Kajukenbo - History

History

In the late 1940s, Palama Settlement was a violent area and fist-fights or stabbings were commonplace. In 1947, Adriano D. Emperado and three other martial artists made a secret pact to create a street fighting combination of their arts. The foundation would consist of the following:

• Adriano Directo Emperado — Kenpo (Kosho Ryu) and Eskrima
• Joseph Holck — Judo (Danzan Ryu Jujutsu)
• Peter Young Yil Choo — Kaheka Lane Kenpo Karate (Tang Soo Do) and Boxing
• Frank F. Ordonez — Kaheka Lane Danzan Ryu Jujutsu
• George "Clarence" Chang — Chu'an-Fa Chinese boxing

When the Korean War broke out, Joe Holck, Peter Choo, Frank Ordonez, and Clarence Chang were drafted, leaving only Adriano Emperado to carry the system on. Sijo Emperado and his brother Joe introduced Kajukenbo to the public by opening the Palama Settlement School in 1950. They called the school the Kajukenbo Self Defense Institute (K.S.D.I.). The training there was notoriously brutal. Their goal was to be invincible on the street, thus the students sparred with full contact. Professor Emperado had a motto, "The workout isn't over until I see blood on the floor". His philosophy was that if someone was afraid of pain they would be defeated the first time they were hit. Those who remained developed into tough fighters with a reputation for employing their art in street fights with little provocation. Several students who came out of the school would become very prominent martial artists themselves, such as Sid Asuncion, Aleju Reyes, Joe Halbuna, Charles Gaylord, and Tony Ramos.

In 1959, Sijo Emperado continued to add more Kung Fu into Kajukenbo, shifting the art to a more fluid combination of hard and soft techniques. Since then, Kajukenbo has proved to be an improvement-based, continuously evolving and open form, willing to accept whatever works. John Leoning, who taught Doug Bunda, the brother of Carlos Bunda, also helped bring out the "bo" of Kajukenbo. John Leoning pointed out that there should be no wasted motion.

The art slowly began to grow in popularity, and soon Emperado had 12 Kajukenbo schools in Hawaii, making it the second largest string of schools at the time. Joe Halbuna, Charles Gaylord, Tony Ramos and Aleju Reyes, who all earned a black belt from Emperado, brought Kajukenbo to the mainland in 1960. They each opened Kajukenbo schools in California. In 1969 Tony Ramos trained with and exchanged ideas and methods with Bruce Lee. Tony's version of Kajukenbo became known as the "Ramos Method" and is kept alive by numerous instructors. Aleju Reyes died in 1977 and Tony Ramos died in Hawaii in 1999. Sr. Professor David V. Amiccuci is the successor of the Ramos Method today. Charles Gaylord continued with the art and developed the "Gaylord Method". He was the President of the Kajukenbo Association of America and, in teaching the art, carried on the legacy of his Sijo. He died in August 2009.

In a 1991 interview with Black Belt Emperado was asked who some of the Kajukenbo tournament stars were and said "Al and Malia Dacascos won many tournament championships. Al Gene Caraulia won the 1st Karate World Championship in Chicago in 1963 when he was still a brown belt. Purple belt Victor Raposa knocked out world rated Everett "monster man" Eddy at the 1975 "World Series of Martial Arts". Carlos Bunda was the first lightweight champion at the Long Beach International Karate Championship (IKC) in 1964. Bunda once defeated TV star Chuck Norris in competition where he broke Chuck's cup involving a kenpo groin kick." According to Norris, in his book Against All Odds: My Story he won the middleweight title in 1967 at the Long Beach Internationals, then beat Bunda who had won the lightweight title.