American Kenpo

Ed Parker’s American Kenpo Karate is a martial arts style characterized by use of quick disabling moves in rapid-fire succession to overwhelm an attacker. It is largely marketed as a "street" self-defense style and has strong ties to, and is influenced by traditional Chinese martial arts on some level.

American Kenpo Karate was created by Edmund Kealoha Parker Sr. as a commercial expression of his personal art, the complexities of were not practical in commercial school applications.

As a young man, Edmund Parker, Sr. came to Brigham Young University from his native Hawaii and began to teach as a brown belt. By the time he achieved the rank of Black Belt, he was already interpreting ideas he had learned from his Chinese-Hawaiian teacher, Kwai (William) Sun Chow.

It was during this period that Parker was significantly influenced by the Japanese and Okinawan interpretations prevalent in Hawaii of the day. Parker’s Book "Kenpo Karate", published in 1962, shows the many hard linear movements, albeit with significant modifications, that set his interpretations apart. While most instructors were executing one or two move "techniques", Parker was using linear rapid fire multiple moves and angles as well as jujutsu influenced grabs and hold attacks.

All of the influences up to that time were reflected in Parker’s rigid, linear, method of “Kenpo Karate,” as it was called. Between writing and publishing, however, he began to be influenced by the Chinese arts, and included information with Traditional Chinese Medicine based implications in self-defense. Once established on the mainland after leaving the military, finishing his education, and finally settling in Southern California, Parker found himself in a rich martial arts cultural demographic.

Arts of all kinds and nationalities settled in California early, and while many were available to the knowledgeable, some Chinese instructors were “secretive” about their methodologies, and rarely taught non-Chinese. As a native Polynesian, however, Parker was embraced by many of the available Chinese Masters, who would have a significant influence on his philosophy and methodologies over the years.

Coming in contact with people like James (Jimmy) W. Woo, Parker was exposed to new Chinese training concepts and history, which he used to write and publish his second book, “Secrets of Chinese Karate.” In this book Parker was attempting to educate the American Public to the roots of the then fairly well known “Karate,” in an effort to gain public acceptance for his new found direction with the Chinese. This began an influence on his methodologies, but it was his meeting with Ark Yuey Wong Grandmaster of “Five Animal Qung-fu that triggered an explosion of fluidity in his art, now termed “Chinese Kenpo.”

Once Parker had accumulated significant information and skills, he decided to "Americanize" what he had learned into an American Cultural Style he chose to call "American Kenpo." Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on your position of commercial martial arts), there came a point for various reasons where Parker made a conscious decision to create a "commercial diversion" product in order to spread the beginnings of his art, even though its core was still a work in progress. Stumbling upon and deciding upon a “motion based concept” out of necessity, it allowed his many transfer black belt students to work with his conceptual ideas with significant flexibility to allow personal interpretations, and "Ed Parker's American Kenpo Karate" was born. As much as he hated using the word "karate," he knew the public still had no idea what "Kenpo" was so he relented. To sell his commercial Kenpo, “karate” had to be a part of its name, as much as other style schools still prominently display the word "karate," when they actually teach something else. Nevertheless, and more importantly, conceptually it allowed him to see most of his students infrequently as he traveled teaching seminars and promoting his commercial art most of the year.

Ed Parker personally continued to study and grow, and that is visible in any film or video examinations over the years. He added many elements to his personal art that are not represented in the commercial “American Kenpo-Karate.” On the grand scale, his commercial works survives.

Although there were varying degrees of crossover from one evolving method to another, there were at least five clear and distinct philosophies and/or styles created by Ed Parker Sr.

1. Kenpo Karate

What Ed Parker was doing when he arrived on the mainland, first as a brown and later as a black belt opening shop in Pasadena around 54. Wrote the book of the same name and published it in 1961. Teachers like Chuck Sullivan draw from this era.

2. Chinese Kenpo

When Ed Parker discovered the vast knowledge available and embraced the Chinese Arts while studying with and under Ark Wong and Haumea Lefiti. Also where he met Jimmy (James Wing) Woo, and Danny Inosanto. Here he also broke with the established "Yudansakai" governing board. During this period, he wrote "Secrets of Chinese Karate" and published it in 1963. Notice the compressed time . People like Frank Trejo's instructor, Steve Hearring still teach this perspective in Pasadena Ca..

3. American Kenpo

Began the codification process of his early understandings of Chinese Kenpo into a distinct evolving American interpretation. Here he dropped all Japanese - Chinese language and non-essential non-American cultural accoutrements. Notice the lack of the word "karate," considered an insult to the Chinese. Some like Dave Hebler draw from the beginnings of this version.

4. Ed Parker's American Kenpo Karate

A series of personal issues causes Ed Parker to decide to enter the commercial marketplace and expand in the second half of the sixties. Looking for a method that differed from the Kenpo franchises that preceded him that he felt were flawed, he drew upon his many "transfer" black belts from other styles. Stumbling upon "motion" as a base concept, it allowed him to create loose conceptual guidelines for already competent black belts. This further gave him the freedom to travel conducting seminars, belt tests, and selling, while seeing the majority of his "students" two or three times a year. Most of the well-known black belts came up under this system. Some came very late in the eighties and is the reason they are not on Parker’s published Family Tree. The rest came after Parker's death.

This was what he was sharing with a few private students in an effort to cash in on the publicity of Larry Tatum's student Jeff Speakman's movie, "Perfect Weapon." He hoped to rekindle a chain of schools that he directly controlled.

5. Ed Parker's Personal Kenpo

The ever-evolving personal art of Ed Parker that included elements left out of his commercial diversion or off shoots. However, in reality it is the "American Kenpo" Parker was himself utilizing before he passed away that was still evolving. Others that he may have taught may have other names for it, but to understand it, a person would have had to evolve with Parker because of a lack of its hard codification.nl:American Kenpo