Question about Gaylord Method

[Twin Fist]

Just a question (I hope not controversial) about one of the "methods" currently out there.

I can see where most of the "methods" are different from the Emperado "original" style.

I cant find any information of how the Gaylord style is different, and nothing about why/how GM Gaylord broke off from Sijo.

Any articles someone can point me too?

 

[John Bishop]

Just a question (I hope not controversial) about one of the "methods" currently out there.

I can see where most of the "methods" are different from the Emperado "original" style.

I cant find any information of how the Gaylord style is different, and nothing about why/how GM Gaylord broke off from Sijo.

Any articles someone can point me too?

There is a lot of history behind this. Long story short. Kajukenbo was originally mean't to evolve from the "original hard style", to "chuan fa", to "Wun Hop Kuen Do". Not the 4 branches and many methods that are now kajukenbo. But each branch had it's supporters who preferred that method to one of the others.
When the "Chuan Fa" branch was developed by Al Dacascos and Al Delacruz, Emperado asked Delacruz to teach the new method to the Kajukenbo instructors in Hawaii, and Dacascos to teach the instructors in California. Some of the instructors preferred the old hard style and got Emperado's permission to continue teaching it. So there was now 2 styles of Kajukenbo. Charles Gaylord and Tony Ramos also wanted to put some of their own kung fu influences into their Kajukenbo, so you have the "Gaylord" and "Ramos" methods of "Chuan Fa". Then came the "Wun Hop Kuen Do" branch with a heavier kung fu influence, and the "Tum Pai" branch with a tai chi influence.
The "Gaylord" method is very similar to the "Original Method" since one of GM Gaylord's instructors was Aleju Reyes. There is the addition of some softer kung fu techniques and principles to bring it inline with the philosophies of the "chuan fa" branch. GM Gaylord has not "broken off" from Sijo Emperado, since he recognizes Sijo as the head of kajukenbo, and received his 9th degree from Emperado.
Kajukenbo has always been a system that embraces innovation and evolution added to the original base of techniques. It is also a system in which "Ohana" (those who share the same breath of life-family) is very important. Instead of people breaking away and forming their own styles, they are embraced as a welcome addition to the family if the style has merit.
So the way Kajukenbo is organized is that the "system" is "Kajukenbo". The "system" has 4 "styles" (branches) "Original Hard Style", "Chuan Fa", "Tum Pai", and "Wun Hop Kuen Do". Under the 4 styles there are various "methods" or expressions. The 2 major (large amount of practitioners) "methods" are the "Gaylord Method" and "Ramos Method". First and foremost all these branches and methods are "Kajukenbo". Just as the "Karate" system would include "Shotokan", "Wado Ryu", "Goju Ryu", "Shito Ryu", etc. Only difference is "Kajukenbo" is united and doesn't have independent leaders of each style.

 

[Twin Fist]

So, the slight differences are acknowledged by being referred to as the various "methods" but the methods are not really seperate from the whole of Kajukenbo.

That makes sense.

That sort of open-mindedness prob explains why kajukenbo doesnt suffer the fragmentation that so many styles do.

 

[DavidCC]

Kajukenbo has always been a system that embraces innovation and evolution added to the original base of techniques. It is also a system in which "Ohana" (those who share the same breath of life-family) is very important. Instead of people breaking away and forming their own styles, they are embraced as a welcome addition to the family if the style has merit.

Hi John, I don't want to dredge up any old crap, but why was Sonny Gascon's path different from these guys? Instead of what he taught being another method of Kajukenbo, he DID break away (at least that is how the story is told today). Was it something technical, like, what he was teaching was too far removed form Kaju, or was it more personal as in, he didn't want to be affiliated with Sijo Emperado?

 

[John Bishop]

Hi John, I don't want to dredge up any old crap, but why was Sonny Gascon's path different from these guys? Instead of what he taught being another method of Kajukenbo, he DID break away (at least that is how the story is told today). Was it something technical, like, what he was teaching was too far removed form Kaju, or was it more personal as in, he didn't want to be affiliated with Sijo Emperado?

Gascon chose to leave Kajukenbo and start his own organization and system. It was not his desire to stay with the Kajukenbo Ohana. Like any system, there are people who leave a organization and start their own, and proclaim themselves independent.
Karazenpo is not a branch of Kajukenbo because Gascon never wanted it to be.

 

[tellner]

It sounds like things haven't changed much in the nearly twenty years since I left the system.

Everyone wants to be seen as doing Kajukenbo for obvious reasons. It's got a well-deserved reputation, and they like what it does and how it does it. But all the top players want to have their name on it. "This isn't just Kajukenbo. This is Joe Bloggs' own special Kajukenbo."

I'll grant that Chuan Fa, Tum Pai and WHKD were real evolutions. But at their core they were all the same thing - an attempt to recast the Kempo with something a little more Chinese and later Filipino. Some of it was because the players wanted a system with their own name a little more prominently displayed. That's pretty obvious from the "frank and productive discussions" of the late 80s and early 90s.

 

[DavidCC]

Gascon chose to leave Kajukenbo and start his own organization and system. It was not his desire to stay with the Kajukenbo Ohana. Like any system, there are people who leave a organization and start their own, and proclaim themselves independent.
Karazenpo is not a branch of Kajukenbo because Gascon never wanted it to be.

Thanks!

 

[Wo Fat]

It sounds like things haven't changed much in the nearly twenty years since I left the system.

Everyone wants to be seen as doing Kajukenbo for obvious reasons. It's got a well-deserved reputation, and they like what it does and how it does it. But all the top players want to have their name on it. "This isn't just Kajukenbo. This is Joe Bloggs' own special Kajukenbo."

I'll grant that Chuan Fa, Tum Pai and WHKD were real evolutions. But at their core they were all the same thing - an attempt to recast the Kempo with something a little more Chinese and later Filipino. Some of it was because the players wanted a system with their own name a little more prominently displayed. That's pretty obvious from the "frank and productive discussions" of the late 80s and early 90s.

The good thing about egos is that they eventually give way to a new generation that simply has a hunger and thirst for knowledge--knowledge not only of their art, but the history and foundation of it.

A new generation will want to learn and study Kajukenbo, and won't care whose name is in front of it.