✦ Member ⌕

American Kenpo

Fast hands, many strikes.

A fast striking art developed in the United States by Ed Parker from Chinese and Japanese roots, with rapid combinations.

Fact file

Country
United States
Founder / origin
James Mitose; William Chow
Year / period
1940s
Type
Striking
Main federation
Ed Parker Sr.'s International Kenpo Karate Association — IKKA · Kenpo International — KI
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica

History

Kenpo is the Japanese reading of the Chinese "quanfa" ("fist method"). In Hawaii in the 1940s James Mitose and William Chow taught a kenpo mixing Japanese karate with Chinese boxing.

Ed Parker, a student of Chow, developed American Kenpo in California from the 1950s, with fast hand combinations and self-defence techniques that have names and stories. In 1964 his Long Beach tournament hosted Bruce Lee's famous demonstration.