Olohe Sol Kaihewalu

[Twin Fist]

ok, so pretty much everyone in California, and a lot of people outside California know the Olohe

he says he is a Lau master, taught by his dad

My question is, was Sol ever a Kenpo or kaju guy?

he has been around forever, and lord knows all hawaiians seem to know each other, but what is the real deal with the guy?

 

[Kembudo-Kai Kempoka]

ok, so pretty much everyone in California, and a lot of people outside California know the Olohe

he says he is a Lau master, taught by his dad

My question is, was Sol ever a Kenpo or kaju guy?

he has been around forever, and lord knows all hawaiians seem to know each other, but what is the real deal with the guy?

Mr. Kaihewalu was one of the co-founders of Limalama. It was an eclectic system, with a council of founders that brought to the table a couple forms of kung-fu, kajukenbo, Parker kenpo, Lua, jujutsu and judo, boxing, and asundry other arts. It was to be the local knock-off of the eclectic format used in kajukenbo's formation, and a tool for outreach of kenpo skills and methods to latin communities.

In an attempt at standardizing a cirriculum, they would all get together and learn each others stuff, then pick through it for pieces that best made certain points, so to speak. So...that means they all learned a bunch of Parker stuff from Tino & Mr. P; a bunch of splashing hands from Tiny; a bunch of Lua from Olohe; a bunch of...you get it.

Unfortunately, many of the limalama guys were, to put it plainly, thugs. It wasn't long before several got sent to prison for one damn thing or another, some died, others slipped into strategic anonymity. Olohe opted to put some distance between they and he; he's a deeply, though not publicly, spiritual/religious man. He changed the name of what he taught to Elua Lima for a spell.

Many of the Elua Lima forms resemble the Short and Long forms of kenpo, rearranged. Step forward instead of back; to 6:00 instead of 3:00; throw a inward then a downward, instead of 2 inwards, etc...but the influence is undeniable. This is a guy who was basically in kenpo during it's formative years...before much of what is now "the system" was canonized. His inception into limalama also gave him a unique "in" to the inner circle thinking of founders of both kenpo and kajukenbo.

Add to it...they are all related to each other. Cousins, in-laws...stuff like, "his wife is my sister", or "my brother and his sister married", "He's the godfather of my brothers kids", and so on. So they all hooked up, often. Exchanged notes, thoughts, ideas, moves. Mr. Parkers kung-fu connection could be seen with Tiny Lefiti...the tall Samoan of the group, who pretty much taught Parker how to move like thunder. Mr. Parker would have gotten Lua from Sol, and so on. All these "Kalihi boyz" kicked it together in the tight knit polynesian expatriot community here in Cali.

He makes some really cool Hawaiian weapons, and teaches some great courses on how to use them. There are always issues when someone from a "foriegn" art ranks somebody else...in the Spry thread, the question was raised...who the hell is Olohe to rank a kenpoist? That part, I actually found kinda funny. He may not know Form 4, but he'll know good kenpo movement when he sees it. Hell, he's been on the mat with Tino, Tiny, and Mr. Parker in their youthful primes. Think he can't tell the schnizzle when he sees it? I may not agree with the choices he makes in supporting guys like Spry, but I can't say he's unqualified to hold the opinions he does.

D.

 

[Twin Fist]

well, the real question is, is his lua actual lua, or kenpo/kaju that he decided to call lua?

 

[John Bishop]

ok, so pretty much everyone in California, and a lot of people outside California know the Olohe

he says he is a Lau master, taught by his dad

My question is, was Sol ever a Kenpo or kaju guy?

he has been around forever, and lord knows all hawaiians seem to know each other, but what is the real deal with the guy?

Sol was never a kenpo or Kajukenbo guy. Besides his lua upbringing in Hawaii, in California he was a student of Gordon Doversola (Okinawa-te) when they founded Limalama. Doversola's first training was in Kajukenbo, so his Okinawa-te may have some similar techniques.
The Kenpo/Kaju influence in Limalama comes from Tino Tuilosega (Parker student), Richard Nunez & Saul Esquival (Dan Guzman students).

 

[Twin Fist]

i love martial art history..

*squeee*

 

[Kembudo-Kai Kempoka]

Sol was never a kenpo or Kajukenbo guy. Besides his lua upbringing in Hawaii, in California he was a student of Gordon Doversola (Okinawa-te) when they founded Limalama. Doversola's first training was in Kajukenbo, so his Okinawa-te may have some similar techniques.
The Kenpo/Kaju influence in Limalama comes from Tino Tuilosega (Parker student), Richard Nunez & Saul Esquival (Dan Guzman students).

Mr. Bishop:

Have you been or stayed in contact with Mr. Nunez at all? I often wonder about him, and hope he is well, though I have not intiated contact in a very long time.

D

 

[Kembudo-Kai Kempoka]

well, the real question is, is his lua actual lua, or kenpo/kaju that he decided to call lua?

My opinion? Both...an amalgamation of material, representing a lifetime of involvement in the arts.

D.

 

[John Bishop]

Mr. Bishop:

Have you been or stayed in contact with Mr. Nunez at all? I often wonder about him, and hope he is well, though I have not intiated contact in a very long time.

D

I see him at tournaments a few times a year. As far as I know, he's still teaching some students in Whittier (Cal.). His organization seems to be doing well.


http://www.limalamainstitute.com/home.php

 

[takezo]

JB: "Sol was never a kenpo or Kajukenbo guy. Besides his lua upbringing in Hawaii, in California he was a student of Gordon Doversola (Okinawa-te) when they founded Limalama..."

MG: Don't think Sol Kaihewalu was ever a student of Gordon Doversola. I know he wasn't after 1964 when I started in the Okinawa-te Organization, and I checked with a fellow Okinawa-te student who began his training with Gordon in the late 1950s and he does't recall him either.

However, you may be referring to John Louis (deceased) who left the Okinawa-te Organization and joined Lima Lama after testing for Brown Belt circa 1967 or 1968.

JB: "Doversola's first training was in Kajukenbo, so his Okinawa-te may have some similar techniques.

MG: A minor correction here, as best as I can recall Gordon Doversola's initial training was in Gung Fu (required a letter from his grandmother to prove Chinese ancestry) and then Judo, Boxing, and DanZan Ryu prior to training Kenpo with Woodrow McCandless. After the passing of Woodrow McCandless he spent a brief period in the Kajukembo organization prior to moving to the mainland and settling in LA during the mid 1950's.

 

[John Bishop]

JB: "Sol was never a kenpo or Kajukenbo guy. Besides his lua upbringing in Hawaii, in California he was a student of Gordon Doversola (Okinawa-te) when they founded Limalama..."

MG: Don't think Sol Kaihewalu was ever a student of Gordon Doversola. I know he wasn't after 1964 when I started in the Okinawa-te Organization, and I checked with a fellow Okinawa-te student who began his training with Gordon in the late 1950s and he does't recall him either.

However, you may be referring to John Louis (deceased) who left the Okinawa-te Organization and joined Lima Lama after testing for Brown Belt circa 1967 or 1968.

JB: "Doversola's first training was in Kajukenbo, so his Okinawa-te may have some similar techniques.

MG: A minor correction here, as best as I can recall Gordon Doversola's initial training was in Gung Fu (required a letter from his grandmother to prove Chinese ancestry) and then Judo, Boxing, and DanZan Ryu prior to training Kenpo with Woodrow McCandless. After the passing of Woodrow McCandless he spent a brief period in the Kajukembo organization prior to moving to the mainland and settling in LA during the mid 1950's.

Sol may have trained more Okinawa-te with Ted Tabura then Doversola, but they were both under Doversola. Sol was only went up to around "blue" in Okinawa-te.
Woodrow McCandless left the Mitose/Young kenpo organization and was one of the first Kajukenbo instructors at the Palama Settlement school, around 1950. He taught Kajukenbo until he died in 1956. Doversola was with the Palama Settlement school before he moved to Calif. in 1958.