Influences
(Teachers & Mentors)
EDMUND K. PARKER
Edmund K. Parker was a student of Professor Chow in Hawaii. Like his predecessors, "Ed" Parker continued to learn and developed his own system, and style of Martial Arts. As he continued to add, modify and refine his art he created his own style of "Kenpo" which he called "Kenpo Karate." Ed Parker studied Kung Fu in San Francisco in the early 1960's. This is where he became enlightened to the Chinese concepts of 'sets' or forms. The real flowering of his Kenpo Karate style occurred during the period from 1960 to 1965. His Kenpo Karate started to take on a flavor more akin to Kenpo/Kung Fu rather than it's original foundation of "Kenpo Ju Jitsu." The system became more balanced and unique.
During the same period "Ed" met Ben Largusa (Filipino Martial Arts) and Bruce Lee the founder of Jeet Kune Do, both impressed and influenced the final development of his art.
BRUCE LEE
Bruce Lee studied Tai Chi in Hong Kong as a youngster. At age 13 he began training Wing Chun Kung Fu under Grandmaster Yip Man. He also studied Western boxing, Chinese spear and Western fencing. This mixture of eastern and western styles led to the development of his own style which he called Jeet Kune Do.
Bruce Lee passed away in 1973 leaving three certified senior instructors to teach his art. The three include: Taky Kimura, James Lee (now deceased) and Daniel Inosanto.
DANIEL INOSANTO
"Danny" started studying Judo from Duke Yoshimura in 1957 until 1959 when he entered the United States military. He met Henry Slomansky while stationed and Fort Cambell, Kentucky. Slomansky taught him Chito-Ryu. After being discharged from the service Danny moved to Los Angeles where he met Ed Parker in 1961. Danny recieved his black belt from Ed in 1964 the same year he was to meet Bruce Lee. Eventually he would go on to become Bruce's protege and last certified instructor in "JKD."
In addition to these teachers Danny went on to study Western boxing, Chinese Wing Chun (he studied Chinese martial arts from Ark Wong) and Kali. Filipino Martial Art instructors that Danny studied under include: Master Pedro Apilado, Pepe Montano Arca, Vincent Arca, Atty. Dionisio Canete, Master Angel Cabales, Master Regino Ellustrisimo, Master Leo Giron, Master John Lacoste, Master Ben Largusa, Master Pasqual Ovales, Master Braulio Pedoy, Guro Narrie Babao, Guro Lucky Lucay Lucay, Guro Dentoy Revillar, Master Jack Santos, Guro Max Sarmiento, Master Telesporo Subing Subing, Master Sam Tendencia, Guro Gilbert Tenio, and Grandmaster Floro Villabrille.
JOHN DAIMAN
4th Degree Black Belt in Aikido
3rd Degree Black Belt in Judo
John Daiman first started his Judo training in Hawaii under Mr. Zakabe (8th Dan).
John studied Kenpo Karate (Kajukenbo) at his brother-in-law's in San Francisco. Al Reyes (10th Degree Black Belt) tutored John until 1960.
1961 saw John Daiman in Maui where he started his Aikido training under Mr. Nonaka (5th Degree Black Belt) and Mr. Suzuki (5th Degree Black Belt), a Maui police captain.
Upon migrating to San Diego Mr. Daiman continued Aikido training with Tokuji Hirata (5th Degree Black Belt). In 1969 John received his 4th Degree Black Belt under Koichi Tohei (10 Degree Black Belt), the only 10th Degree Black Belt in Aikido. In 1964 John began teaching defensive tactics to the San Diego County Sheriff's Academy. Mr. Daiman is a Deputy Sheriff. He is also presently instructiong defensive tactics at Grossmont College.
Mr. Daiman's approach to teaching the art and science of Aikido is to teach an understanding of the natural laws of physics and apply these laws in movement as a means of self defense. Mr. Daiman spent 7 years as a Special Undercover Narcotics Agent for the Sheriff's Department. John is one of our revered special seminar instructors!
John Daiman passed away in Feb. 2001. "He will be missed"
ED KEAYS
SWAMI SATYJA PUJARI
First person to recieve a black belt from Brian Adams in the year 1967. He continued his training in Hatha Yoga under B.K.S. Iyengar and brought Yoga back to San Diego, to further contribute to Brian Adams martial arts school's programs.
ROBERT HASTY
SASAMORI KOIZUMI SAMURAI SWORD MASTER
Gojo Ryu and Kenpo Karate Master. Teaches Koizumi style sword play, trained in England and Japan.
GRANDMASTER DOO WAI
One of, if not the most well kept secrets in the entire world regarding the best lineage of kung fu is Doo Wai. It is well documented that the famous "Five Elders" are considered the source of all modern Shaolin.
Grandmaster Doo Wai is the 6th generation family inherited Jung Shee of Five Elder Monk Fung Doe Duk's Bak Fu Pai or White Tiger Kung Fu System of Southern China. The system was passed down to him from father to son. His father was the famous Doo Kow, teacher at China's famous Wampoa Military Academy.
Inside Kung Fu Magazine published a cover story on Grandmaster Doo Wai in 1975. In 1986 he graced the cover of Karate/Kung Fu Illustrated. In 1990 he penned a cover feature for Ancient Sets of Kung Fu.
Here is a breif quote from the 1990 cover he authored. According to the magazine:
"The Five Elders in the history of Chinese Kung Fu, refers to the famous five that escaped the burning of the Shaolin Temple at Fukien in the 1600's. There were four monks and a nun, which were considered the top fighting generals at the temple. Bak Mae (White Eyebrow), Nun, Ng Moi (Plum Flower Fist), Jee Shin Shim Shee (Long Fist), Mew Hing (18 Daoist Palms), the chief fighting monk and an expert in Bok Fu Pai (White Tiger) Fung Doe Duk, which is the focus of this article."
In another passage Wai gives the lineage rarely spoken of in other articles:
"Bok Fu Pai (White Tiger) Kung Fu, has been conserved in a most traditional way, it was handed down from father to son until now. From Fung Doe Duk, the secret of White Tiger Kung Fu was passed to Kwong Wai Jung, then to Jok Wan Jung, then to Yee Too Jung then to Wou Shan Jie, a monk whom in exchange for food and lodging taught the White Tiger System to Doo Kow, whom in turn passed it down to his son the present head of the system, Grandmaster Doo Wai.
In 1968 Grandmaster Doo Wai came to the United States, settling on the West Coast where he still resides and teaches but a few privately."
In 1973 Grandmaster Doo Wai stayed with Brian Adams and trained Grandmasters Brian Adams, Parker Linekin and David German in the use of the traditional 18 long and 18 short Shaolin Weapons.
Osho aka Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Bhagwan was born on December 11, 1931 in a small village near Jabalpur In India. He was born with full memory of his past lives and achieved enlightment at the age of 21. For nine years he was a professor of philosophy at two Indian universities. In 1966 he resigned his professorship to devote his life to the spiritual awakening of others.
It is impossible to convey in words the experience of being in Bhagwan's presence. Simply, it is to experience complete acceptance and total love.
In most of the techniques devised by Bhagwan, there is a strong emphasis on using physical energy. Bhagwan stresses that there can be no separation between mind and body and that by clearing energy blocks in our body we become integrated human beings again. Basically the theory is very simple and the concepts will be familliar to anyone who knows something of the work of Willhelm Reich. All our neurosis is rooted somewhere in the body. At some point in our childhood we decided that in order to survive, to get the love we needed to exist, it was necessary to stop being ourselves-we had to be the way others, usually our parents,, wanted us to be. At that moment we stopped being real and became phoney-and the tragedy is that we have now forgotten the reality! We couldn't allow ourselves to feel, and to stop hate feelings we tensed our bodies, suppressed our needs, and stopped breathing.
In Bhagwan's meditations we are thrown back into our bodies, we start ot breathe again, gradually to untense-and we start to feel. Of course we will resist, because it may be painful. We have spent a lifetime suppressing and to begin to experience deeply again is at first very difficult. But if we can persevere, have the courage to continue, then we gradually come to realize the vastness of our potential as human beings and the ultimate bliss which is possiblefor us all.
To help us on this vast inner journey we need a teacher. A teacher who has made this journey himself and who is able to communicate this to others - Bhagwan was such a teacher.
BELLUR K.S. IYENGAR
Bellur Krishnamacharya Sundaraja Iyengar started studying Yoga at the age of 16 in the year 1935 under his brother-in-law Yogacharya T. Krishnamacharya.
He recieved his first teaching assignment in 1936: to teach the families of the staff at Karnataka college. He is still teaching to this day and has become internationally renowned as the leader in Yoga bodywork.
GRAND MASTER DAVID GERMAN
Mr. German started his martial art career in 1954 under the tutelage of Michimasa Inouye (5th Black) and Ed Kitanaura (5th Black) - where he obtained the rank of First Degree Black in Jujitsu and the rank of Brown Belt in Judo.
In 1956, Mr. German started his training in Kenpo Karate under one of the greatest Kenpo men in the United States:
Mr .Ed Parker (8th Degree Black) - President of U. S. K. K. A.
Al Thomas (lOth Black) - head of the Budokan Dojo Association~ was the next to influence Mr. German. Dave started his Budokan training in 1962.
Matsumi Okawa -- 1963 (lOth Black). Head of the Japan Tai-Ho-Jutsu Association was next.
Finally, in 1971. Mr. German received his 4th Degree Black for efforts in the development of "The Scientific Kenpo Karate Union" under Brian Adams - President of the Union.
Dave German is technical advisor to the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department. He staged the first Karate T. V. show and Karate stage show at the Stardust - Riviera - and El Dorado in Las Vegas. He also trained the first blind Judo team.
Mr. German has broken a record 22 American roofing tiles with one punch. Dave German is now located in Los Angeles County and has developed the first combination Karate and weight training courses in the United States. David passed in 2005.
PROFESSOR JAMES MASAYOSHI MITOSE
Kenpo was first introduced in Hawaii during the beginning of World War II by James Masayoshi Mitose who had learned it during his early years in Japan. As accounts dictate, Tamo was the founder of his system; this system was called Shorinji-ryu Kenpo by the Japanese; this is the Japanese equivalent of the Chinese "Ch'uan Fa or Ch'uan Shu".
This as you recall, coincides with what has been passed down by ancient masters through the centuries. Because of Tamo's contribution to Kenpo it is logical that Mitose's ancestors of the Martial Arts refer to the term of Shorin-ji as the system of Kenpo taught by Tamo.
However, the Kenpo system which had been learned from ancient Chinese Masters and then taught by Mitose's ancestors was altered and extensively modified to a form and method more suitable to Japanese understanding and culture. These modifications and extensive changes were made by Choki Motobu who claimed to receive new revelations regarding Kenpo and changed the name of their system to Kosho-ryu Kenpo. When Mitose began teaching in Hawaii, he named his art Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Mitose was residing in Honolulu and had to come to grips with the fact that he was Japanese by birth, but American by citizenship. Thus, one day he asked his students "You are strong believers in Kenpo and Buddha. If the Kenpo founder, Buddha came to attack and conquer your country with soldiers, what would you do? Would you take ups arms to defend your country? Or would you assist Buddha in his design?"
While there were many varied answers from his students Mitose replied that: "This is our country so it is our duty to defend and protect it and in the presence of God we are right. So naturally we must fight against the founder Buddha. We should take the invaders prisoner and make them realize the wrong they have attempted to do. This is the way of the true Kenpo man and this is the Kenpo man's duty."
Mitose went on to open the Official Self-Defense Club where he trained fellow servicemen and civilians and began to expound the merits of his Japanese Kenpo.
He hoped that one day Kenpo would become Americanized.
PROFESSOR WILLIAM K.S. CHOW
Trained with Professor Mitose during this early period in Hawaii, just after world war II. Professor Chow also taught his Chinese system, in combination with influences from Henry S. Okazaki, Professor Mitose and other local Hawaiian schools.
He called his art "Kenpo" or "Karaho". Great emphasis was put on breaking and self-defense techniques
PROFESSOR HENRY S. OKAZAKI
Founder of the Kodenkan Ju Jitsu System
Okazaki was the first to break Japanese custom and teach non-Japanese his arts. This led to a resurgence of open martial arts and the comparing and modification of styles.
At dawn on September 10, 1906, the steamship, S.S. China, docked at Honolulu. The ten-day trip from Yokohama had been uneventful. The Pacific Commercial Advertiser Daily, commenting on the China's arrival, noted that the ship carried eleven cabin passengers, the lowest in the history, 309 Japanese and 9 European immigrants in steerage.
One of the passengers in steerage was a young man named Seishiro Okazaki. Seishiro was sixteen when he arrived in Honolulu. He was the fourth son of Hanuemon Okazaki, whose family traced its roots back sixteen generations to a Samurai family. The family probably moved from Nagoya to Kakedacho some time after 1868, after the Meiji government had abolished Japan's feudal system and, in effect, the Samurai class.
When the family moved to Fukishima, they were wealthy, but Hanuemon Okazaki, Seishiro's father, was not fortunate. Several business ventures failed and by the time Seishiro was born, on January 28, 1890, the fortune that the family had once possessed was all but gone.
As soon as age permitted, Seishiro was apprenticed to a local businessman and by fifteen, plans were being made for him to leave Japan for Hawaii. this was a time of heavy Japanese migration. Hawaii was seen as the land of opportunity and the lure of new land and a new start may have been irresistible. If Okazaki's later life is any indication, it is obvious that he liked to travel, as he found new people and new places stimulating. For whatever reasons, in late August of 1906, he made his way south to the port city of Yokohama, bought a ticket on the S.S. China and on the morning of September 1, watched the Japanese coast disappear as the China steamed towards Hawaii. He would not see Japan again for eighteen years.
Okazaki arrived in the Hawaiian Islands at Honolulu. Many of the Japanese immigrants found work in the cane fields and Okazaki was no exception. He went to work for the Ewa plantation. He was not a particularly robust man. Tallish and slim, and with what was probably asthma, Okazaki did not find the hard and dusty work of the plantation appealing or healthy. He left the Ewa plantation and took a job, first with a local store, called Yoshimura's and then with Hoffschlaeger's, a local wholesale company, before he left and made his way to Maui. On Maui, Okazaki went to work for the Paia plantation, where he married.
By 1909, Okazaki had made his way to Hilo. He had spent no more than two years on Oahu and Maui. He stayed on the big island for seventeen years and it was on Hawaii that he began his martial arts training.
When Okazaki arrived in Hilo, he was not well. He had a cough and was run down. He was a doctor who diagnosed him as having a pre-tubercular condition. the doctor may have told him to take it easy and conserve his strength. Ignoring his doctor's caution, Okazaki went in search of a cure. He found it in an odd place, the Hilo Shinyu-Kai, a Jujitsu dojo, run by a martial arts master, named Kichimatsu Tanaka. Jujitsu was probably the last thing Okazaki's doctor would have ordered. The strenuous workouts, the falls, the constant battering would hardly have been a suggested cure for tuberculosis. However, within, a year, the pretubercular condition had disappeared and the tall skinny kid, according to Okazaki's own words, had developed a "body of iron". This interest in the martial arts that began in Hilo in 1909 became an all-consuming passion.
The years in Hilo were busy ones. Jujitsu workouts with Tanaka-sensei were daily. When he wasn't at Shinyu-Kai, he was working. He tried a number of different jobs but Jui-Jitsu was his life. As he learned Yoshin-ryu from Tanaka-sensei he began to study other forms as well. He studied Hawaiian Lua, Okinawan karate, Philippine knife play and, from Master Wo Chong, Kung Fu. However, his main proficiency was in Yoshin-ryu, the style taught by Tanaka-sensei.
The recovery of his health and his expertise in Yoshin-ryu made Okazaki a bit cocky. In the early twenties, he began going around the island, fighting exhibition bouts where and when he could find takers. His greatest moments came in May of 1922. In April of that year, a friend of Okazaki's, a martial artist named "Speed" Takahashi challenged a boxer, named Carl "Kayo" Morris to a bout. It was to be a confrontation between a boxer and a Jujitsu expert. Takahashi was fast and extremely proficient, but he wore glasses and couldn't see well without them. Morris took advantage of his handicap and knocked Takahashi out in the first round.
Okazaki immediately challenged Morris to a bout. For the next month and a half, he trained. He watched other boxers to try to find weaknesses. A friend who worked at the Chevrolet dealership suggested that he should try to stay very low, out of the reach of Morris' punches. He used this advice. On May 19, 1922 the two men met. The fight was scheduled for six, three-minute rounds. It lasted only two. In the first round, Okazaki stalked his man, staying down in a low crouch. Theory is always less hazardous than practice. Okazaki misjudged both Morris' reach and power and had his nose broken halfway through the first round.
In the next round, Okazaki watched for an opening. Morris, who had been jabbing, keeping Okazaki away, left his arm out a bit too long. Okazaki moved, driving under the boxer's arm and throwing the man. The throw and the fall injured Morris' arm and he was unable to continue. Okazaki's fame was immediate and the newspapers carried the story all the way back to Japan.
The Hilo Daily Tribune, while not lavish with its praise, was nonetheless enthusiastic. The story made the front page of the Saturday morning edition with the headlines,
"Morris Has No Chance Against Jujitsu Expert":
"Five minutes after the start of the mixed bout and during which time Okazaki threw Morris and himself over the ropes into the audience upon two occasions. (sic) Okazaki threw his opponent to the mat and with an arm lock which wrenched the muscles of Morris' right arm and forced him to (figuratively speaking) throw up the sponge.
"At first sight, it looked as if Morris' arm was broken, but after an examination by Dr. S. R. Brown, who was present in the audience, it was found that the muscles were merely badly wrenched."
After the bout, Okazaki is supposed to have visited Morris in the hospital and massaged the boxer's arm, and the two are even said to have become friends. Whatever the epitaph to the bout, the win must have certainly bolstered Okazaki's already healthy ego.
In 1924, Okazaki returned to Japan and made a six-month whirlwind tour of as many dojos as he could visit. He evidently stopped at the Kodokan, tested there for rank, and was awarded his Sandan.
In 1926, Okazaki was described as a "Jujitsu Instructor" in the Hilo directory. It was the first time that he had listed his passion as his profession. In this same year, Okazaki moved from Hilo to Maui. In 1927, in the Maui directory, he was listed as "Professor Henry S. Okazaki, Restoration Massage." It is the first time that the name "Henry" appears and the first time Restoration Massage appears as his business. in actual fact, he had been studying massage along with his training in Yoshin-ryu. The move to Maui was the beginning of his life's work in both these areas.
Okazaki spent four years in Maui. During that time he and his brother, Genkitchi, who had come to Hawaii in 1917, built a massage and Jujitsu complex at Paukukalo, just north of Kahului, right on the ocean. It was an impressive complex with a large massage area, hot tubs, and a dojo. For the next four years, Okazaki began training both Japanese and Caucasians in what he called Dan Zan Ryu.
Dan Zan Ryu was the name Okazaki gave to the Jujitsu system that he developed himself. It was a hybrid system, taking what he thought was the best from Yoshin-ryu, Hawaiian Lua, Okinawan karate and other forms of Japanese and Chinese martial arts. There were few forms of fighting with which he was not familiar and he used this extensive knowledge to good advantage in the development of Dan Zan Ryu. Originally the system consisted of five and possibly six lists: Yawara, Nage No Kata, Shime No Kata, Oku No Kata, Shinin No Maki, and possibly Shinyo. Other lists and techniques would be added later.
At the same time he was developing Dan Zan Ryu, Okazaki also began to develop his own method of massage. He had studied massage with Tanaka-sensei and had picked up European techniques which he must have seen used on local boxers and wrestlers. The Okazaki method of Restorative Massage, like Dan Zan Ryu, was a hybrid. It was a system that made use of the forearm, the point of the elbow and the feet, as well as the hands. Okazaki is best remembered as a martial artist but during his lifetime he was best known as a highly skilled physical therapist.
The Maui complex was a busy place. During the day, the brothers would massage patients; at night they would either teach at the dojo or go around to the local dojos in the area and teach. The Maui complex and the four years that Okazaki spent there were the beginnings of Dan Zan Ryu and the Okazaki method of Restorative Massage.
Okazaki left Maui in 1929/1930 and, once in Oahu, rented a house on South Hotel Street. The house which was called "Nikko," was of Japanese design. Okazaki bought the house in the 30's and Nikko became the center for Dan Zan Ryu for the next twenty-one years. However, Okazaki's first order of business was not Jujitsu. Jujitsu had never provided him with much of an income. He had made his money from his ability with massage. On Oahu, he would establish a physical therapy business first, Jujitsu would come later.
By the summer of 1931 his massage business was established but all he lacked was a dojo, a place where he could begin work out and train students. Directly behind the office was a concrete slab about twenty by forty feet. Hachiro, Okazaki's oldest son, recalls just how Dan Zan Ryu got started in Oahu:
"I was watering the Japanese garden one day in my shorts. I was a skinny, puny kid. He was watching me and he says, "Take a fall." And I looked at the grass I was standing on and said, "Gee, there's not enough room." And he said, "No, on the concrete." I looked at him and said, "There's no Tatami!" He blew his top and said, "Out on the street are you gonna tell a guy, Wait till I get a tatami?" So I took a sutemi because I was an obedient son and I wanted to impress him. I could feel all my bones go crunch, crunch on the concrete."
That concrete slab was the mat where Okazaki's student practiced for the first few years. Needless to say, the classes weren't very large. The initial group consisted of Hachiro, a Japanese boy named Oscar Kowashima and a Caucasian boy named Benjamin Marks. The first year never saw more than eight or nine boys on the "mat" at once. Interestingly, no one was hurt on the concrete and, as Hachiro remembers it, falling on the concrete wasn't half bad... after you got used to it. Hachiro recalls:
"Finally, about a couple of years later he was able to buy a tatami and that was when the class sizes increased. But on the concrete it was a lot of fun, nobody got hurt. If it rained it didn't matter and if you threw a guy, he'd just skid on the concrete. It was a lot of fun. After he bought the mats, we got dislocated necks and pulls and all that. As long as we were on concrete, we were fine. "
Literally thousands of students studied under Seishiro Okazaki. He taught Caucasians as well as Japanese. In fact, he was willing to teach anyone who wanted to learn. Jujitsu had always been the domain of the Japanese and Okazaki's generosity in sharing Jujitsu with others was not well received by the more conservative Japanese community. But he persevered, even teaching during the war years when Japanese were not well thought of, nor well tolerated. His work schedule was the schedule of two men. He'd start his work day around 7 AM and massage clients until 10 PM, with breaks for Jujitsu practice. After he finished the massages or the Jujitsu class, he would go out and massage invalids, people who could not come to him By 2 AM he was home again where he would drag his son out of bed. Half-awake, Hachiro would massage his father's hands and feet so he could sleep.
The Nikko Restoration Sanitarium and the Dan-Zan-Ryu dojo would become landmarks in Hawaiian history. When Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the Islands in the 30's, Okazaki was called in to massage him. When John Burn's (future governor) wife developed polio in 1935, it was Okazaki who took her on as a patient. Okazaki worked with Mrs. Burns for several years and, in 1936, when she decided to have a third child, against all the best advice of the local obstetricians, it was Okazaki who helped her through her pregnancy, constantly massaging her and providing encouragement.
Okazaki was eminently skilled as both a Jujitsu master and a physical therapist. He developed a system which has grown to be one of the major systems of Jujitsu in North America. Yet, his reputation as a physical therapist in the islands was even greater than his reputation as a martial artist. Okazaki was famous for taking patients who were considered beyond help by the medical profession. He was no miracle worker but a hard worker who believed in his ability to help.
Vigorous massage, steam baths, hot foul-smelling poultices, exercise and a tremendous confidence in his skill and the recuperative powers of the human body were the tenets of Okazaki's style of physical therapy.
His greatest gift was his willingness to help others. People who knew him all point to his generosity and to the time and effort he gave to those who needed it as the mark of the man. Okazaki died in 1951, but his work has continued. His method of massage is carried on by his son, Hachiro, as well as hundreds of other men and women who learned physical therapy through him. Dan Zan Ryu Jujitsu which, under Okazaki's guidance, grew to be a major system in the Islands has, if anything, a larger following today than it did when Okazaki was alive.
