The Black Belt Society
[FONT="][/FONT] From the immigrant groups of Hawaii came the five kajukenbo founders. Adriano Emperado and Frank Ordonez were of Filipino descent. Peter Choo was of Korean descent. Joe Holck (birth name: Joichi Matsuno) was of Japanese descent. And George Chang was of Chinese descent.
The idea for a meeting of the minds was first presented to Emperado by his neighbor, Frank Ordonez. He told Emperado that he had some friends who wanted to learn some kenpo from him. This brought together the five founders for the first time.
Growing up in the poor neighborhoods of Honolulu, these men were no strangers to street fights. From actual experience they had a pretty good idea of what worked on the street and what didnt. One thing they all agreed on, was that one system of fighting wouldnt fit every self defense situation. So they made a pack to workout together, and create a fighting system that would be useful in just about any street encounter.
When the founders first got together in late 1947, each of them had already trained for several years in various western and eastern fighting systems. Emperado, Choo, and Holck were also World War II era veterans. Emperado had been discharged in 1946, and Choo and Holck were still active duty, stationed in Hawaii.
More specifically, Adriano Emperado, Peter Choo, Joe Holck, and Frank Ordonez all had training in western boxing. In addition, Emperado brought with him some experience in jujitsu, judo, escrima, and kenpo jiu jitsu. Joe Holck also had several years of Danzan Ryu jujitsu, and Kodokan judo training. Peter Choo was the most experienced boxer in the group, and also had experience in Korean karate, kenpo jiu jitsu, and Danzan Ryu jujitsu. Like Holck, Frank Ordonez also had some experience in Danzan Ryu jujitsu and Kodokan judo. And George Clarence Chang had a background in Chinese Boxing (Sil-lum Pai kung fu), having trained both in China and Hawaii.
Although these five men were young, just barely into their 20s, they approached the concept of creating a mixed martial art with great eagerness. And in their youthful enthusiasm for what would be their future role in the martial arts, they gave themselves the nickname: The Black Belt Society.
Their first workout together was in the backyard at Peter Choos mothers house. Subsequent training sessions were held in various locations around the Halawa Housing area, and at the Kaheka Gym. At that time, the Halawa Housing area had military, veterans, and civilian housing sections. When the founders first met, Emperado was living at the Halawa Veterans Housing unit. Because World War II had ended the year before, many of the military housing units and barracks there were vacant. So the 5 young men moved their workouts around from building to building, in a attempt to keep their training secret. Much like an inventor hides his invention until its perfected.
Emperado, Choo, and Holck, did a great deal of the experimenting with the blending of techniques, and designing of combinations. While Chang and Ordonez assisted, and also recorded the training progress in writing and photographs.
They tried each other out, as they would say in those days. Boxer verses judoka. Kenpo man verses jujitsuka. Karateka verses boxer. And on and on. Having been boxers, they were use to fighting full contact at full speed. Emperado and Choo had quick punches and hand strikes, along with kicks. Holck was the takedown man, and knew how to lock, throw, and grapple. That was the way they found any gaps in their fighting styles. And then they started working on filling the gaps.
For close in work, they combined hand and elbow techniques from kenpo, boxing, karate, escrima, and kung fu. This gave them linear strikes, straight punches, roundhouse punches, and uppercut punches. Additionally, elbow techniques were used in really tight spots. And circular whipping and snapping strikes helped enhance the speed and flow of multiple hand strikes.
Kenpo, kung fu, and karate, also gave them their long range weapons. With the addition to various kicks, sweeps, stomps, and knee strikes. And they adopted the kenpo philosophy when it came to kicks, they kept them low, while using their hands for striking the upper body.
Grappling and joint locks were used to take the attacker down to the ground, where he would be more vulnerable. Joint locks and arm bars were also found to be superior techniques to use against knife and club attacks.
One of the most important things the founders did was to focus their training on their environment. They abandoned any thoughts of designing flowery forms or weapons katas. They agreed that their attacker would most likely be a street fighter or common criminal. Possibly armed with a knife or club. And if they did have any kind of formal training, it would most likely be in boxing, or possibly the Filipino stick and knife arts. So they geared their self defense technique development toward these kind of attackers.
Punching defenses were designed to counter all the common punching combinations that a boxer or street fighter would throw. A right cross. A left jab/right cross combination. A right cross/left hook combination. A grab followed by a punch. A grab from behind followed by a punch. Multiple punching combination attacks, and more. And these punches were thrown to the face. This deviated greatly from the common karate training of the day, where the student learns to block and counter against a attacker who steps in and throws a lunge punch to the chest/solar plexus .
Self defense combinations were also designed to counter the knife and club attacks of a street thug, bar room fighter, or a trained Filipino stylist. And of course there were defenses against grabs and chokes.
Eventually the founders realized that they had in fact created a new martial art. It was not a karate, jujitsu, judo, kung fu, or kenpo system. It was a mixed martial art, and it needed a name. They thought about some names and then decided that a acronym would be the best choice. They decided that the acronym should represent their main martial arts, karate, kenpo, kung fu, judo, and jujitsu. After considering some different names for their new art, they decided on the suggestion that Joe Holck made; Ka-ju-ken-bo. Ka represented karate. Ju represented judo and jujitsu. Ken represented kenpo, and Bo represented both Chinese and Western boxing. An American name for a mixed martial art founded on American soil.
[FONT="][/FONT] From the immigrant groups of Hawaii came the five kajukenbo founders. Adriano Emperado and Frank Ordonez were of Filipino descent. Peter Choo was of Korean descent. Joe Holck (birth name: Joichi Matsuno) was of Japanese descent. And George Chang was of Chinese descent.
The idea for a meeting of the minds was first presented to Emperado by his neighbor, Frank Ordonez. He told Emperado that he had some friends who wanted to learn some kenpo from him. This brought together the five founders for the first time.
Growing up in the poor neighborhoods of Honolulu, these men were no strangers to street fights. From actual experience they had a pretty good idea of what worked on the street and what didnt. One thing they all agreed on, was that one system of fighting wouldnt fit every self defense situation. So they made a pack to workout together, and create a fighting system that would be useful in just about any street encounter.
When the founders first got together in late 1947, each of them had already trained for several years in various western and eastern fighting systems. Emperado, Choo, and Holck were also World War II era veterans. Emperado had been discharged in 1946, and Choo and Holck were still active duty, stationed in Hawaii.
More specifically, Adriano Emperado, Peter Choo, Joe Holck, and Frank Ordonez all had training in western boxing. In addition, Emperado brought with him some experience in jujitsu, judo, escrima, and kenpo jiu jitsu. Joe Holck also had several years of Danzan Ryu jujitsu, and Kodokan judo training. Peter Choo was the most experienced boxer in the group, and also had experience in Korean karate, kenpo jiu jitsu, and Danzan Ryu jujitsu. Like Holck, Frank Ordonez also had some experience in Danzan Ryu jujitsu and Kodokan judo. And George Clarence Chang had a background in Chinese Boxing (Sil-lum Pai kung fu), having trained both in China and Hawaii.
Although these five men were young, just barely into their 20s, they approached the concept of creating a mixed martial art with great eagerness. And in their youthful enthusiasm for what would be their future role in the martial arts, they gave themselves the nickname: The Black Belt Society.
Their first workout together was in the backyard at Peter Choos mothers house. Subsequent training sessions were held in various locations around the Halawa Housing area, and at the Kaheka Gym. At that time, the Halawa Housing area had military, veterans, and civilian housing sections. When the founders first met, Emperado was living at the Halawa Veterans Housing unit. Because World War II had ended the year before, many of the military housing units and barracks there were vacant. So the 5 young men moved their workouts around from building to building, in a attempt to keep their training secret. Much like an inventor hides his invention until its perfected.
Emperado, Choo, and Holck, did a great deal of the experimenting with the blending of techniques, and designing of combinations. While Chang and Ordonez assisted, and also recorded the training progress in writing and photographs.
They tried each other out, as they would say in those days. Boxer verses judoka. Kenpo man verses jujitsuka. Karateka verses boxer. And on and on. Having been boxers, they were use to fighting full contact at full speed. Emperado and Choo had quick punches and hand strikes, along with kicks. Holck was the takedown man, and knew how to lock, throw, and grapple. That was the way they found any gaps in their fighting styles. And then they started working on filling the gaps.
For close in work, they combined hand and elbow techniques from kenpo, boxing, karate, escrima, and kung fu. This gave them linear strikes, straight punches, roundhouse punches, and uppercut punches. Additionally, elbow techniques were used in really tight spots. And circular whipping and snapping strikes helped enhance the speed and flow of multiple hand strikes.
Kenpo, kung fu, and karate, also gave them their long range weapons. With the addition to various kicks, sweeps, stomps, and knee strikes. And they adopted the kenpo philosophy when it came to kicks, they kept them low, while using their hands for striking the upper body.
Grappling and joint locks were used to take the attacker down to the ground, where he would be more vulnerable. Joint locks and arm bars were also found to be superior techniques to use against knife and club attacks.
One of the most important things the founders did was to focus their training on their environment. They abandoned any thoughts of designing flowery forms or weapons katas. They agreed that their attacker would most likely be a street fighter or common criminal. Possibly armed with a knife or club. And if they did have any kind of formal training, it would most likely be in boxing, or possibly the Filipino stick and knife arts. So they geared their self defense technique development toward these kind of attackers.
Punching defenses were designed to counter all the common punching combinations that a boxer or street fighter would throw. A right cross. A left jab/right cross combination. A right cross/left hook combination. A grab followed by a punch. A grab from behind followed by a punch. Multiple punching combination attacks, and more. And these punches were thrown to the face. This deviated greatly from the common karate training of the day, where the student learns to block and counter against a attacker who steps in and throws a lunge punch to the chest/solar plexus .
Self defense combinations were also designed to counter the knife and club attacks of a street thug, bar room fighter, or a trained Filipino stylist. And of course there were defenses against grabs and chokes.
Eventually the founders realized that they had in fact created a new martial art. It was not a karate, jujitsu, judo, kung fu, or kenpo system. It was a mixed martial art, and it needed a name. They thought about some names and then decided that a acronym would be the best choice. They decided that the acronym should represent their main martial arts, karate, kenpo, kung fu, judo, and jujitsu. After considering some different names for their new art, they decided on the suggestion that Joe Holck made; Ka-ju-ken-bo. Ka represented karate. Ju represented judo and jujitsu. Ken represented kenpo, and Bo represented both Chinese and Western boxing. An American name for a mixed martial art founded on American soil.