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| James Wing Woo |
The reason "Short Three" has a different "feel" is because it was the first and and last form of the "Chinese Kenpo" era, and it was a collaboration between Mr. Parker and Mr. Woo, with additional input by others. Mr. Parker always solicited opinions and input from as many sources as possible on any project. It was the last of the "real" forms not influenced by a need to flesh out the new Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate and provide "competition" forms for his association members to compete with in his IKC tournament. Its companion form was the "Black Belt Set," also known as the "Two-Man Set," and was featured in Mr. Parker's Book, "Secret's of Chinese Karate," published in 1963.
Before this form was created Mr. Parker had "assembled" his first form that was essentially what would now be known as Short Form One, and Short Form Two performed as a single form. Mr. Parker ultimately split the form and created the first two short forms, followed by the "Long Forms" One and Two. To my knowledge Mr. Woo's input stopped at Short Form Three and Two-Man Set. Forms Long Three on were competition models that lacked the depth of the previous forms that came before them.
Remember Mr. Parker's first art, "Kenpo Karate" had no forms so his first forms experience was heavily influenced by Japanese Traditionalist, and his Long Form One creation reflects that quite well. But it is also important to know that the second half of Long Form One is a reproduction of Short Form One starting on the opposite side, and tripling execution of the blocks and exploring multiple checks and execution. Lots of information there for the thirsty to drink in as you see Mr. Parker drift toward the Chinese Influence, adding that flavor to the first half of Long One later on.
Many still around remember the ultimate form of the day which also came from various sources, and that was "Tiger and the Crane." So for a period there was the combo form, (Short one and Short two), Two-Man Form, the original Chinese Form, (Short Three) and Tiger and Crane. During this period techniques stopped at Green Belt. Then later the endings were cut off of the techniques and taught separately as "extensions" to the previous Orange, Purple, and Blue Belt techniques for Brown and Black to "flesh out" the system. For those that remember, that is the reason the original Chinese Kenpo, and Later at the beginnings of Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, the lower belt techniques had no crosses or cover outs at the end of the technique. That you didn't learn until you reached the end of the technique where it was appropriate. - Ron Chapel, Ph. D.
