What differences are there between jujutsu and kajukenbo?

Flyingknee

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Is the main one the fact that kaju incorporates boxing (western or Chinese or both??) as well?

What other differences are between these two arts in terms of their general approach/philosophy and the kind of moves they tend to use?

EDIT: Japanese jujutsu....not Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
 
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punisher73

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KaJuKenBo takes its name from the combination of the styles that formed it.

Ka=Karate
Ju=Judo/Jujutsu
Ken=Kenpo
Bo=Both Chinese and Western Boxing

There are different offshoots of Kajukenbo currently. The main branch would be what is called the "Original Method" or the "Emperado Method". Sijo Emperado was one of the five founders, but he was the only one who taught Kajukenbo after it was put together. The Original Method was heavily influenced by Prof. William Chow's Kenpo.

The Jujutsu that is incorporated into it is mainly joint locks and takedowns/throws to put the attacker on the ground as a finishing move. These moves are all prefaced by the striking techniques from Karate, Kenpo and Boxing. It does also involve some ground grappling, more so with the advent of MMA/BJJ.

It would differ in strategy, in that, Kajukenbo's main focus is on the striking aspect first and foremost. The takedowns/throws are a finishing move and not the primary focus. In JJ, the focus is mainly on the joint locking, throwing aspects in a standup grappling range.
 

Tony Dismukes

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EDIT: Japanese jujutsu....not Brazilian jiu-jitsu
FYI, "Japanese jujutsu" is not a single art, but a diverse family of related arts. These can range from traditional (koryu) systems like Takenouchi-ryu to modern (gendai) systems like Judo. If you look up examples of these on You-Tube, you can see how different they can be from each other.

To confuse matters more, if you define an "authentic" Japanese jujutsu system as a jujutsu art founded in Japan, then most of them will not use the name "Japanese jujutsu". They'll use the name of the specific art, i.e. Takenouchiryu, Yoshin-ryu, Judo, Aikido, Daito-ryu aikijutsu, etc. If you encounter a school describing itself just as "Japanese jujutsu"*, then it's probably a modern eclectic system founded outside of Japan built on a foundation of Judo, Karate, and Aikido (with possibly some other arts thrown into the mix), but maintaining some of the Japanese cultural trappings. There's a reasonable amount of diversity in these groups as well. Some will emphasize the Karate-based elements more and those will be closer to the blend you'll see in Kajukenbo. However, on average, the jujutsu systems will place a greater emphasis on the grappling aspects of the art.

*(Many of these systems will also have a specific name, like Kawaishi Ryu, but if the primary branding lists it as "Japanese Jujutsu" then there's an excellent chance that it's an art founded in the West but derived from Japanese arts like Judo/Karate/Aikido.)
 

John Bishop

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Basically, what Punisher said is a correct description. Kajukenbo basically uses kenpo as a base with the other arts blended in to complete a combination of block, strike, takedown, and finish (par-stun-put away). Most of the defenses (around 75%) have a jujitsu takedown or throw added. But probably 95-98% of the club and knife defenses utilize jujitsu/judo techniques.
 

punisher73

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Basically, what Punisher said is a correct description. Kajukenbo basically uses kenpo as a base with the other arts blended in to complete a combination of block, strike, takedown, and finish (par-stun-put away). Most of the defenses (around 75%) have a jujitsu takedown or throw added. But probably 95-98% of the club and knife defenses utilize jujitsu/judo techniques.

Nice to see you on here again sir!
 

Jeff_Beish

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We, us kajukenbo has-beens, used to refer to it as "dirty street fighting."
 

Jeff_Beish

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Would you say it's very efficient for self-defense on the streets then?
My close late friend Tony Lasit coined that phrase. We joked about some of the kenpo Vs Joe's methods and told me that Joe was a street scrapper in his younger years, so added those techniques to the kajakenbo-street stuff. Tony liked a lot of street savvy techniques. Anyway, that was back in the day, so to speak, maybe 60 years ago.
 

Jeff_Beish

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Very much so. The early students got a lot of experience due to the time period in Hawaii.
My first experiences in kajukenbo was back in 1965 at Bergstrom AFB, TX where I was assisting the Judo sensei in his class and noticed an older Hawaiian guy practicing a sort of Judo-ish, mixed MA with a guy. After awhile I got to know him and we started practicing “karate” or whatever, and Judo as well. A couple years later, after many hours together and my former Matsubayashi techniques mixed with his stuff, he began teaching me more kenpo. Long story short; the Judo and kajukenbo clubs had combined, so we would do a lot of what is now called “MMA” and also we had been invited by the local radio DJ’s to put on demonstrations during breaks in their basketball games against the various school teams in Austin. That went on for some time, but ended after a few months. Additionally, the DJ’s used some local Go-Go Dancers for cheerleaders, making that interesting for us married folks.

With that in mind, on the last game we gathered at the nightclub where the Go-Go dancers worked and had too many beers. At closing time and during our exit I stopped to say bye to one of the dancers when some jerk grabbed me and yelled at me, then hit me on the forehead with a beer bottle! Yeah, I must have had a bit too much beer and missed that calling, but as Tony explained to me later, I then hit the guy three times in the face, breaking his jaw in several places, he fell down and I thought he was dead! Did not remember even striking the dude, but with too many beers anything was possible.

All I remember is after getting my head stitched up and arriving home, my wife was already in bed and didn’t see my bandaged up forehead. The next day I woke up and really didn’t remember the whole affair, but do remember the thrashing from my wife, and later on using my “three strike, street style kata” in our classes. Yeah, it all sounds like GI business, but that’s all I remember. Guess too many beers makes for foolish actions, huh?

I still fret over doing such a stupid thing, hurting the guy and making his eating painful, for many years.
 
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Flyingknee

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Basically, what Punisher said is a correct description. Kajukenbo basically uses kenpo as a base with the other arts blended in to complete a combination of block, strike, takedown, and finish (par-stun-put away). Most of the defenses (around 75%) have a jujitsu takedown or throw added. But probably 95-98% of the club and knife defenses utilize jujitsu/judo techniques.

Further to the original question of the/my thread, what are the major differences between krav maga and kajukenbo in terms of the moves that they have selected from other arts and in general?
 

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