has been about Chinese Kenpo Karate.
Thank you for your article. I have heard some stories as well but have not heard this one before about Ed Parker. It is always sad when a student takes the less desirable path. It is even worse when they turn on other Martial Artists that are trying to help them. Do you have any idea what happened to Jimmy?
Look forward to reading more of your articles.
Jimmy apparently got backing from some of Parker’s students and opened his own school. It was located on Hollywood Blvd. for decades. I used to pass by it and look in and wonder about it. It was dark and dingy, had tile floors. I think it is a bakery now. I’d love to find one of his students, find out what happened to him, guy must have stories up the wazoo about those days.
Parker learned Hawaiian Kempo from William CHow in the 1950′s. Hawaiian Kempo was a traditional Okinawan karate do system brought to Hawaii. He wanted to modernize the system which was, at the time, a traditional rendition of what could never be mistaken for applicable fighting techniques. Parker attempted to upgrade the old-school form into street-applicable science. He failed miserably. While his American Kenpo techniques did make a huge improvement in technical use, they held onto the traditional karate form that has failed so many people in so many fights. The result is an army of kenpo systems that study high-level techniques in front of a mirror, in simulated scenarios, and instructor prompted reactions. The martial artists never become fighters. When they do spar, they use none of what is taught in kenpo. Instead, they revert to kickboxing-like tactics. When you study through two or three v ersions of the system, it becomes apparent that Bruce Lee’s JKD Trapping influenced the development somehow. There is, however, very little Chinese influence in the system. Parker applied the trapping inspirations with a traditional karate body motion. His claim to Chinese ancestry is, at best, third generation; inherited from the old Okinawan karate do systems like Goju Ryu Karate Do.
I have been a dedicated martial artist for 25 years. I started in the modern kenpo systems such as Ed Parker’s Original Kenpo System, Action Kenpo Karate, and a couple of others. I have also studied on the traditional Okinawan side, and the traditional korean side. In order for something to become Chinese in origin, it must adapt a CHinese body motion. For instance, a Japanese Karate Master cannot go to China and pass himself off as a Kung Fu Master; the body motions are completely different. There have been a few since Parker who achieved his goal for him. CHinese Kenpo and Mong Su Dom Tai Chinese Karate managed to set up mirror systems that incorporated Kung Fu and Indonesian body motion into their new generation techniques. When they move they look like Silat, Tai Chi, WIng Chun, and Chow Gar masters who are influenced by Wudan, Wushu, and/or Shaolin.
As a final thought, if all traditional systems would eliminate the katas and set techniques from their systems, after extracting all the basic movements, and then teach and practice those movements the way a prize fighter does, most systems would develop high levels of applicability. Practical theory and proof of practicality are not the same thing. No second hand information can prepare you for a first hand confrontation.-Bruce Lee