KAJUKENBO

Kajukenbo is an American martial art created after WW2 in Hawaii. The name Kajukenbo is taken from the many arts it comes from. KA stands for Karate or more specifically Korean Tang Soo Do (Tang Soo Do was shortened to a form of Karate but that is not technically correct). The Ju represents Judo and Ju-Jitsu. KEN means Kenpo and the BO represents Chinese Boxing or more exclusively Chu'an Fa Gung Fu. Kenpo was formed as the core and not credited by name but still with a lot of influence were American Boxing and Escrima. In 1947 at Palamas Settlement on Oahu Hawaii Kajukenbo was formed by a group calling themselves the "Black Belt Society." The Group was made up of Adriano Emperado, Peter Young Yil Choo, Clarence Chang, Joe Holck, and Frank Ordonez.

The Palamas Settlement was a violent area and the founders of Kajukenbo wanted to create a street useful and effective martial art. To test the effectiveness of the original techniques they would get into fights around Palomas. If the technique worked consistently, it became a part of Kajukenbo. Kajukenbo stresses following-up techniques based on an opponents body reactions and don't stop with one hit. A major theme within is "If he starts the fight, you decide when the fight is over." Now from these techniques came what is called the Kajukenbo's Quins or Katas. These 14 katas are also known as "Palama Sets" 1 through 14. The self defense techniques can be broken up and arranged into 15 knife counters, 13 club counters, 15 grab arts, 21 punch counters, 9 two and three main attack counters, and 26 advanced alphabet.

Good physical fitness is a big part of Kajukenbo. Exercise is a part of the class structure to insure that students will be physically able to defend themselves in the outside world. There is a big emphasis on bad work with emphasis also on sparring and grappling. After a certain amount of training, students throw real punches at each other and practice that way.

1950 was the first year Kajukenbo was open to the public at the Palama Settlement. Soon the second was opened at the Kaimuki YMCA. John Leoning, who earned a black belt, was the first to bring it to the mainland in 1958. Since then it has evolved and changed. Seeing that it very adaptive and they encourage outside training there are many sub styles out there. Some people train in Kajukenbo then Escrima and add a lot of Escrima to the art and teach that when some else added more of a Jiu Jitsu background to it where as another school may have added sword and chain defense. Side note is that Kenpo Karate is considered to be a sub-style of Kajukenbo.

Source

The basis for most of my information can be found at www.martial-way.com/, www.ldd.net/scribers/belt/research.htm, kajukenbo.org/, and www.atlantamartialarts.com/